Jesus Wasn’t Home for Christmas
Posted: December 24, 2021 Filed under: Christmas, Family, Home, Identity, Jesus Leave a commentFinish the statement, “I’ll be home for ___________” (I thought maybe some of you would say, ‘I’ll be home for supper’ since it is that time of day. No worries, you’ll soon be able to get home for that nice family Christmas Eve meal or whatever your tradition is. For our family we always have a nice spread of appetizers.) “I’ll be home for Christmas” was actually what I was going for. The phrase was made famous by the song with the same name sung by Bing Crosby. The next line in the song goes, “You can plan on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents by the tree.”[1] Do you know who that song was written for? Soldiers overseas who longed to be home at Christmas time during World War II.[2] In fact, “Despite the song’s popularity with Americans at the front and at home, in the United Kingdom, the British Broadcasting Corporation banned the song from broadcast, as the management felt the lyrics might lower morale among British troops.”[3] So are you more like the Americans who embraced the song with eager expectation of reunion or are you more like the British who wanted to avoid reminders of loved ones not being home for Christmas? This Christmas may actually be harder for some than last Christmas because last Christmas we were all quarantined at home and this Christmas some may be able to travel home or visit while others may not. In this way, Christmas 2021 was much more like the first Christmas. Let’s read the Christmas story from Luke 2:1-7! Read Luke 2:1-7!
Here are some of the ways that Christmas 2021 is like the first Christmas. Did you notice that in those days everyone had to be registered? Luke gets specific and grounds the event of Christ’s birth solidly in history by naming names – Augustus and Quirinius. This history retold focuses in on the registration. The word “registered” or “registration” is mentioned 4 times in the story as a point of emphasis. The known world had to register at the time as dictated by the one-world government under the rule of Caesar Augustus. We now have to register for everything or at least give out our contact information. This is true at the restaurants, at various businesses and even church. (By the way, thank you for overcoming the obstacle of registration and participating in this Christmas Eve service.) If all this registration bothers you, remember Mary and Joseph had to register. You might think registration might be government overreach or this is simply about money as it was under Caesar’s mandated registration where he was trying to get more revenue for his political ambitions through taxes. If registration bothers you, Jesus and His family can relate.
Furthermore, this registration by Caesar resulted in family separation. Verse 4 records, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.” This meant Mary and Joseph as a young family were separated from their extended family at one of the most vulnerable times – freshly married and very pregnant. Mary’s mom wasn’t there; not even an aunt or midwife. Joseph functioned as what we might call in this day as Mary’s doula and he hadn’t even laid with her yet (Matthew 1:25). It was very challenging times. Maybe today you walked in here and somebody is missing? Somebody is not home for Christmas and that casts a long shadow. I don’t mean to remind you of that disappointment but redirect you to realize that Jesus and His family can relate. Jesus didn’t have all of His extended family outside the birthing room. Jesus never had His Grandpa Heli (Luke 2:23) or His Grandpa Jacob (Matthew 1:16) along with His grandmothers come to visit as far as we know when He was young. We know from another birth account found in Matthew 2:13-15 that later on, Jesus and His family had to flee to and live in a separate country. They might have been in their hometown of Bethlehem for that first Christmas, but they weren’t home. And they would not be home for some time.
So Jesus and His family can relate to our government-mandated registration and our separation from family. He can also relate to our lack of resources. Verses 6-7 declares, “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” Jesus and His family didn’t have access to an inn or any other place to go. Mary and Joseph were poor. It was a time of lots of demand and little supply. Not to be trite, but we are in a similar day. We couldn’t even get Rice Krispies for our chocolate-covered peanut butter balls as every store was out of stock and has been for months.[4] I wondered what could possibly going on this time! So I found out as I read the headlines in The Peterborough Examiner – “World-wide Rice Krispies Shortage Hits Home.” Rice Krispies will not be home for Christmas. Of course, that pales in comparison to Jesus only having swaddling clothes to wear rather than the outfit of the day from a baby shower where new onesies were at the ready.
