Joy at Christmas

Preached on 25 December 2024 @ 10.00 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading John 1v1-14; Luke 2v8-20

Prayer

Christmas Cracker

As it’s Christmas, I’m going to start by pulling some Christmas Crackers.  They are very old, so, if you pull a cracker, you might like to shout ‘bang’.  I’ve primed each cracker with a topical joke – a typical cracker one, on a theme from our readings.  From these, perhaps you can work out what I’m going to talk about.

[Volunteers to pull the crackers and read the jokes]

My mate works as a shepherd, but he keeps getting in trouble for showing up late.
Doesn't seem like he's lost any sheep over it, though.

How many sheep does it take to knit an entire sweater?
None — sheep can't knit.

How do you put a lamb in orbit?
On a space sheep.

Detective’s Answers

[Get answers to theme of jokes]

Christmas Cards

We also have four Christmas cards, that I will use as prompts to talk about the passages, So let's see what the First Christmas card has on it.

Shepherds

Card 1 - Shepherds

The picture of the shepherds visiting the baby Jesus makes a lovely scene, but in reality the Shepherds of the time had a difficult job.  They were out on the hills day and night for nine months of the year.  For November, to February, the sheep would be in pasture that was better protected because it was too cold for them on the hills.  That’s too cold for the sheep, not the shepherds. 

Not 25^th December

This is what give us the clue that perhaps Jesus wasn’t born on 25^th December.  It doesn’t matter, because He is king, and this is his official birthday. 

Bears & Wolves

Up on the hills, the shepherds would have to protect the flock from bears and wolves, so they would have to be ready day and night.  They would also have to deal with the occasional dead animal, and search for lost sheep.

The result was that they were ritually unclean and were not allowed to join in the religious services of the town’s folk.  They were also rarely in the village, so were seen as outsiders.  This gave them a poor reputation – they were thought to be thieves and liars.  Therefore, they were not allowed to be witnesses in a criminal trial because they were not trusted to tell the truth.

Angels

Card 2 – Angels

So, there are the shepherds, minding their own business, or perhaps I should say minding their own sheep, when an Angel appears.  If that wasn’t scary enough, the glory of the Lord shone around them.  The picture does a reasonably good job of showing how they are in the spotlight.  Angels are primarily God’s messengers, and given that their appearance is frightening, it’s not surprising that the first part of the message is “do not be afraid”.  The angel makes an incredible announcement:  Christ the Lord is Born TODAY.

Every faithful Israelite has been hoping for this for centuries.  Here it is, happening today, just down the hill.  That would be unbelievable, if it wasn’t for the detail that the angels include in their message.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds now find they have the best seats in the house, as a great company of the heavenly host praises God. 

Their song says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

We will see why that message is important later.

The test of the Angel’s message comes when the shepherds leave their sheep and head into town.  Bethlehem isn’t that big, but there will be a lot of strangers around, who have come back for the census.  Maybe they heard the baby crying, or just caught a glimpse through the doorway, of people in the downstairs part of the house that is usually reserved for animals.  Putting a baby in a feeding trough would be VERY unusual at any time, so they can be sure that the message was true if they find one. – and they did.

Spread the Word

Once they had seen the baby, they knew that it was all true.  They then went out and told all who would listen about their amazing night.  They were praising God for the miracle of the saviours birth.

Dead Robin

Card 3 — Dead Robin

Well, that’s a strange picture, a dead robin – a bit distasteful for Christmas.  In Victorian times, a dead robin was a sign of good luck, that why it appeared on their Christmas Cards. 

For us, it reminds us that Jesus was born into a hostile world.

We are celebrating the birth of the Saviour, but in many ways His birth is less important than what He did.  This baby is described by John as the Word.  He says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  He also says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”.  John also tells us that not everybody recognises Him for whom He really is.

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  He came to the Israelites, God’s chosen people, but they did not recognise Him.  It shows how far they had moved away from God.  In the end, they arranged for Him to be put to death. 

