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Looking ahead to Christmas:
Video: Magnificat ($4.95)
Sermons:
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Expectations
Matthew 11:2-11
RevJan
Pick up any December woman's magazine, and you'll see articles titled
"Coping with the Holidays," "How to Avoid Holiday Stress," "Helping your
Children Face the Season." I even have an article I tore out from Sunday
School Leader magazine a few years ago, titled "Helping Children Get
Through the Holidays." The morning news-talk shows have segments on "How
to Have a Happy Holiday." The presumption is that there will be
stressful moments, anxious minutes, and some downright awful times
during the holiday season — because what happens during the holiday
season very often does not meet our expectations of what should happen
during the holiday season.
Children, especially, have expectations this time of year. When
Matthew was three, he asked Santa for a teddy bear. Bob and I were
surprised because he already had a teddy bear that he took everywhere
with him — to bed, to day care, shopping. When he was sent to his room
for some offense or another, he would cry for "best friend, Koko." I was
always surprised that we didn't leave Koko behind somewhere, but then he
was too important to forget. So, when Matthew asked Santa, at age three,
for a second teddy bear, we were surprised. I guess Santa was, too,
because Santa didn't leave one that year. Koko continued to be Matthew's
best friend and time-out buddy, and we never heard a word about another
teddy bear – until the next Christmas.
At the end of his letter to Santa he wrote: "and the bear you forgot
to bring me last year." When he went to visit Santa at the mall, Matthew
reminded him to bring "the bear you forgot to bring me last year." When
he told his grandparents what he wanted for Christmas he said "and the
bear Santa forgot to bring me last year." When Santa called him on the
phone on Christmas Eve, as he does every year, Matthew reminded him
"don't forget the bear you forgot last year." Santa didn't forget that
year, and under the tree on Christmas morning was a small, soft, dark
brown bear whom Matthew promptly named "Misfit." I don't know what was
going on in that three year old mind for a whole year until he got his
second teddy bear. I do know that he definitely expected to get his
teddy bear. Perhaps the most unusual story about expectations is
Charles's Dicken's Great Expectations.
In that story, a wealthy bride is dressing for her wedding, when she
gets word, at twenty-minutes-to-nine, that the groom is not coming. From
that day on, all the clocks in her house are set at
twenty-minutes-to-nine — the time she learned she would never be a
bride. When the book opens, many years later, Ms. Haversham is still
wearing her wedding gown; the wedding cake is still on the table,
covered with dust and cobwebs; and the clocks are still set at
twenty-minutes-to-nine. Talk about post-traumatic stress syndrome!
Christmas is a time of great expectations. The Jews in John's day
expected a Messiah.
They expected someone who would be a king — who would ride into
Jerusalem in a chariot of fire, overthrow the Roman Empire, and place
Israel over all the nations. They expected a warrior king surrounded by
angels. They expected someone who would judge the wicked and bring down
the mighty. Our Old Testament lesson tells of this expectation: Your God
is coming to punish your enemies. God will take revenge on them and
rescue you. [Isa 35:4, CEV] Even Mary's Magnificat echoes some of this
expectation: He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the
proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful
from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry
with good things, and sent the rich away empty. [Luke 1:51-53]
John, Jesus' cousin, who leapt in his mother's womb when Mary arrived
at their house, had expectations of his cousin: "He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he
will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the
granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." [Mat
3:11-12] Yet, in this morning's scripture lesson, John is questioning
whether Jesus is the Messiah. John had been imprisoned by King Herod. On
a visit to his brother in Rome, Herod had seduced his brother's wife. He
went home, dismissed his own wife and married his sister-in-law, whom he
had lured away from her husband, his brother. [continue]
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