Sermon for January 2, 2000
John 1:1-18
The Power of the Manger and the Cross
John says, "He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, . yet the world did not know him... and his own people did not accept him."
This past century has seen a convulsion of human progress and heartache that has brought people together in many ways, but yet in so many other ways has put people, nations, races and religions at odds in ways that threaten the existence of life on this planet. If we took a poll this morning on this question, "What are the chances of the human race making it to Year 2100?" How would you answer? Good/Moderate/Slim/No Chance?
On Friday night the world had a party like it's never had before! Humanity showed a glorious face! Along with you, I watched in awe and wonder as the majority of the human race celebrated one common theme of a new millennium. More than once I heard it said, "It's the dawn of a new age!" But I have to ask, Is it? Is it really? We all hope and pray so, but is the dawn of a new age as simple as turning the page of a calendar or writing Year 2000 on our checks?
For sure, technology will takes us places we can scarcely dream, but I'm talking about the human condition; human and national relationships, the quality of the environment, the levels of suffering and misery. Will any of these become substantially different?
I can remember when I was in elementary school in the 50's, the age of optimism, when the predictions were that by the year 2000 diseases would be conquered, wars would cease, and human misery would be eliminated!
In past weeks there has been much reflection on the century past, but I didn't hear any reflecting on what God's evaluation might be of this last century of human history.
I believe I have an insight into that, at least in part!
First, I believe God feels some joy as God has celebrated those moments when humanity has had the courage to take unprecedented steps for justice, equality, understanding, compassion, selflessness and harmony; when some of God's servants shined like beacons in the darkness: Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and countless others.
But God has also been angry as God has watched millions upon tens of millions suffer and die at the hands of poverty, war, violence, hatred, prejudice and indifference!
But, in my mind, neither joy nor anger adequately describes God's most overwhelming emotion as God looks back upon this awesome and awful era we know as the 20th century. There's something else, and the scriptures gives us a clue.
An incident in Jesus life comes to mind. In Luke 19 Jesus draws close to Jerusalem riding his donkey down a path on the side of the Mount of Olives. He's getting ready to ride into Jerusalem for his final ride. As the city came into view Jesus paused and then it says, "He wept!" "He wept" because the people in that great city didn't know, and I quote, "the things that make for peace."
When God looks at our world, I believe God weeps! The overwhelming emotion of God is grief! God weeps over the world as sure as Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
You see, God weeps because only a person who is in love can really grieve. I know that many of you are grieving the loss of loved ones this holiday season. and the reason you grieve so deeply is because you loved so deeply. The greater the love, the greater the grief! And God is passionately in love with the human race, and God's heart has been broken! God weeps at the sight of this beautiful planet with thousands of maimed bodies lying on battlefields; with lonely children roaming the streets of big cities; with millions dying of disease and starvation that needn't be!
God weeps because God knows the anguish we have brought upon ourselves by wanting to take our destiny in our own hands through coercive power! God weeps because like those Jerusalem dwellers of Jesus' day, we too know not the things that make for peace!
When we look at our now past century with the eyes of God, it's not hard to see the all-pervading human lust for power. Why do Serbs kill Moslems, and visa versa? Why do Protestants and Catholics throw bombs at each other? Why do Palestinians and Jews keep centuries old antagonisms going and going and going? Why do Skinheads further their crusade of hatred? Why does the husband batter his wife and abuse his children? Why?
I believe we don't have to look any farther than our own hearts for the answer! Aren't we constantly concerned with whether we are noticed or not, appreciated or not? Aren't we always asking ourselves whether we are better or worse, stronger or weaker, faster or slower, than the one who might be standing near us? From elementary school onward haven't we experienced most of our fellow human beings as subtle rivals in the race for success, influence and popularity? Don't we, the instant our own security is threatened, tend to grab the first weapon available, telling ourselves that our survival is what really counts! Aren't we just insecure enough that we will grasp at subtle forms of power that give us a little bit of control over others? Hey! I know my weapons only too well. I choose them carefully! You see, I'm not talking about physical survival and weapons like guns and knives. Sometimes my weapon is a friend with more influence than I; sometimes my weapon is money, or a degree; or a talent that others don't have; or specialized knowledge; sometimes merely a cold stare or perhaps yelling louder. I will grab it quickly when I need to stay in control and I perceive my agenda is being threatened. It's everywhere! Most marriages I have counseled over the years that are in trouble are struggling with subtle and often complex issues of power!
God looks at us and weeps because, whenever we use power to gain a sense of self or a sense purpose, we tend to soon separate ourselves from God and from each other. Power can so easily become "diabolical" in the most literal meaning of the word, for the word diabolical literally means, "divisive!"
And people of faith are not exempt. Perhaps the most grotesque expressions of the human lust for power are found in the religious arena--and God weeps! God weeps because many of those who pray, and offer praise, and who call Jesus "Lord" are also corrupted by power.