What Jesus did

Card 4 – Mother and Baby

Some people though, like the Shepherds, did receive him, and it gave them great joy.  These are the ones on whom God’s favour rests, and for those John says:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” 

To be a child of God, is a privilege and a joy. It’s only possible because of the death and resurrection of the son of God, Mary’s child, that we see in the picture.

Mary, too, had great joy at the birth of her baby, but also at the things that happened around that birth.

Our joy comes from accepting the man that the child became. 

I wish you all the joy that Jesus brings this Christmas, and in the year ahead

Amen.

Sermon recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXAF16JNEE, starts at 19:30 to 35:30

References

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2015/12/24/what-is-your-christmas-story-a-christmas-sermon-on-luke-21-20/

John for Everyone, part 1

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-shepherd-39-s-perspective-on-christmas-rich-o-toole-sermon-on-christmas-277310

https://www.paulbeasleymurray.com/2017/12/21/the-shepherds-a-christmas-day-sermon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtgyT6z25U

https://upjoke.com/shepherd-jokes

https://www.childfun.com/articles/general/hilarious-sheep-jokes-for-kids/

https://kidadl.com/humor/pets-animals-nature/best-sheep-jokes-that-ewe-will-love

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-war-on-christmas-cards/

What should we do?

Preached at Christ church, Billericay, 15 Dec 2024 @ 08:00

Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20 & Luke 3:7-18

Why the crowds were coming to John

A voice in the night

I was in a deep deep sleep, suddenly there was a loud voice. I woke slowly, it was pitch black. I couldn’t make sense of the voice or work out where it was coming from. I thought it was trying to tell me to do something. My brain was awake, now, but my body was lagging behind. I forced myself out of bed, and made my way to the lounge. The voice had stopped. I got to the lounge and woke the dog, but no-one else was about. After a short while, I said “good-night” to the dog and went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep, feeling I had missed something important. In the morning, I was told that the voice came from a radio, it’s left on all the time, it has batteries to keep it on in a power cut. It’s tuned to one station and the volume is turned all the way up – so everyone will definitely hear it. It is the hurricane warning system, and was telling us we MUST stay inside. It was so loud, the sound was distorted.

John’s Urgent Message

Anyway, it gave me a sense of urgency, that I must do something, and that is what John the Baptist is trying to do. And it’s working. Lots of people are coming out to him. They sense the danger.

The state of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is corrupt; it’s struggling to keep control of the Jewish state at the edge of the empire. The puppet kings are ineffective, and part of the territory is effectively under direct rule.

Out sourced tax collection

The collection of taxes has been outsourced. The rights to collect tax are sold to the highest bidder, who must then deliver the tax to the Emperor, and also collect enough extra tax to become rich.

How Jewish Soldiers make a living

The Jews have their own army, but it behaves more like the occupiers. Instead of protecting the people, the soldiers bully them, to supplement their own income.

The need for a new ‘Exodus’

It seems like things are coming to a head. That something important is about to happen. Something that will be on a par with God rescuing His people from the Egyptians in the Exodus. We have a vision of what they were hoping for in the Zephaniah reading. The oppressors removed, the festivals returned, and the world put to rights. They just had no idea how God would get them there.

Then this weird, but highly charismatic prophet – John the Baptist – appears and offers people baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Many people come and repent of their sins from all walks of life.

Vipers (Snakes) and their symbolism

John is not one to hold back. Calling those who have come to him a “Brood of Vipers” seems like quite an insult. Matthew tells us that this comment was addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, not the crowd in general.

Genesis – the serpent

Brood here refers to them as offspring. So it takes the idea right back to Genesis, where the serpent tempted Adam & Eve and was cursed by God. He’s saying they are children of evil.

Wrath of God and how to avoid it.

The wrath of God will sort out all the problems. The Israelites have seen this before. God’s wrath is coming soon, and John uses two images to explain this. The axe is already at the root of the tree – a tree that doesn’t produce fruit is cut down. That’s the danger they face.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how that might apply to the Jews who have come to be baptised. If they don’t get that one, the winnowing fork should explain it nicely – the chaff is about to be blown away, only the good grain will be left.

