IN SEARCH OF REAL LIFE
As Director of the Back to God Hour, it’s my privilege to be part of the team that brings you these radio messages. I want to thank you for tuning in this program. You may be a long—time listener to the Back to God Hour. Or perhaps you’ve stumbled on us for the first time today as you ran through the stations on your car radio. Regardless of whether you are new to our ministry or well—acquainted, my hope is that you’ll join me on a regular basis to explore important dimensions of the Christian faith. As a pastor for 26 years before coming to the Back to God Hour, my commitment is to explore the timeless truths of the gospel in ways that honestly and openly connect with real life.
Real life. Maybe if there is any season of the year that seems removed from real life it’s the season we’re in right now. I’ve noticed that talk about a “Christmas Season“ has morphed into talk about “the Holiday Season.“ And the Holiday Season is, as one classic song says, “the most wonderful time of the year . . .“ But is that really true? Through my years of ministry, I’ve found that the holiday season isn’t wonderful for everyone——perhaps not wonderful for you.
The truth is, this season of the year is a tough time for many of us. I was talking recently with a friend who works as a pastoral counselor. He told me that things don’t slow up for him during this time of year. “A lot of people get chewed up by the holidays,“ he said. “A lot of people get depressed this time of year.“
Now, why would that be?
Perhaps because this season more than any other disconnects us from reality and ushers us into a make—believe world of tinsel and glitter that is nothing but a facade. This is the season when we are to leave behind our cares and troubles. Well, I don’t know about you. But my troubles aren’t so easily packed away and forgotten.
Some of us are going through a Christmas without someone we love. We stood at the graveside of someone dear to us during the past twelve months. And now there is an empty place at the table. And all the focus this season of the year on family gatherings only reminds us of the family member who is absent from our circle.
Or maybe we’ve gone through a marriage breakup—our own, or maybe that of those we love. And now Christmas is coming with memories of the whole family gathered round the tree. But this year, that’s not going to happen. There are different parties, with different guest lists. And the closer Christmas comes, the more you ache inside.
Or maybe money is tight. And holiday shopping only drives home how tight the family budget has become. Your company has downsized, and your paycheck has been downsized as well. You are just scrapping by. And now you are wondering where the money will come from to buy gifts for under the tree. You don’t dare stretch the credit cards any further. And yet you don’t want to disappoint your kids. You dread the bills that will pile up in the aftermath of the holidays.
Or maybe you struggle with depression. Blue moods are part of your life. And now, the holiday season has come and everyone around you seems so upbeat. And it’s only making your own emotional mood appear even more dark than usual. The more others laugh, the more you cry. It seems everyone is happy this time of year but you.
Or maybe you are listening to his program and you are far from home. You’re away at college, or in a strange city taking on a new job. Perhaps you are serving in the armed forces, stationed in a part of the world where talk of peace on earth is only a dream. You yearn for the sight and sounds and smells of home. You’re dreaming of a white Christmas, but you’re in a place where snow never falls. You want to go home for the holidays, but it’s not going to happen.
And what is sweeping over us in this season of the year is the sheer disappointment of it all. You really wanted to believe the Christmas hype. You wanted to believe that Christmas invariably delivers joy—real joy—into a world of so many cheap substitutes. You had hoped that this year—— it would happen——that you would have an encounter with joy. Joy would be lurking just around the corner with one more gift, one more party, one more decoration hung from the tree. But you don’t trust the hype anymore. You know down deep that when the holidays are over, your dominating emotion will not be joy—but sheer exhaustion. The season isn’t going to deliver on its promises.
And so you feel like the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ classic tale. You want to steal Christmas and banish it from the calendar. Your sentiment is the same as someone who said to me a year ago, after going through her first Christmas season without her spouse—“I’m glad it’s over.“
But what if we have missed the point of this season? What if Christmas isn’t meant to whitewash life? What if the point of Christmas is to slow down, look our troubles in the face, and discover that Christmas offers the very answers we have been looking for all along?
A CLOSER LOOK AT CHRISTMAS
We’ve been talking about the way we tend to go into denial during the holiday season. We’ve this strange notion that the holiday season is the time to sweep our problems under the rug. If so, we’d be helped by taking a closer look at the story of Christmas itself. Oddly, if we do, we discover that the news of Christmas doesn’t solve everyone’s problems. If you want to know the truth, the announcement of a Christmas birth created some new ones.
