How Do We Get To Bethlehem?

Luke 2:1-20

            If you want to think in Sesame Street terms I guess you could say that our sermon for tonight is brought to us by the letter B.  B for baby.  B for boy.  B for birth.  B for Bethlehem.  The theme song could even be rewritten: “Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Bethlehem?”  It is the birth of a very special baby boy that brings us to Bethlehem tonight.  How we get to Bethlehem is more of a personal story though.

            In our gospel text we hear how Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem.  They are just going about daily life.  They received a decree that the world should be registered, so Joseph went home to Bethlehem.  He went there because he was a descendent of the house and family of David.  He took Mary, his soon-to-be-bride with him to be registered. 

            We also hear how the shepherds arrived in Bethlehem.  They were nearby that night doing their typical shepherd duties, keeping watch over their flocks.  And then an angel appeared.  Of course they were initially afraid of said angel, but then the angel shared with them the good news of the birth of this baby boy named Jesus.  When the angel and the whole host of angels disappeared the shepherds left for Bethlehem. 

            Not in our gospel text for tonight, but a part of the Christmas story that you likely know as well, is the arrival of the wise men.  In Matthew 2 we hear that they saw a star at its rising and followed it to the place in Bethlehem where the baby Jesus was born.

            All of these roads led to Bethlehem.  Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men all arrived in the same place.  They all arrived in the stable in Bethlehem.  They all arrived to greet this new baby boy, the savior of the nations.

            This story is not just one of ancient times that we reread each year at the appropriate time.  This is not a stagnant story of yesteryear.  This story continues.  It continues because of its importance in our lives.  It continues because we are a part of the story.  This child was not just born for the community living over 2,000 years ago.  This child was born for us, too.  Before we were ever thought of and long before our own birth, this baby boy was born in Bethlehem for us.

            So, how is it that you arrived in Bethlehem? Why have you come to hear the story of a babe born in Bethlehem?  Maybe you have heard this story since your own birth, a story passed down throughout the generations.  Maybe this story has been part of daily life for you.  Maybe this story is new to you.  Maybe you have come tonight because of a dramatic revelation, a sign from the heavens.  Maybe some personal angels or the sighting of a star has led you here.  Whatever the source or reasoning for your arrival is, you are here.  Welcome to Bethlehem!  You are here to worship the newborn King.

            This is a king who is the bringer of peace.  He brought peace to a place that was lacking peace under the reign of Caesar Augustus.  He was born into Roman oppression and he became someone who raised up the oppressed and overthrew the powerful.  He came into the world as a helpless baby, just like each of us.  His life, which started in a feeding trough and ended on a wooden cross allowed him to identify with the powerless, the poor, and the homeless.  Unlike us, Jesus is a different type of baby, though.  He is a baby that is both fully human and fully divine.

             Jesus, fully human, ultimately knows what the human experience is like.  He knows the feelings we have, because he has had them.  He knows that being in relationship with other people is difficult.  He knows sadness and happiness.  He knows despair and joy.  He celebrated and he cried.  Jesus knows us.  He knows what it is like to be human.

            But, Jesus wasn’t just a human.  Jesus is also divine.  It is because of his divinity that he can love us regardless of our own mistakes.  It is his divinity that brings peace.  It is his divinity that offers forgiveness, wiping the slate clean over and over again.  It is his divinity that gives us salvation and life everlasting. 

            It is the combining of his humanity and his divinity that makes him Jesus, the holy child of Bethlehem.  And that is what makes this story so profound.  It is the word made flesh that came to dwell among us that brings us here tonight.  It is the birth of a baby boy that brings us to Bethlehem.  And not just the birth of any baby boy, but the birth of Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Messiah, God made flesh, Emmanuel.  That is what brings us to Bethlehem this year.

Jesus didn’t come into the world just for Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men.  He was ordinary and he came for the ordinary, not only the ordinary people that came to his stable that night.  He also came for us in our ordinary state.  He came for you and me.  The angel made that very personal announcement to the shepherds.  The angel very clearly said, “To YOU is born this day.”  The angel didn’t say “to them” or “to those people over there” or “to the rich people” or “to the important people.”  The angel told the shepherds that Christ had been born for them.  I imagine they were a bit stunned to have been visited by an angel, but then the angel’s message was so profound.  A savior had been born for them, for lowly shepherds. 

So we gather here in our own little Bethlehem tonight to hear the story from Scripture once again, to sing the well-known carols, to pray for others and ourselves, to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, the body and blood of our Lord, and to light a candle.  We don’t just gather out of ritual or tradition.  We gather to remember how God entered into history through a tiny little baby, born to unwed parents, that was placed in a feeding trough.  And because we believe in that miracle, we also gather to recognize that the same God, who is, who was, and who is to come, is entering into our lives, breaking into our world, and bringing us once again to Bethlehem.  We gather because of the angel’s message, that indeed a savior has been born for us, for each and every one of us.

This Christmas may you know the promise that Jesus, fully human and fully divine, was born for YOU.  May you be surrounded by the hope that the birth of this baby boy brings.  And may you never, never forget how to get to Bethlehem.  Amen.