Being subjects to God’s wrath is a painful experience, but the end result is worth it. Anyway, they have just been told that they can flee God’s wrath.

Baptism is for converts

The way for them to avoid God’s wrath is to repent and be baptised. Baptism was the ceremony that those converting to Judaism went through. So, in a sense, they are admitting that they do not really have Abraham as their father. Even though they have repented, they don’t seem to clear what they have repented of. Three people in the crowd ask John what they must do. Clearly, they are expecting to live a different way.

A different way of Living

Cartoon

A cartoon shows a sceptic shouting up to the heavens, “God! If you're up there, tell us what we should do!” Back comes a voice: “Feed the hungry, house the homeless, establish justice.” The sceptic looks alarmed. “Just testing”, he says “Me too’”, replies the voice.

Living Differently

They will have to live differently. They will have to look after one another – sharing the resources they have. They will have to deal with each other fairly, not using the power they have over others to take advantage.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to them – but it seems to be. Sometimes the obvious just needs pointing out. It’s there in the prophets:

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

USSR

John’s call is for us too. Back in the USSR, where being a Christian was illegal, times were very hard for the believers. But some employers protected them as much as they could, because Christians were the only ones who could be trusted not to steal from their employers and not to use what they knew against them.

Living differently has an effect, not just in difficult situations, like living under persecution, but here and now in our world.

Perhaps we can feed the hungry, house the homeless and establish justice, because the sceptics aren’t going to. It is after all what the Lord requires of us, it is what we are here for.

Amen.

Two Kingdoms

Preached on 24 November 2024 at 10:00, at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading Daniel 7v9-10, 13-14; John 18v33-37

Lectionary: Christ the King

Today, the lectionary subject is Christ the King. It still feels rather strange to me, but at least it comes at the right time in our year – right at the end. At a time when Christ's mission has been fully completed, His kingdom established, and he has taken his place at the right hand of God in Heaven.

This subject did not appear in the Lectionary until 1921 when the Pope was trying to raise his profile against the newly appointed Italian king. For us, it entered the lectionary in 1990, so perhaps I’m taking too long to adapt. However, the two readings give us some great insights into God and his son Jesus, so let’s start with Daniel.

Daniel

Daniel is seeing a vision of that in our Old Testament reading this morning. In the first pair of verses he sees the Ancient of Days – that is God. The phrase literally means ‘before there were days’. That vision of God should certainly help us to understand His awesome power.

In the second he sees the Son of Man, which here refers to the Christ, being led to the throne and given dominion over all the nations and peoples, and all of them worshipping Him.

About kings and subjects

Both those images speak of unlimited power. Today, we don’t see the absolute power of Kings. Our king heads a constitutional monarchy. The King’s power is severely limited, now to the point where the role of King is almost exclusively ceremonial. Even when Henry VIII ruled and the theory of the divine right of kings was applied to the monarchy, he did not have absolute power. Remember what happened when king John pushed his barons too far.

As far as his subjects were concerned, though, it would seem as though he did. Had we been alive in those days, and been part of the peasantry, the King's power would have seemed absolute. He certainly had the power of life and death for us. Just as did his Lords and their representatives in each town or village. It was not so different in the Roman Empire in Jesus’s day. Keep that in mind as we look at the conversation between Pilate and Jesus from our Gospel reading.

Favourite verses

The report that John gives of the conversation is one of my favourite passages in the whole Bible. So, as we look through those verses now, I’ll try to explain why I find them so important.

Talk through verses

Background

Jesus has been arrested by “a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees” (v3) led by Judas. There are many more men here than could possibly be required to arrest one man, so this was a show of force – just in case some of the disciples were thinking of trying to prevent the arrest. Peter had a go, but it came to nothing because Jesus told him to stop.

Jesus is then questioned by the High Priests.

By the time this had finished, it was early morning, and they had to wake the governor of the province – Pilate. They will not go into his building because that would make them unclean, so Pilate must come out to them.

They only need Pilate because they want the death penalty. Pilate calls Jesus away from them and takes him inside.

