Christmas Eve 2007…In The Red Zone

Mary, Did You Know? Part 2

Matthew 1&2, Luke 1&2

[Worship Dance:  Mary Did You Know?]

Two events have occurred in my life over the past 6 months that have heightened my senses on this Christmas Eve 2007. Both events happened at about the same time, 6 months ago.  I’d like to share them with you.

This is our first Christmas since we visited Bethlehem.  When we mention to people that we took a trip to Israel this past summer, one of the questions that people ask us is, “Were you concerned about your safety?”  The answer is easy:  only once.  There was only one brief period when we felt like we were in a dangerous area.  It wasn’t as we landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.   It was not along the Golan Heights as we peered across the border, past the UN peace-keeping outpost into Syria, or as we drove along the mine-fields that separate Israel from Jordan.  It was not when we were in Jerusalem, at the Sheep Gate to the Temple Mount, where armed Israeli security forces stood on one side of the courtyard, and armed Palestinian Muslims stood on the other. 

The only time we felt any tension, or sense of anxiety for our safety, was when we went to Bethlehem.  In Jesus day, Bethlehem was a small village, the birthplace of David, located about 6 miles from Jerusalem.  Today, like may cities in the US and around the world, Jerusalem has grown to the point that many of the New Testament cities and villages have merged into one metropolitan area. Bethlehem in the 21^st Century is a crowded, city, with unemployment over 50%, especially since the security crackdowns after the intafadas, Palestinian uprisings against Israel.

Bethlehem is in the Palestinian territory.  You may not be aware of it, but in response to terrorist attacks, Israel has built a “Berlin Wall” of sorts between Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.  The wall is visible from the Old City of Jerusalem.  For us to go and visit Bethlehem, our guide took us to a security checkpoint, and dropped us off.  She could not go with us, because she is Israeli.  After going through the Israeli security point, we entered the Palestinian security area.  On the other side of the wall, we were met by a separate tour guide, a Palestinian Christian, who loaded us into two mini-vans for the trip to Nativity Square. 

Our guide was thrilled to have tourists to lead.  He shared with us that at one time thousands of people would stream into Bethlehem every week, now it averages less than 600.  He told us about the persecution and oppression that Christians face in the city of Christ’s birth.  At one time, Bethlehem was the largest Arab Christian city in the Middle East, now it is estimated that within 10 years there will be no Christians in the city at all.  Christian families come home to find a Muslim family living in their home with increasing frequency, and their appeals to the Palestinian Authority for justice fall on deaf ears.  As a result, Christian residents and Christian businesses are being driven from the city.  It felt decidedly uninviting.  We felt un-welcomed.  As we sped along the narrow, winding streets of Bethlehem, I could almost feel the gaze of hostile antagonists who did not want us there, who considered us infidels deserving of death.

I gazed out the windows of the mini-van, amazed at the rough terrain.  I tried to imagine Joseph and Mary traversing the dry, barren, hilly landscape. Scary enough in a speeding mini-van, I couldn’t conceive of doing it on foot or donkey – and especially in with the onset of labor!  I remember Carol in labor for our first – we’d put on a shoe, she’d have a contraction, then the other shoe, another contraction – half way down the stairs – another contraction…I can’t imagine a 60-mile donkey ride in the final days of pregnancy, and in the first hours of labor!

On the other hand, it actually wasn’t really that hard to imagine the closed doors of the inn – When Joseph and Mary traveled to this same city, they felt un-welcomed, too.  The city was overcrowded and stretched beyond its capacity.  I can imagine harsh, unsympathetic eyes peering out at them as they made their way down the streets, seeking some shelter, until they found a cave that was used to house livestock.

Which brings me to the second thing that happened this year that has increased my awareness of Christmas eve.  We have animals living in our barn again!  After years of being empty, we have two horses living in the lower level of the barn.  The smell of hay and straw, the sound of animals bumping around and the smell of life fills the whole place!  I wish we could have had our service there tonight – for it would help us understand more fully the reality of the first Christmas.  Mice, and perhaps even a rat scurry about.  A barn cat has set up residence there.  Cold drafts pierce the walls despite our best efforts to close them out. When Joseph finally found a place of refuge for his young wife, it was in a cave with similar sights, sounds and smells.

