Luke 2:1-20
“A Messy Story”
24 December 2016 St. Andrew’s
Military Chapel Singapore
How many people love getting messy?
For the young ones among us I would imagine quite a few like getting messy.
Playing outside in the mud and dirt. The mess we make when baking cookies,
especially Christmas cookies as we not only make the batter and get that
everywhere, but all of the green and red sprinkles that we are still finding in
July. But, as we get older we tend to avoid messes of all kinds.
We have to keep our rooms neat and
tidy, lest anyone discover that we are messy and lead messy lives. We can’t
track dirt inside the house. How many here have endured the shower from the tap
outside before being allowed to enter the house only to immediately go through
another shower to get you completely clean.
We won’t even let people think one part of our lives are
messy. We airbrush and photoshop the photos we post online so that people think
we have perfect and neat skin. We put on happy smiling faces here in church
lest people assume our lives aren’t perfect and that we don’t struggle in any
area of our lives.
The fear of being messy even led to a TV series filmed in
the US, and eventually Australia, called “Dirty Jobs” where Mike Rowe went and
found some of the messiest jobs in America and spent a day or two walking along
with those who America deemed unlucky to have such a messy career.
But, as we learned about the people who clean porta potties,
clean out sewers, spray down the vats that make wine and beer, mix and lay
concrete on our roads, sweep chimneys, etc. we saw people who may have had
“messy” jobs but that were upbeat and happy people. How could someone with such
a dirty job and lifestyle be so happy?
Which brings us to tonight and the birth of Christ. How in
the world could the Messiah arrive in a messy stable in Bethlehem to an unwed
mother as a tiny, needy, messy baby? This makes no sense. Rarely do stories of
heroic leaders begin with the future king’s birth in a barn full of common
animals. Even more unique is the fact that Jesus’ birth stories admit his
lineage may not be perfectly neat. There could be questions as to his claim to
the throne because Joseph wasn’t a priest or royalty, he was just a simple,
messy carpenter.
But, maybe that is the point. God chose to become human not
because God needed to, but because God wanted to become human to show us a
different way than the world provides. Life is messy, full of troubles and
frustrations, and no matter how much we try to hide the mess, it’s still in the
closet, under the rug and furniture, or collecting in the corners we can’t
quite reach.
By entering the world in a messy
way, God showed us God would be there in the mess of life. We call Christ
Emmanuel, God is with us. And no matter the mess we make or find ourselves in
God is truly with us. We couldn’t say that if God entered the world in golden
splendor attended to by a royal court with all of the worldly money and power
he desired. We need a savior that is with us, one of us. One that is at home
with the nice and the messy. One that befriends shepherds, tax collectors,
lepers, Samaritans, etc. By being one of us and knowing first hand the mess of
the world and our lives, he truly is our Savior and that is the Gospel truth of
Christmas.
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