The most insidious and destructive kind of power is often the power exercised in the service of God. In my ministry, many times I have been shocked and overwhelmed by the number of people who have been wounded by Christians: an unfriendly word; a harshly judgmental remark, a conscious refusal to welcome, a deliberate absence during crises, an unwillingness to affirm, all can hurt and remain etched in people's memories, sometimes for a life-time!
The devastating influence of power in the hands of God's people becomes historically clear when we think of the crusades, the policies of apartheid, and the long history of religious wars that have all been characteristic of this last millennium. Even some contemporary Christian movements cultivate fertile soil for these kinds of immense human tragedies to take new expression in our time.
Whenever coercive power is used to witness to the Gospel -- it's almost guaranteed that the Good News of Jesus Christ will soon become Bad News. And God weeps as sure as Jesus wept that day so long ago over Jerusalem.
What is God's response to this diabolic power that rules the world and manifests itself in every level of our living?
Well, John tells us! God's response is that,
"The Word became flesh and lived among us... full of grace and truth."
In other words, instead of choosing power, God chose powerlessness! God chose to enter into human history in utter and complete weakness -- in total vulnerability! That's what Christmas is all about - that, by the way, we are still celebrating today, the 9th day of Christmas! We celebrate God's choice to become completely vulnerable.
In Jesus of Nazareth, the powerlessness of God took human shape to unmask the diabolical power of the world. This is such a hard thing for us to understand, because we don't do it that way. This is so difficult for us to accept because it's so contrary to the way we normally think and live. We grasp for power.... God in Christ sheds His power!
It's not God's desire to rule over us with power. Rather it is God's desire to live in relationship with us heart to heart! Think about how this works! People with power do not evoke intimacy. We often fear people with great power. People with power can control us! They can force us to do what we don't want to do. We may respect people with power, of course! After all, they have what we don't have and perhaps would like to have. We envy people with power! They can afford to go where we cannot go! But you see, with God it's different. God does not desire to be distant, or for us to be afraid or envious of God. God wants to draw very close, so we can find rest in the intimacy of God like a child in its mother's arms. That's what God passionately desires.
Therefore God became a baby! Those of you who are parents know all about the paradoxical power that a baby has over you as you cradle the child in your arms. After all, who can be afraid of a baby? How can you fear a baby you rock in your arms? How can you look up to a baby that is so small and vulnerable? How can you be envious of a baby that only smiles at you in response to your tenderness? God becomes a child, a baby, in order to pass through the walls of diabolical human power in total weakness. That's the story of Jesus of Nazareth!
And how did the story end? The powerlessness of his manger became the powerlessness of the cross. Remember what John said, "the world did not know him... his own people did not accept him."
He hung there, with his body broken, but more deeply with his heart broken by the rejection of his friends and abuse from his enemies - all of which were God's children! He hung there as a ravaged portrait of total powerlessness!
The paradox and mystery is that's how God chooses to reveal His love; how God chooses to bring us back into an embrace of compassion and relationship; how God chooses to reconcile us to God's most intimate self!
The question for us (for every Christian) now as we begin a new century and a new millennium is, "How are we to live in this power-crazed world as witnesses to this kind of vulnerable God and this kind of love?"
And this is where we struggle with what it means to live the Christian life--because we don't trust loving out there in the world the way that God has loved us in Jesus Christ, in this vulnerable and seemingly powerless way. We don't trust God's way of loving! We underestimate God's way of loving.
We think it means that we are doomed to be doormats to our power-hungry society. We think it means being passive and subservient. We don't trust nor understand how powerful the powerlessness of God's love really is.
But what kind of power is it? The power that God desires to give to you and to me is the power of the manger and the cross. It's the power that comes in not responding in kind, but the power of turning the other cheek; the power of service in suffering love. The rub is it's only when we begin to live by it that we will ever experience and know it's mysterious and paradoxical power.
You see the diabolical power of the world is like the threads on an old-fashioned string puppet. That kind of power makes us and others jerk up and down, here and there, doing this or that at the will of the puppeteer.
But the power of God -- the power of God is something altogether different. The power of God expressed in and through Jesus' powerless love, connects us and bonds us to the very heart of the eternal God and God's endless grace. We are called to move through the moments of our days trusting the power of the manger and the cross! John said it this way, "But to all who received him... he gave the power to become the children of God."
For sure the world will call us foolish and deem us to be naive. We will repeatedly feel the temptation to grab at a little bit of the diabolical power the world offers -- but insofar as we continue to set our sights by faith on the powerless manger and cross of Jesus Christ and to shape our lives around that manger and cross, we will come to know somewhere along the way the indescribable joy, the burning purpose, the eternal hope and the paradoxical power that flows from there.
I pray that in this millennium Christians (including us) will be people over which God will not grieve, but rather be a people about whom it can be said, "Now they know the things that make for peace!"