The Birth that Changed the World – December 24, 2023, Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2:1-14
Christmas Eve, 2023
Last Sunday, I took a moment of personal reflection. It was about something that’s near and dear to my heart! I noted that was December 17th, the 120th anniversary of the day Orville Wright lifted off the sand at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, in a heavier than air machine under complete control, and flew for 12 seconds – and changed the world!
Think about it. That first flight was shorter than the wingspan of a modern jet airliner! Yet it changed the world! People take air travel for granted these days. It was said on the news the other day that over a million people would be taking to the skies over this Christmas holiday. And they will all be under the same basic control system perfected and used by two bicycle makers from Ohio. Today, flying is one of the safest means of conveyance ever. Yet 120 years ago today, only those two men were doing it successfully. And they changed the world. And, I might add, that, only 65 years later – almost to the day – three different men left the earth, and flew to the moon!
Now I say all of that, because this evening, and tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. And this is a similar thing. It’s a humble beginning that changed the world. And I say we “celebrate” his birth this day, because this is the day of the year the church chose to celebrate his birth. We really don’t know when it took place. It was an obscure birth, to an unknown couple, in an unimportant town. It went by almost unnoticed! And yet it changed the world!
Perhaps you remember the piece written in 1926, by a man named James Allen Francis. It’s called “One Solitary Life.” I think this night, when we celebrate this obscure birth, it’s appropriate to hear this again. Because this birth changed the world.
Francis wrote, “[Jesus] was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family. He never owned a home. He never set foot in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place he was born. He never wrote a book or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.
While he was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends deserted him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. And while he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he owned, his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down, and laid in a borrowed grave.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone. (Twenty, now!) And today, he is still central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of humankind on this earth as powerfully as this One Solitary Life.”
That’s what we celebrate this evening, and tomorrow. What happened then, in a back corner of the world, and what would happen in the next 33 years, was so important, that people began counting the years all over again! And we still do! You can try to step away from “AD – Anno Domini – “The Year of Our Lord,” all you want. You can call it “CE” – “The Common Era,” which many people do, but it’s still about the time before and after the time of Jesus!
In my earlier description, I did say that this birth went “almost unnoticed.” And it was “almost unnoticed” – except, that is, for legions of angels, lighting up the sky, singing “Glory to God!” And yet the contrast is still there. For even those angels were singing to “unimportant” people in that society. They weren’t singing for kings or priests or government officials or the wealthy. They were singing for shepherds. We talked last week about Joseph being on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Well these guys were, too! Yet, it was they among all the people in the world in all of history who heard that angelic choir!
Then, of course, in the midst of that encounter, the contrast was complete, because, the single angel who first spoke, gave the shepherds another piece of this picture that was also of the most humble nature. He told them that the sign of this great thing, this world changing thing, would be a baby, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger – an animal food trough! Our Savior, that One Solitary Life, came indeed from the humblest beginnings!
And yet, this is what I’m calling, “The birth that changed the world.” And it was! And notice the definite article! It was not “a birth that changed the world,” like the birth of someone who changed the world like George Washington, or Einstein, or Isaac Newton – or the Wright Brothers. It was “the birth” that changed the world! And the world was changed in such a powerful way that time began again!
As we think about all that, let me say that the only question remaining this evening is for you. This is “The birth that changed the world.” In all your final preparations for Christmas Day, ask yourself, has this birth that changed the world changed you?
Prayer
Eternal God, we are reminded of your steadfast love and faithfulness, as we think about Jesus, who was of the form of God, but humbled himself, taking on our form. May we always remember how he changed the world – and us. And may we always know that he is with us. And with the angels, we sing Glory to you in the highest. And we pray in his name, Amen.