"What Child Is This?" December 13, 2009

Zachariah 3
Luke 3
There is a message being whispered and sung through all the children of all the houses of this Village...
“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why:”
When I was very young, my parents had these elves, whom they described as being sent from the North pole to watch us and report back who had been naughty and nice.
But the message of John the Baptist and Zephaniah Ben Cushi is exactly the opposite!

NOT that you should CRY and POUT and not be careful, but rather that instead of trying to hold it in and stuff your feelings until Christmas is over, because Santa is watching, Santa is coming and in 12 short days it will be over...
Instead, that we would listen, listen to our hearts, listen for a different voice, for God among us, that we need to be true to who we are as human beings loved by God. Instead of trying to act as adults filled with fears and responsibilities. Instead of suppressing what we feel for 12 more shopping days, 'til Christmas is over for another year, that we follow a different direction the rest of our lives, that we recognize a child is going to be among us, for ever more, so how shall we live?

For thousands of years, children and adults have acted out this story. As portrayed this day, it needs no words. The reason we portray the events in a play each year, are not simply to make grandma and grandpa proud that I was a SEEP, but for each of us to go to Bethlehem, and feel what they each felt.

What would it be to be MARY? Still a child, living with your Mom and Dad, when an Angel appears. Would we say, “Yeah Right, an Angel, and I am supposed save the world?” Would we be imagining “What will my father think, I am 14 and Pregnant?” Would we be like Mary, innocent and trusting, and greet this as an awesome event and how marvelous to be chosen by God to give a gift to the world?

What would it be to be JOSEPH? You are a Middle aged man, successful, set in your ways. All your life, you have lived alone, working hard, making a career. Finally, the time has come, when you can settle down, and have someone to share life with, someone who will care for you. The whole community has celebrated your engagement, when suddenly Mary is found to be with child, and you know the child is not yours! Would you stay beside her and share this? Would you believe her story, that this is a gift from God, even if you had a dream, would you accept the child and his mother as your own?

What would it be to be KING HEROD? You were born to be King, and yet yours is an occupied territory of the Roman Empire. The Nation of David is a long distant piece of history. The wealth of Solomon has been carried off. The Babylonians besieged your nation for 70 years of war. Then the Persians; then Alexander the Great and the Army of the Greeks, imposed their culture, their language, their Gods. Then The Roman Legion terrorizes your people. The taxes you raise, are taken by Caesar. All you really have left as King is the title and authority of being King. When it is reported to you that a child is to be born, who is a challenge to you as King.

What would it be to be the INN KEEPER? Your quaint village suddenly filled with hundreds of thousands of tourists! Every room has three families sharing. The demands of so many people, you cannot offer the hospitality you desire, because there are so many who want so much. When suddenly there is a knock at the door and you know you have no room. But the woman is about to give birth anytime. Would you turn them away, or would you try to find them a place, and witnessing the birth of the Savior, how would it change you?

What would it be to be an ANGEL given responsibility to share with all the world that GOD has a GIFT, A CHILD who will change the world!

What would it be to be a SHEPHERD that night. Every day has been pretty much like every other. We graze our sheep. We protect them from wolves. We bed them down by lakes and streams and good pasture. You lay on your back marveling at the stars, when suddenly, there appear in the sky a Choir of Angels, singing of the glory of God! Would you be afraid to move? Would you want to go and see this thing that has taken place, to go and tell everyone what has been told to you? And expecting a miracle, expecting to see the Son of God, what would you feel entering a dark cave or barn and seeing a poor couple with a newborn babe?

Over the years, we have had Several Wiseguys, a few Wisewomen, even a couple of camels,... What would it be to be a Wiseman, a learned teacher, selling off everything you have to travel the world in order to see the birth of the Savior.

Now, having witnessed these events, feeling the thoughts and emotions of Mary, of Joseph, of the Angels, Shepherds, Wisemen, and Inn Keepers, what will you do, how will you “Go Tell It On The Mountain” that Jesus Christ is born?

THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH ben Cushi declared that we need to REPENT. NOT a momentary change of heart, a singular charitable give away, but going from being a people afraid, who argue and squabble and fight, who can find no good in the world and suck the joy from the marrow of life; to become a people of God, a people of compassion, a people who hope and believe, and act differently because of what they believe.

APARTHEID in South Africa was the domination of one people by another, the outgrowth of centuries of persecution and slavery, for over 30 years in the last half of the last Century, APARTHEID involved entering people's homes in the middle of the night, taking your husband and sons to be forced into the army, taking your daughters for worse. When all the fighting was done, ArchBishop Desmond Tutu was asked to serve as the judge over the REPARATION TRIALS, to find justice for those who had been so abused. One of the stories, is of a woman 80 years of age, who stood in court and identified the men who had taken her husband from their bed, had carried him off and murdered him. She identified the men who had taken sons and forced these children to be soldiers. She identified the men, who had taken daughters to be sold as slaves. Desmond Tutu then asked her “Mother, what would you have us do with these men?” And she, asked that every year on her husband and sons' and daughters' birthdays and Christmas, these men would come to share the day with her, identifying with the sons and daughters and husband they had taken.

JOHN THE BAPTIST responded to the people, with the world's first great stimulus package: Go through your closets at home, and if you have two coats, give one to someone in need. If you have toys you no longer play with, share them with those who have none. Why should we have things taking up space, when we could give them to bring joy to others?

We know what Child this is! This is Emmanuel, GOD WITH US! But the question that comes to every believer, young or older, in the time of Zephaniah 600 years before Jesus, or the time of John the Baptizer, 30 years after his birth, or in 2009, is what shall we do, how shall we respond to God in the living of our lives? Acting with compassion and caring toward other persons, being humble and humane, reveals our humanity.