Consider what Christmas meant to one of the central characters of the Christmas story——a man from Nazareth by the name of Joseph. Joseph is engaged to a young woman named Mary. And in the months before the first Christmas, Joseph finds the Christmas message is messing with his life in ways he never thought possible. The Gospel writer, Matthew, puts it this way: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
The announcement of a Christmas birth was ripping up Joseph’s life. Why, it was plunging him into a world of scandal. His bride is expecting, and he not the child’s father. And to make the matter worse, Mary is telling this incredible story about an angel messenger and a divine conception. Joseph can only conclude that his young bride is either a pathological liar, or totally out of touch with reality. Caught in scandal, Joseph plans to divorce.
His course of action, of course, seems odd to us. Because Matthew has told us that Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. Joseph and Mary are engaged. Engaged couples today break up all the time—and they don’t need a court decision to make it official. Joseph isn’t married, only betrothed! So why talk of divorce?
Because in Joseph’s day, marriage was a two—stage happening. Stage one was the betrothal. Engaged couples essentially exchanged with each other what amounted to formal wedding vows. An engagement first—century style was legally binding. But after the betrothal, the couple lived apart in their parent’s homes. Only after perhaps a year, when the couple had made all the arrangements to set up their own household, would the day of the wedding come. On that day the groom would take his bride in grand procession to her new home. Then would come days of feasting and celebration as a young couple would invite the whole village to celebrate their future.
A wedding, first century style, was the high point of life for the average Jewish couple who would spend of their days struggling to make ends meet. But the REAL commitment between the bride and groom had happened long before that wedding, at the time of the engagement. That was why to break an engagement was essentially to seek a divorce. And now, Joseph plans to take that step. And who can blame him? The villagers of Nazareth might think the child is his, but he knows better. These ridiculous fabrications of Mary are making him feel a fool. He will seek a divorce. But he will couple justice with mercy. He will ?divorce her quietly.’ He could make a public accusation of adultery. He could make himself look a saint at Mary’s expense. It is his right within the law. But he will choose a different way. He will arrange a quiet separation. He will take some of the shame upon himself. What a hint of what the story of Jesus will hold!
And then the angel Gabriel arrives and upsets Joseph’s well thought—out plans. Gabriel calls Joseph to channel his mercy and justice in a different direction. “You wish to be both just and merciful, Joseph? Then take Mary into your house. Take responsibility for Mary. And Joseph, take responsibility for the child! Take him under your wing, Joseph.“
And will Joseph do that? Why, by naming the child. For in the first century world, to name a child was to claim that child as your own. When Joseph names the child he will take responsibility for Mary’s child. He will graft the child into his own family line. But he himself will not choose the name of the child. For that name has already been given by the child’s true Father. “You will call his name Jesus,“ says Gabriel, “because he will save his people from their sins.“
Joseph, of course, must have been stunned by this angelic epiphany. This announcement must have left him stuttering—but, but HOW! How can this be? And an answer comes: “Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.“ “The virgin will be with child,“ writes Isaiah, the prophet, “and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ?God with Us.“
A CHRISTMAS PERSPECTIVE
That announcement brings us face to face with the real answer Christmas delivers in the face of our cares and worries. This advent is the time to face facts about ourselves—even the painful facts of our failures, our mess—ups, our sin. And why? Why take a tough look at yourself this time of year? Because a child is about to be born. A child whose name is, “God with Us.“ If there is one season of the year where we can find the strength to face life as it really is—it’s this season. If there is one season of the year to face up to who we truly are—it’s now! And that honesty is very much tied to the reason for the child’s coming.
Let me ask you—why did Jesus come? Why Christmas? Why did God’s Son take human flesh? Some say—to reveal truth. Wasn’t Jesus a remarkable rabbi? Yes, but God didn’t need to come in the flesh to teach us about life. God had been teaching his people about life since the days of Abraham and Moses. Some say—to heal the sick. Wasn’t Jesus a powerful healer? Yes, but God didn’t need to come in the flesh to make sick people well. Elisha performed miracle after miracle—even raised the dead—by the power of the Spirit of God. God didn’t need to be born a squawking infant in a Bethlehem stable for God to teach us and heal us.
But there is one thing God could not have done without coming in human flesh. He could not have entered this world as one of us, and experienced our pain and misery and hardship. Without entering into the depth of human existence, God Incarnate could not have suffered. Without becoming like as we are, he could not have died. And God Incarnate—God ?in the flesh’—— was born to die. He was born to take to himself our brokenness and guilt and shame. Christ came to deal decisively with all the things that we want to escape this holiday season. You can only understand what is going on at Christmas if you see the road Jesus will travel. It is a road that will take him to Egypt, to Nazareth, and throughout Palestine. But it will end only a few miles from Bethlehem. On a hill outside Jerusalem. At a cross. Only if you see that the road winds its way to Calvary will you understand why this Holiday Season is a holy season. Only if you understand the cross will you understand Bethlehem’s crib.
