Jesus’ Story: Bringing Hope by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

Every year Forbes Magazine comes out with a list of the most miserable cities in the United States. In 2013 Toledo was #11. Forbes said this about Toledo; #11 Toledo, Ohio: “Job growth has been anemic in Toledo and residents are voting with their feet by leaving the city.” (Source: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mli45lmhg/11-toledo-ohio/) Some of the things they looked at in order to measure what makes a city more miserable, rather than desirable are these:  “violent crime, unemployment, foreclosures, taxes (income and property) and home prices. The also include … quality-of-life issues like commute times and weather.” (ibid) Toledo seems to makes this list every year.

Yes, things are tough in Toledo. We don’t really need a poll from Forbes to tell us that times are hard in Toledo. Many of us know the victim of a violent crime. Everyone in this room knows someone who has been unemployed or underemployed; or had a house foreclosure. Some of us are these people.

When you hear a scripture like this one from Isaiah about people who live in a land of deep darkness, some days, it feels like Isaiah could be writing about Toledo Ohio in 2013, doesn’t it?

Well, guess what? To the people in a little town called Bethlehem in about the year 0, these words from the prophet Isaiah, also seemed as if they could have been written just for them. Bethlehem was a backwater little town. It wasn’t know for much of anything.  Jacob’s wife Rachel had died there. People liked to visit her tomb and pay their respects. It was the home of Jesse, the father of King David, you would think that would give it a little, but even that did not seem to give it much notoriety. Because you see, the people of Israel were living under the rule of the Roman Empire at this time. So no one had it good.

In fact Emperor Augustus decided he wanted to be sure the Romans were getting plenty of tax money from all the Israelites so he decided to do a census. The only way they knew to do that was to make everyone literally travel to the hometown of their ancestors and register. So Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem because he was from the house of David, which, as I said, had its home base in Bethlehem.

Now I can tell you, it is a long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. I have made that trip on a nice cozy air-conditioned bus, and it took several hours.  It was long enough in a tour bus. I would NOT want to walk it while 9 months pregnant. Yes, maybe Mary did have a donkey to ride but let me tell you even on a donkey I would not want to make that trek! No way!

But remember Mary and Joseph had something that no expectant couple has. They had the promise that their baby would bring hope to the world! So perhaps that eased her discomfort, a little. Remember that both Mary and Joseph had been visited by angels, and those angels had informed them: this child is no ordinary child. This is Emmanuel – God-with-us! And so as Mary and Joseph made that long journey to Bethlehem, perhaps they were thinking, “Any day now, this baby is going to be born, the one we have been waiting for. This is not just the child we have been waiting for, this is a child the whole world has been waiting for.” Perhaps as they traveled they talked about their dreams for that child, and wondered what that child might do to ease the misery of a nation.

If you have ever prepared for a baby, maybe you have had conversations about your child’s future. But I imagine our conversations are pretty mundane compared to the ones Joseph and Mary must have had. We ordinary parents just worry about things like this: will our child be born healthy. Will he have friends? Will she get good grades in school and get a good job.

But Mary and Joseph, they had to wonder: What did the angel mean when he said, this is the one the prophets spoke of. Could this be the child of which Isaiah spoke (Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 for those following along on the net)? Could a little baby really live up to these expectations: authority rests upon his shoulders;
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ His authority shall grow continually,
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore

I wonder, as Mary and Joseph made that long journey from Nazareth way down to Bethlehem if they talked about that baby in Mary’s womb, the one they would call Jesus. Did they wonder if he could really bring hope to a nation living in the misery of living under foreign rule?

We know the old, old story, they got to Bethlehem, and he came time for Mary to give birth. The city was crowded from all the people coming for the census, and the only place they could find to stay was out behind an inn with the animals, probably in some sort of cave. And Mary used a manger, a feeding trough for a baby bed.

Those are really all the details we know of that first night. There have been lots of embellishments for Christmas pageants: a drummer boy, a donkey and lots of other animals. But all we know from Luke’s gospel (Luke 2:1-7 for those following along on the net) is that there was a crowded inn, a manger, and a baby boy named Jesus.

He was born in this small city outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the seat of power for the religious leaders and for the government. Eventually Jesus would go there to challenge the powers and principalities of the day.

But the important part of the story for us, is the simplicity. God did not send the Savior of the world into the center of the action from the beginning. Jesus was born on the edge, in a little miserable town, to poor parents, temporarily homeless hardly noticed by anyone. It was a town that would have been on the list of most miserable cities. This is how God came into the world.

And so, we know that if Jesus could begin in a place like that, and have the impact that he did, then he can surely come to a place like Toledo, in the 11^th most miserable city in the United States (according to Forbes magazine) and surely do something for us.

Because you see, wherever he comes, Jesus does not stay on the sidelines for long. Jesus is a bright and powerful light, that moves into any space of darkness and fills it with light.

Do you remember the stories of how he brought hope to the world? What are your favorites? I love the story of how he found the woman caught in adultery. The people were going to stone her as was their custom, their law, but Jesus reminded them, “No one is without sin.” Then he said, “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.” Of course no one did. They all knew they were sinners.  He brought hope to that woman, to all of them and to each one of us that even though we sin, we can leave our sin behind and have a new start. We can forgive one another because we have a common understanding that we are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness.

Do you remember how Jesus showed compassion for the children and said “Let them come to me”? He had time for everyone. No one was insignificant to Jesus. He brought hope to the people. He said that no one was outside the circle of God’s love, not even the children, not the lepers, not the poor, no one. Because Jesus loved the unlovable and the vulnerable, he gives hope to us when we feel unlovable and vulnerable.

Jesus’ story is a story of hope. He had humble beginnings. God chose to come into the world through the vulnerability of an infant born to temporarily homeless parents, in a country living under the miserable conditions of foreign occupation.

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.
⁶ For a child has been born for us.

That child comes to bring hope to us. We don’t have to walk in the darkness. God sent Jesus so that we can walk in the light. So come, let us live as people of hope. Let us walk in the light. Amen.