Today, the Church of the Nativity sits atop that cave.  You have to enter the church, then make your way down a set of stairs into the place of Jesus’ birth.  The cave floor, and the stone manger that He was laid in, have been covered with marble by well-wishing worshipers from centuries past.  The walls are covered with thick, centuries-old tapestries, but if you pull them aside just a little, you can still see the black, hard stone of the original cave walls.  It’s all candles, and icons; marble and incense.  As we entered, a group of European tourists were there ahead of us, and we waited and listened while the recited a prayer in German.  As I waited, I thought, “how unlike that night!”  The only human sounds would have been those of a young, frightened girl in the throws of childbirth, and the words of her poor husband, trying to calm and reassure her.  The floors, now covered in marble, would have been covered in filth, mixed with straw, and stained with fresh blood from the tormented girl.

There would have been no myriad of candles about – perhaps a small fire on the floor, or a torch on the wall for illumination. Instead of tapestries, the only cloth would have been the rough wraps of a poor carpenter and his wife, and thin strips of cloth, hastily gathered to enfold the child.   And the smells would have been very different, too. The cave would have smelled like a stable; pungent with the odor of urine and manure; musty from the cool dampness.  Likely there would have been mice, maybe even a rat or two, and flies would have darted about the place.  If the stable were used for sheep, there would have very likely been lice.

Not much like a Christmas Card, is it? 

In these weeks leading up to tonight, we have been asking,

Ø         “Zechariah, Did You Know?”

Ø         “Joseph Did You Know?”

Ø         “Mary Did You Know?”

Each of these people were good righteous people, who were part of God’s plan for the Most Important Night In History, but for each of them, the plan of God took unexpected, difficult turns.  Zechariah and Elizabeth faced the suspicion and sorrow or being childless.  Joseph was thrown without warning or explanation into a sea of confusion, turmoil, conflict and fear.  Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that she is “most favored,” but faces the harsh reality of unwed pregnancy, an unbelieving husband, and now, giving birth in a barn. 

Ø         “This is what it means to have your prayers answered, Zechariah?”

Ø         “This is what it means to obey God, Joseph?”

Ø         “This is what it means to be ‘blessed among women’, Mary?”

Yes.  Yes.  And Yes.

We tend to think that our lives as followers of God will look like a Christmas Card, everything in warm, soft tones, orderly and deeply spiritual.  But more often than not, our life actually resembles the stable of Bethlehem:

Disheveled,

Confused,

Pesky flies,

A rat or two here or there.

Our lives are no stranger to the occasional scream in the dark,

Deep pain,

Wide-eyed fear,

Utter confusion,

AND WHAT IS THAT SMELL???!!!!

When our lives resemble a barn more then a Christmas Card, it doesn’t mean that God has forsaken us, or that we have some-how strayed from His plan for us, or that He doesn’t care.  Mary didn’t know when Gabriel told her that she would give birth to the Messiah that it would be in a barn, but God did – He had told the prophet 600 years earlier where His son would be born – He knew the city, and He knew the cave – He even knew the animals that would be there!  The barn wasn’t outside His plan – the barn was His plan!

This Christmas Eve, I’m able to more deeply appreciate the significance of the story of the Nativity, because I realize that as a child of God, my security, significance or satisfaction does not depend upon my circumstance.  I follow the Christ of Christmas, from the stench of the barn, through the blood of the cross, to the glory of Heaven – and it is a JOY to know He is in control! 

“By Him all things were created…in Him all things are held together.” (Col. 1:16-17) May we recognize that the Christ of Christmas has made this world, barns and all.  May we trust in Him to hold our world together.  And may “The Word Who became flesh” dwell richly within you this Christmas night, and through all the days and nights to come. 

Amen.