Never Lost
DATE: Christmas Eve, December 24, 2008
SCRIPTURE:
Luke 2:1‐20
There is no question this has been a different sort of Christmas season. The economy has caused many folks to reexamine their gift giving habits. But for all the changes, electronic gizmos and gadgets have remained very popular. Things like video games, iPods and fancy cell phones will be found under many a tree, tomorrow morning. And at the top of some wish lists one can find a GPS receiver. Utilizing signals sent from various satellites positioned around the globe, a GPS receiver not only can tell you precisely where you are, it can also provide step‐by‐step directions as you move along your journey.
A GPS receiver is a nice thing to have when you are in familiar territory, but when you are away from home, it can be a life saver. Rental car companies have discovered this, and some offer a GPS as on option when you rent a vehicle. One well‐known company has gone so far as to call their GPS system “Never Lost.” It is a rather presumptuous name; still the device does prove useful. I had one in a rental car once in North Carolina that helped me avoid some upcoming construction. On the other hand, it also seemed at loose ends when I went off the main roads and despite its name, got very lost!
I recently heard about a rather novel use for GPS receivers. It seems in parts of New Jersey vandals have taken to stealing the baby Jesus from nativity scenes on church and home lawns. Understandably, folks have been very upset by this disturbing trend, and so welcomed the offer made by a local GPS manufacturer to install a device in the backs of baby Jesus figurines. If the baby is taken more than fifteen feet or so from the manger it automatically radios in a call to 911. Then, like Lo‐Jack, it emits an electronic signal so that local police can track down the missing Christ child. Wouldn’t you love to be there when one of the robbers get caught: “OK buddy, we know you’ve got Jesus! Hand him over or pay the consequences!” I mean, how would a vandal respond? “What baby, officer—this one? Oh it’s just a doll for my little sister’s Christmas gift!”
While it’s comforting to know that modern technology makes it possible for cops to find the baby Jesus if he goes missing, finding the newborn King proved more of a challenge back in the first century.
To begin with, while Bethlehem was mentioned in one of the prophecies, most folks expected the Messiah to arrive on the scene in a whole different way. After all, he was a descendent of King David, so doesn’t it make sense he’d show up in an important place, like Jerusalem? Wouldn’t it seem right for him to be born in a palace? Wouldn’t one expect his parents to be on the social register?
But, as everyone now knows, that’s not what happened. He was born to a poor young woman, far from home, holed up in a cave where they kept the animals. He was wrapped in bits of cloth, rags really, probably ripped from a leftover undergarment. There were no slaves or courtiers in attendance. Just a tried old man named Joseph, and a few goats and sheep. Maybe a cow or a donkey. Hardly the stuff of royalty. He was clearly born, if you will, off the main road, and anyone trying to find him, was sure to get lost.
Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I need directions I use MapQuest, but I always take what it says with a grain of salt. Its directions are often quite confusing—and more than once they’ve taken me far out of my way. I know what its like to get directions from a GPS or a PC, but what would it like to get directions from angels?
That, of course, is exactly what happened to the shepherds. Here they were, just going about their business—tending sheep, warding off wolves, trying to stay warm by the fire, when suddenly, they see an angel in the sky. And the angel speaks to them. Tells them the Messiah has been born, just down the hill in Bethlehem town. He goes on and gives them directions: “You’ll find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12) Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the heavenly messenger is joined by a whole host of angels, singing and praising God.
The shepherds, we read, immediately head off to Bethlehem, where their willingness to follow directions, is rewarded by a glimpse of the Holy One.
But what about us? How can this story help us to find Jesus? The dolls in nativity scenes may be armored with tracking devices, but the real Jesus—he may seem a bit more elusive.
Yet, the truth is, this story about the shepherds, provides us with directions.
So where will we find Jesus? Right in the middle of life itself. Common life. Everyday life. Especially in places where we don’t expect to find him, like barns and stables. Especially among the people we least expect to have his acquaintance. Where can we find Jesus? Where he’s always been—not just as an infant, but as an adult as well. We can find him among the poor.
Lee Stroebel, a journalist at the time, writing for the Chicago Tribune, discovered that when he was assigned to write a story about how an impoverished family living in the ghetto made their way through Christmas.
The family he interviewed had survived a fire that had destroyed their roach filled apartment. All their worldly possessions, few as they had been, were lost in the blaze. And now, just a few weeks before Christmas, they were living in a tiny two‐room apartment. All they had to furnish it was a kitchen table. And their food supply consisted of a meager bit of rice. There were three of them: a sixty‐year‐old grandmother named Perfecta, and her two granddaughters, Lydia and Jenny. Perfecta suffered from arthritis, but still worked to care for her grandchildren. Jenny and Lydia had a half‐mile walk to school. And between them they owned just one sweater. Lydia would wear it the first half of their walk to school—then Jenny would put it on for the rest of the way.
Shortly before Christmas, after he the article had been published, Stroebel went back to visit the Delgado family. How different things looked. The apartment was now filled with furniture, rugs, a Christmas tree, bags of food, and gifts wrapped in bright paper. It seems many of his readers, moved by his story, had found a way to reach out to the Delgados, and offer assistance.
But there was more to the story. “As surprised as I was by this outpouring,” wrote Stroebel, “I was even more surprised by what my visit was interrupting: Perfecta and her granddaughters were getting ready to give away much of their newfound wealth. When I asked Perfecta why, she replied… ‘Our neighbors are still in need. We cannot have plenty while they have nothing. This,' she said, 'This is what Jesus would want us to do.'" (The Case for Christmas)
Maybe you’ll get a GPS tomorrow. Maybe you already have one. But trust me; it’s not going to help you find Jesus. But the angel’s directions, though two‐thousand years old, still work. If you really want to find Jesus, look in the manger. Look among the poor. For there, you will discover he is alive and well, beyond the grasp of any vandal, unable to be harmed by flood or fire, by war or a bad economy. For when we are willing to reach out to those who are in need, we will always find Jesus. For it is exactly what he would want us to do. At Christmas, at Easter, indeed, throughout the year. For the way of Jesus is more sure than any GPS, more true than MapQuest. And those on that way are never lost—confused at times, even off course, but never, never lost.
And what greater gift could one ask for at Christmas?
Amen.
John H. Danner