LUKE 2:1-20 [KJV Text from BibleWorks]
Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
THE MARVEL OF THIS NIGHT
Those of us old enough to remember the Urban Cowboy craze of the early 1980s can still remember the title song by Mickey Gilley, the owner of the infamous beer joint outside Houston TX. As movie actors John Travolta and Debra Winger fell in and out of love and back in love again, Gilley sang, “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.”
If Methodist bishop Will Willimon is right – that reading the book of Proverbs is like being stuck in a car with your mother on a long road trip – then, at least, listening to classic country songs is a whole lot easier on your ears. Emerging from the culture of the Bible Belt, country songs often echo the Bible’s wisdom literature as they describe in pithy style the road to pain and pleasure. To underscore this assertion, I need only recall that Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Pentecostal preacher Jimmy Swaggart are all first cousins.
In his most famous song, Gilley didn’t reveal to us some phenomenal new insight into the human condition. He gave us words for an age-old heartache. He said out loud what “Mama ‘n ‘em” (Mama and them) always told us: you don’t find love in the wrong places.
Sometimes it finally turns out all right in real life as it did for John Travolta and Debra Winger in the movie. For instance, this Christmas a relative of mine is one happy woman. After three bad marriages and years of incipient bitterness and disappointment, she’s been reunited with the first man that ever really loved her. This dear kind man was baptized at her church and welcomed into her family as a teenager, but then Viet Nam took them away from each other. It took almost 40 years to discover what they could have learned back then: you don’t find love when you’re looking in the wrong places.
A few years ago, an old friend was reunited with his only son after, literally, a lifetime of estrangement caused by my friend’s alcoholism. Sadly, for most of that time, my friend had been in recovery, but the wreckage of the past had still kept them apart. Then God brought them back together suddenly and, for my friend, joyfully. But there was a rub; now the son was busy qualifying for Alcoholics Anonymous. When I asked my buddy how the reunion was going, he said: “Well, we had a good time the other night until my son had to leave early to get home to his best friend.” I raised my eyebrows quizzically. He said: “The bottle. The bottle is always your best friend when you’re still drinking.”
Looking for love in all the wrong places isn’t just about who not to end up with. It’s about what you put into that God-shaped hole in your soul. The one St. Augustine talked about so long ago.
It’s sad. You see so many miserable people all around. The keep looking for love in all the wrong places, and they’re miserable. Something’s missing, they keep realizing. Maybe it’s a new car. No, it’s not that. Maybe it’s a new house. No, it’s not that. Maybe it’s a new haircut, or wardrobe, or that sort of thing. No, it’s not that. Maybe it’s going on a trip. No, it’s not that. Maybe it’s changing spouses. No, it’s not that. Maybe – maybe – maybe – no, it’s not that!
Who knows? Maybe the miserable person you see the most is the person in your mirror.
Where are all the miserable people going to find the love they’ve always needed?
It’s funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Two thousand years ago, the world around the Mediterranean Sea thought Caesar Augustus could fill the hole in their souls. God knows he tried. Claiming to be divine, claiming to bring peace on earth and good will to people, Julius Caesar’s little nephew Octavian just couldn’t be the kind of god he wanted to be. From Moscow to London to Paris to Baghdad to Berlin to Jerusalem to Washington, DC – none of this world’s little Caesars can ever fill the God-shaped hole in the world’s soul. And we’re not even talking about the little Caesars in Redmond, Washington and Austin, Texas and San Jose, California and Bentonville, Arkansas and Omaha, Nebraska. None of them can ever fill the God-shaped hole.
Tonight millions of people have spent billions of dollars to celebrate the birth of the One born in a room for livestock.
Tonight millions of people are pouring millions of bottles down their throats to anesthetize the pain caused by a void in the God-shaped hole.
Tonight so-called friends with benefits will imitate life and love for a little while and be left emptier than before, because they’re still looking for love in all the wrong places and can’t comprehend what intimacy is.
Tonight millions of sad, lonely people will stop by a red light district or by the guy that sells the stuff they put up their nose, into their lungs and arms, or down their throats.
Tonight in God’s name dozens are assembling bombs to blow their enemies to smithereens because the God-shaped hole in their soul is filled with a god named Hate.
As singer Jackson Browne wrote so many years ago, “And when the morning light comes streaming in, we’ll get up and do it again.” And again and again and again, because the God-shaped hole is still empty when it doesn’t have to be!
Where are you going to find that love? Tonight the angels say to the shepherds and to us: look in the manger. You don’t have to find the love you’ve always wanted and needed. God has come down to earth. God has come looking for you and me in Jesus Christ.
God wants to be reconciled with you and me, indeed with the whole world. God wants the whole world to know His love and His peace, the kind that little Caesars and little gods can never give. As Augustine says, until God finds us, there can be no rest! Only God can fill the God-shaped hole in your soul and mine.
The Christian faith is really quite simple. It says that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. If you’ve still got a God-shaped hole in your soul, you don’t have to. You’re already loved. You’re already treasured. You’re already known in all of your foolishness, in all of your brokenness, and in all of your emptiness. What you need, what you’re looking for, what you’ve always wanted is yours for free – tonight – here – now!
It’s Christmas Eve whoever you are. It’s Christmas Eve and no matter how dark the night seems, no matter how dark your life seems, no matter how many terrible things you’ve done to yourself and to others and them to you – the angels are talking to you. They’re saying marvelous words – words to be marveled at and marveled over. They’re saying: “The love we’ve always known has come down to earth tonight. Come to Bethlehem and see. Look in the manger. Pick up the little baby, the Prince of Peace, and see how He is what has been missing in your life. He’s just the right size for what’s wrong with you!”
Two thousand years ago tonight a handful of shepherds came in from the dark. They stopped looking for love in all the wrong places, and they found it where only a shepherd might have had the courage to look. In a room for livestock, in a manger, they discovered the Marvel of this night just as the angels had said.
And you can find Him, too, because He has been looking for you all of your life. Have a little courage. All you have to lose is the emptiness and the heartache and the despair and the hurt that comes when you keep trying to fill the God-shaped hole in your soul with something else.
Many years ago, my buddy, the recovering alcoholic, found that God had been looking for him all his life. When he goes to the altar these days with empty hands, my friend receives the Bread of Life without ever drinking the wine. That, too, is the marvel of this night.
The Great Lover of us all, who died upon the tree for your sins and mine, comes looking for us even hidden in, of all things, a tiny piece of bread. He wants to fill the hole in our soul. And He can. And He will. What a marvel! What a marvel!
The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Zumwalt
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
szumwalt@bellsouth.net