For he is Immanuel, “God with Us.“ He is the one who, as the prophet declares,
Took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
Yet we considered him stricken by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
And by his wounds we are healed.
(Isa. 53:5,6)
Now we understand what is happening at Christmas. Jesus is born in our place. We deserve the embarrassment of the stable. We deserve the humility of a manger box. But Christ takes it upon himself. And he keeps taking upon himself our infirmity, our weakness, even our guilt, so that we might have peace with God, and a future. He takes it all upon himself so that we might live.
The place was Auschwitz. The Nazis had just selected a number of prisoners for death by starvation. One of those chosen for destruction, collapsed and groaned: “I am a married man,’ he muttered. “I have children. Have pity.“
It was at that moment that Father Maximillian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, stepped forward. A guard immediately pulled his gun, excepting trouble. But Kolbe only had a request to make of the commanding officer. “Sir,“ he said, “let me take the place of this man in the starvation cell.“
His request was granted. And Kolbe was placed in an underground bunker to be left to die.
I do not know whether I could have done what that Kolbe did. But I know this. That is what Jesus done for those who place their trust and faith in him. And this work of substitution, of bearing our hurts and carrying our sin—of standing in our place——it began long before Calvary. It begins in the events of Christmas. A child is born. A child whose name means “God with Us.“
THE ONES FOR WHOM CHRIST CAME
That is why, my friends, Christmas is not for the strong, but for the weak. Oh, we think it the other way around. We think Christmas is for the well—to—do. For those who can deck their homes with the latest Christmas fashions. Christmas is for those who can eat the best dainties and feast at the best restaurants during this season of the year. We think that Christmas is for those with enough bucks to give their kids whatever their hearts desire this Christmas season. But all of that is Christmas veneer. For Christmas is not for the strong. Christmas is for the weak.
Isaiah tells us so. He declares: A smoldering wick he will not extinguish. Hold in your hand a lighted candle. Blow out the flame. What you have left is a smoldering wick. Take your fingers, wet them, and extinguish the spark. We think nothing of it. Smoldering wicks are meant to be snuffed out.
You and I are smoldering wicks. Not flames, mind you. No, that would be to think too highly of ourselves. To think of ourselves as flames burning brightly would be to put too much stock in ourselves. We are smoldering wicks. You would think that God would take his divine fingers and end the smoke and mess. But he doesn’t. He comes with the flame of his spirit to reignite the fire of our lives. And the one who makes it happen? It is his son, Jesus Christ—come ?in the flesh’—incarnate——for our salvation.
This advent message is for those of us who sense are weakness today. For those who are tempted to give up on life. For those who don’t know what’s wrong with them this Christmas season because instead of feeling on top of the world, they are feeling low and miserable. Christmas is for those who think the holiday season will pass them by because they are in pain, or a loved one is sick or dying, or they are struggling with problems that they just can’t ignore. These are the folks for whom Christ has come. Flickering wicks.
And this is the Christmas news: “God is with us.“ God is with you! We have seen his glory in the face of Jesus—we have seen God’s grace.
The Scottish theologian Thomas Torrance tells how as a young army chaplain, he held the hand of a dying nineteen—year old soldier, and then, years later, back in Aberdeen as a pastor, he visited one of the oldest members in his congregation. They both asked the same question: “Is God really like Jesus?“ He assured them both—God is indeed really like Jesus—to see the Lord Jesus is to see the very face of God.
I invite you to come today to the side of the manger and look into the face of Jesus. And in the face of Christ, behold the face of your God. See the depth he will go to strengthen and encourage you. See the love that will enter broken humanity for the sake of our forgiveness, our hope, our healing. See God’s miracle of love—and believe!
Robert Heerspink
Rev. Robert Heerspink is a native of west Michigan. He completed his undergraduate studies at Calvin College and holds the degrees of Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. He has also received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Bob was ordained a minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church of North America in 1979, and has 26 years of parish experience, having served four churches throughout west Michigan. He was appointed the Director of The Back to God Hour in 2006. Bob has written several resources related to congregational stewardship, including the book, Becoming a Firstfruits Congregation. He is a regular contributor to TODAY, the monthly devotional of The Back to God Hour. Bob is married to Edith (Miedema) and they have three children. His hobbies include reading fictional and historical works, watersports, and occassional golfing.
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