Sermon 12/26/2021 “Where is Christ born?”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection, Alexandria, Virginia
Text: Luke 2:1-20
Day: Christmas Day 2021 (Christmas II readings)
In Anne Boris’ Forum here several years ago, we saw art depicting Christ Jesus’ birth. One of the themes of the presentation was that the people and place took on the reality of the artist and his time:
- Medieval paintings had the people wearing the clothes and shoes worn in medieval Europe, and
- The manger became a barn or a grotto or… whatever the reality was of the painter’s time and place.
However, the artists must have known The Story, the one we heard in Luke’s gospel tonight. They must have known that, historically, Christ Jesus was not born in a barn to, say, medieval parents, or Japanese parents, or even white parents. This was the painters’ way of wordlessly expressing that Christ Jesus is born into our reality—each of our realities—born in us in our own time, not just historically in Bethlehem of Judea, the City of David.
In this vein, the question I set before us today is, “Where IS Christ born?” This is a different question than, “Where WAS Christ born.” But before I get to today’s question, “Where IS Christ born?” I want to begin with the historical question because there are misconceptions to deal with.
In my youth, a popular topic in the newspapers each December was to point out the so-called inconsistencies in the biblical Christmas story. The first inconsistency is in the Luke’s attempt to date Christ’s birth. For example, Quirinius was NOT the Governor of Syria at that time, they said. But now we have literally unearthed records that show Quirinius was advisor to the very young governor of Syria then, becoming governor in his own right later. Only then did biblical translators allow that the text doesn’t actually say Quirinius was “governor,” but that he “was governing.” A small but crucial difference.
Similarly, those newspaper jabs at Luke’s account of Christ Jesus’ birth from my youth pooh-pooed a census that required people to return to their ancestral homes. “There are no examples of this type of census in first-century Palestine,” they said. But now we have archaeological evidence that this was exactly what was required in the Roman province of what is now Germany in 48 of the Common Era and Egypt in the year 104. These finds have quieted those who counted this part of Luke’s gospel as an inaccuracy, but they still suspect that Luke had made up that part of Caesar Augustus’ decree just to get the location of Jesus’ birth to match Micah’s 500-year-old prophecy that the Messiah “would come from” Bethlehem. We know better!
So, the question of where Christ Jesus WAS born seems settled: in Bethlehem of Judea, the City of David, even though the people who raised him were from Nazareth. Early church fathers, by the way, ended their discussions about where Christ Jesus WAS born by saying that those who questioned it could find the names in Bethlehem’s census record, a record now lost to us.
So, historically, Christ Jesus WAS born in Bethlehem. But was he born in a manger? Luke says so, if not born in a manger, placed there right after his birth. And Luke explained the appearance of shepherds at the manger by telling how God had sent angels to announce Jesus’ birth.
Did you notice that the angels didn’t exactly task the shepherds with going to worship Christ Jesus? Instead, the angels told the shepherds accurately where to find and identify the correct child. I mean, how many newborn babies could there have been in a manger in Bethlehem that night wrapped in bands of cloth?
“Let’s go see this thing God has brought to pass,” the shepherds said, and off they went, while the angels sang “Glory to God.” We are channeling history today by letting the “angels” sing for us. Perhaps the shepherds so long ago hummed along with the angels, as we are forced to do tonight due to the pandemic.
Although all of this is interesting, perhaps, the important question today is NOT “Where WAS Christ Jesus born historically,” but “Where IS Christ Jesus born today?”
This is a metaphorical question, of course. Because if this ancient birth is relevant at all today, Christ Jesus must always be born in our world. I mean, what good would it be to us if Christ had been born long ago and is now gone from our world?
But Christ is alive because he is being born always into our world. Where IS Christ being born? Where love abounds, that is where Christ is being born. And where love is needed, that also is where Christ is being born. Every place where love abounds or where love needs to abound is our manger today.
Christ is born every time we celebrate and give thanks to God. And Christ is born in times and places of grief in our lives. Christ is born in our hopes and in fears. Christ is born in our successes and accomplishments, and in our failures and disappointments. The healing grace of God’s presence and love offers to fill every aspect of our lives. And then the invitation is to always share that healing love.
You, who feed our hungry neighbors each week, almost 30,000 hungry neighbors since 24 October 2016, YOU might rightly say Christ Jesus is born into our world each time a hungry person receives food in Christ’s name.
You, who provide diapers for naked babies, might rightly think you are providing strips of cloth in which to wrap them, clothing the newborn Christ Jesus in OUR time.
You, who worship here each week, might rightly think of this as the manger, the place where we come because we know that hope is born anew in us here, sending us out to spread the love of Christ in our world.
You, who brought gifts for our youngest neighbors living in The Spire affordable housing next door, didn’t Christ Jesus inspire you to share his love in this way? Isn’t THIS the Christ being born in our world?
So, just as surely as Christ Jesus is here today with us, he is born anew in each of us. Like the shepherds, we will be going to the Christ Child in the manger for Communion—the plastic Christ Child we use each year is ready to receive you at his manger in the back of the parish hall. Christ Jesus, the real Christ Jesus, will bless you there and send you out into the world to share the love you have been given.
Alleluia! Unto us a child is born,
O come, let us adore him. Alleluia!