Jesus and His family can relate to your situation. However, Jesus didn’t come just to relate to us. Jesus came to rescue us. Rescue us from what? From a lack of identity as others are trying to find out ours through registration or social media. We can find our sense of identity in Christ. Jesus also rescued us from separation of family by giving us the opportunity to be a part of God’s forever family, which is manifested belonging to a church family. If you are not a part of a local church family, we would love for you to join us at Temple. Maybe God will redeem the whole idea you have of family? So Jesus rescued us from a lack of identity and separation from family but also from a lack of being home. Jesus certainly wasn’t home. Home was heaven with His Heavenly Father. Jesus was and is the Son of God. He came down to earth to be born in a lowly stable, to then live a perfect life, to die on a cross and then to rise again from the dead as King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus did this for the ultimate rescue, which is from our sins. The presents weren’t under the tree at the first Christmas because Jesus Christ, God’s gift to us, was heading to a tree where He would die for us so we might have eternal life. The problem is that nobody knew this at the time. There are hints of Jesus’ story still in our day and age. The life of Sixto Rodriguez[5] is one example. Sixto was a musician who grew up 3 hours from here in Detroit, Michigan. Music promoters first heard him at a bar called “The Sewer” and Rodriguez was signed in 1969. The head of Motown thought he had the voice and poetical lyrics on the level of Bob Dylan. However, his album bombed and was rejected by his fellow Americans as too revolutionary and too anti-establishment. He was dropped by his music label and lost his job two weeks before Christmas. Rejected at Christmas. So Sixto worked as a construction worker living in a derelict home. “He was known for his humility and strong sense of self and not so much for his musical success.” Part of the problem was that very little was known about him and even on his album, the label would credit some songs to Sixto Rodriquez and other songs to Jesus Rodriquez.[6] However, in South Africa he was wildly popular, especially amongst the young Afrikaners who wanted to rise up against apartheid. In fact for those living in South Africa, he was right up there with the Beatles in popularity. It was believed that Rodriquez died while on stage when he shot himself. However, two South African musicologists, like the wise men in the story of Jesus, wanted to find out Rodriguez’ story. Rather than chase a star, the musicologists chased the money trail. It wasn’t until they found the town Dearborn in the line of a song called Inner City Blues, “I met a girl in Dearborn early 6 o’clock this morn”the lyric said, that they were able to get a good lead on his origin. This is so similar to Bethlehem being forgotten as the birthplace of Jesus recorded in Micah 5:2. After 3 years of searching the musicologists were then able to track him down to Detroit. The musicologists searching for Sixto/Jesus Rodriguez said, “I was searching for a dead man; one morning I discovered a living man.” After reading about her father’s story on the internet, Sixto’s daughter Eva living in Kansas connected Rodriquez and the South African musicologists. As testified by his daughter, Sixto spent his time working for the poor and trying to help those who didn’t have a voice. He even ran for Detroit City Council. He lost! He never became a political leader. He raised his family never having a place to live – no place really to lay his head. His daughter said, “He was a carpenter who did the most difficult demolition work.” Yet, as a philosophy major in college, he exposed his kids to the arts. In March 1998, he went to South Africa and gave a concert to a packed arena. He went from an outcast to a star. In the words of the promoter, “He found his way home.”[7]
Friends, Jesus wasn’t recognized. He wasn’t home for Christmas so that someday you and I always will be home for Christmas. You see, Jesus is home now. Jesus found His way home to heaven after being truly resurrected. He is now making a home for us in the new heaven and new earth. This is more than being home for Christmas in our dreams. This is our dreams coming true when we will be home for Christmas. “A world where everything should be as it is: engineering, dance, the arts, economics, architecture, science, education. Pipeline companies, shopping centers, Hollywood, NHL Hockey, bachelor-degree programs, residential constructions and housing prices along with so much more will all be made new. Think of the eradication of poverty, pollution and pandemics.”[8] All will be made new. You can plan on Jesus. You can trust in Jesus.
The song “I’ll be home for Christmas” states, “Christmas eve will find me where the love light gleams.”[9] Tonight, where does Christmas eve find you? Are you where the love light gleams? That love light mentioned points us to a greater love light – Jesus Christ – the Light of the World. As we conclude our service tonight singing “Silent Night, Holy Night”, we can’t light a candle and pass it along as in previous years due to social distancing requirements, but we can light up this room in the way that Christ can light up our life if we will trust in Him. Please wait until we start singing and then I will turn on my tea light, followed by this row and the next row and the next row. As you are doing so, think about how the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, wasn’t home for Christmas so you may have a home forever with Him.
[1] Kim Gannon & Walter Kent, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” (Beverly Hills: Gannon & Kent Music, 1943).
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I’ll_Be_Home_for_Christmas. Accessed December 16, 2021.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I’ll_Be_Home_for_Christmas. Accessed December 16, 2021.
[4] https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/local-peterborough/opinion/2021/12/15/world-wide-rice-krispies-shortage-hits-home.html. Accessed December 16, 2021.
[5] John Van Sloten, Every Job a Parable, (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2017) 203.
[6] Sixto Rodriguez’s story is told in the Academy award winning film Searching for Sugar Man.
[7] As quoted in the film Searching for Sugar Man.
[8] John Van Sloten, Every Job a Parable, (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2017) 132.
[9] Gannon & Kent.
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