Now, at this point, you might wonder how we know what was said. Well, while the questioning goes on, there are plenty of staff in the house. Some may even have been sympathisers, and I’d bet most of them were nosey, after all knowledge is power. So, the conversation could easily have been reported to the disciples after the resurrection, by one or more of

[v33]

In v33, Pilate’s first question is “Are You the King of the Jews?”. If we think about what Jesus must have looked like at that stage – dressed in peasants cloths, probably roughed-up a bit by the arresting troops, and now on his own, because his followers had left. Thinking of him looking like that as a king would be laughable. But, Pilate must ask. His primary concern is to ensure there is no threat to the empire. He is, after all, the Emperor in this place.

[v34]

Verse 34. If you ask Jesus a question, you will rarely get a direct answer. His response here is a case in point. In terms of how the dialogue goes, this is probably the most important verse. Jesus knows that Pilate has the power of life and death over him. He knows that what he says here will in some way affect what happens next. While under arrest and the threat of death, He holds to his own agenda. He even takes control of the dialogue. “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

It’s Jesus’s control, His composure and His ability to guide the conversation under such extreme pressure that really impresses me.

[v35]

The NRSV translates Pilate’s response as “I am not a Jew, am I?”, which makes it clearer that the question does not require an answer. Trying to get back on track, he continues with, “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

[v36]

Again, the NRSV has a better translation than the NIV, when it uses ‘from’ rather than ‘of’ in the first part of Jesus’s answer. Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’

Not from here

If we use ‘of’ rather than ‘from’, it can suggest that Jesus’s Kingdom is unworldly and has no effect on the world as we and Pilate know it. If we use ‘from’, then Jesus kingdom comes from somewhere else, and will not be a threat to Pilate and his Roman Empire – he clearly doesn’t have an army with Him - but it is not just a spiritual kingdom. It also makes Jesus’s first sentence consistent with the rest of what he says.

[v37]

Pilate is still not sure, and he has no idea why Jesus has been handed over to him, except that the Chief Priest wants Jesus put to death.

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Jesus now tries to divert the conversation again. He wants to talk about truth. The truth that each of the men see is very different.

Different type of kingdom – sacrifice not power

The two kingdoms we have been hearing about are very different.

Pilate knows the truth, that Rome’s armies are powerful. The political system runs on this power and the political manoeuvrings that go with it. If you control the power, you can make your own the truth.

Jesus knows a greater truth. His kingdom runs on sacrifice and love. What He is doing now – accepting His sentence and being prepared to be executed (along with all the pain and suffering that must happen along the way), will demonstrate how sacrifice and love work in His Kingdom.

Now we have a choice

We are faced with a choice. Which Kingdom do we want to live in. Which of them best serves our needs from now and into eternity. Because of what Jesus has done, all the things which keep us locked into Pilates Kingdom have been overcome. But, we cannot serve two masters, and we cannot switch sides as it suits us, because neither side will put up with that. Once our choice is made, we must serve the King we have chosen, in the way that he demands.

My Hope

My hope is that each of us has made our choice, and that we have decided to follow Jesus as our King. If not, and you would like to talk about it, please do talk to one of us at the end.

For those that have, I’ll finish with the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy, because I believe they apply to all of us. From 1 Timothy 6 starting at verse 12:

¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

References

https://www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/here-is-what-it-really-means-john-c-holbert-11-16-2015

https://sermonsfrommyheart.com/2018/03/29/john-1833-37-long-live-the-king/

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/preaching-on-christ-the-king/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/long-live-the-king-craig-condon-sermon-on-jesus-as-king-194920

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_X_of_Denmark

https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary-old/john-1833-37/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/king-of-kings-and-lord-of-lords-a-sermon-for-christ-the-king-sunday-mark-a-barber-sermon-on-christ-the-king-285667

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/king

https://bibleportal.com/topic/regicide

https://www.bibliaplus.org/en/commentaries/50/joseph-bensons-commentary-on-the-old-and-new-testaments/1-timothy/6/13-16

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-is-god-called-the-ancient-of-days.html