December 26, 1999, LESSONS: Isaiah 61.10-62.3; Luke 2.22-40

SERMON TITLE: My Eyes Have Seen

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INTRODUCTION:

1. Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh! What a relief it is!
1. Commercial for Alka-Seltzer
1. It is good for indigestion
1. Taking care of that huge Christmas dinner
2. It helps relive headaches
1. The headaches of the season.
2. Christmas is over.
3. We may not have indigestion or a headache
4. We may be suffering from a kind of fatigue
1. It is fatigue created by the long and intense preparations for Christmas.
2. It starts in October.
5. "Novelist Percy Walker In Sign-Posts in a Strange Land ⁽¹⁾ describes the biggest challenge this morning: fighting that "sigh" of everydayness and all-knowingness.

"Percy talks of how words and concepts can be overused and worn out 'to the point of exhaustion, so that, instead of transmitting information, they block it. Instead of being attended by the excitement of discovery, ... they are attended by boredom.'

"Percy calls this phenomenon the 'ordinary-Wednesday-two-o'clock-in-the-afternoon-phenomenon.'"

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MAIN BODY:

1. We need something to help us overcome over come Percy's description of exhaustion, blockage, and boredom.
1. To help us overcome we need to let the Christ-child grow up in us.
2. To help us overcome the exhaustion and the blocking we might concentrate on the question posed by the hymn:

What Child Is This? ⁽²⁾

What child is this, who laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom Angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
Why lies he in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear: for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.

1. What Child is this?
1. Who are you going to ask?
2. If you do are you ready to hear what the sources offer?
1. Biography of Jesus on the Arts and Entertainment Network
1. Jack Perkins
2. Information that was interesting and partially informative

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1. Talk to the person on the street
1. What kinds of answers do you think you might receive?
2. Do you accept the possibility of confusion and mis-understanding?
2. Ask others, why not go to the source.
1. It can't be all bad.
2. Actually its very good.
3. Ask the angels
1. Announcement of birth
2. Directions to the manger
4. Ask Mary
1. The one who bore him
2. The one who finds it necessary to perform a ritual of purification
3. Ritual of purification
1. As detailed in Leviticus 12:1-8, a woman was considered unclean for 40 days after the baby's birth, and thus, unable to enter the temple.
2. Ending this period of defilement, she was to bring a lamb, a pigeon or turtledove to the temple as a sacrifice and a sign that she was once again ritually clean.
3. Luke's details make it clear that Mary and Joseph are, at least at this point in their lives, quite poor--for instead of a lamb, Mary exercises the Levitically provided option for those who cannot afford a lamb and brings instead two doves.
4. But while the baby Jesus did not have to be present for this ceremony, he did need to be brought to the temple for another reason.
1. Symbolic of the living link binding Jews to their great history of exodus from Egypt, all first- born male infants were automatically considered dedicated to the Lord's service.
2. This tradition recalled the miraculous night in which all the first- born sons of Egypt were destroyed by Yahweh's hand, but the Hebrew children were "passed over," and saved by the Lord.
3. After acknowledging Jesus' first-born status and dedicating him to the Lord, Joseph and Mary were required to offer five shekels in order to "buy" him back from temple service.

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1. Ask Simeon
1. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.
2. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
3. And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.
4. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too."
2. Ask Anna
1. There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.
2. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
3. Ask Joseph
1. The one to whom an angel appeard

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1. Ask the shepherds
1. Who went to the manger and saw with their own eyes.
2. Whose recognition led to an act of praise
2. Ask the Wise Men
1. They came from afar enduring the hardship of the journey.
2. They contended with a king
3. They engage in an act of worship
4. They present gifts fit for a savior and king.
3. Ask Herod
1. In attempting to maintain control of his kingdom he attempts to suborn kings.
2. He orders the death of all the males, two years and younger, in Bethlehem
4. How about Caiaphas and Pilate
1. So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people, (John 18:12-14 NRSV).
2. As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so." Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you." But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed, (Mark 15:1-5 NRSV).

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1. Or Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and Paul.
1. They are the first generation followers who record the story.
2. They talked with Mary
3. They were the eye witnesses to the life of Jesus, his word and work.

CONCLUSION:

1. If "Novelist Percy Walker In Sign-Posts in a Strange Land ⁽³⁾ describes the biggest challenge this morning: fighting that "sigh" of everydayness and all-knowingness.

"Percy talks of how words and concepts can be overused and worn out 'to the point of exhaustion, so that, instead of transmitting information, they block it. Instead of being attended by the excitement of discovery, ... they are attended by boredom.'

"Percy calls this phenomenon the 'ordinary-Wednesday-two-o'clock-in-the-afternoon-phenomenon.'"

1. Our only solution is to listen to the story of a grandmother.
1. President American Association of Therapeutic Humorists writes about his grandmother.

My grandmother, who lived in Tucson, was well-known for her faith and lack of reticence in talking about it. She would go out on the front porch and say, "Praise the Lord!" Her next door neighbor would shout back, "There ain't no Lord!"

During those days, my grandmother was very poor, so the neighbor decided to prove his point by buying a large bag of groceries and placing it at her door. The next morning, Grandmother went to the porch and, seeing the groceries, said, "Praise the Lord!"

The neighbor stepped out from behind a tree and said, "I brought those groceries, and there ain't no Lord."

Grandmother replied, "Lord, you not only sent me food but you made the devil pay for it."

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1. It is possible for each of us to express the same kind of faith and relationship with Jesus Christ?
1. We can go out on the front porch and say, "Praise the Lord!"
2. We do not have to listen to the neighbors who would shout back at us.
3. God has sent a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.
4. The devil cannot pay.
5. Christ is the one who provides food for hungry minds and emaciated spirits.
6. Take and eat and live!