"Honor The Overlooked"
Sermon Transcript for December 9, 2001 By Rev. Mike BeckScripture Reading: Luke 2:8-20
When a baby is born, the first to be called are usually the immediate family and closest friends. But in the Christmas story, the first to know are the shepherds. Like so many stories, over time they get romanticized. That’s what has happened with the Christmas story. The beautifully carved shepherds in our nativity scenes hold a revered and honored place in our hearts. But in Jesus’ day, shepherds were a forgotten class of people. They had absolutely no status in society. After "tending their flocks by night", they would return to what we would call the ghetto part of town to a life of obscurity. And in the culture in which Jesus was born, shepherds had little chance of ever improving their lot in life. Unlike David, who was a shepherd from Bethlehem, in Jesus’ day the chance of tending your father’s sheep and then growing up to be king were about as remote as catching salmon in the Dead Sea!
For times had changed in the last thousand years. Shepherds were anything but waiting in the wings to get their royal robes. One of the reasons I believe that the gospel contained in the pages of Scripture is true is that the stories contained therein are so unbelievable! They do not follow the script that you or I would have written. But then again we are told in Scripture that, "God’s ways are not our ways".
God, in choosing to become a man, implants himself in the womb of a poor, young girl from of all places Nazareth. Nazareth was truly "the wrong side of the tracks" in Jesus’ day. The gospel writer records it being said by one of Jesus’ critics that "nothing good ever comes from Nazareth"!
The Son of God is then born in a cave and laid in a feed-trough amidst the smell of the animals! And who is visited by the angels to receive the first news of our Savior’s birth--the "riffraff" of society—a group of lowly shepherds.
I believe that the Creator wasn’t just randomly selecting those who would be the first to hear. He was making a statement. God knew what He was doing. He was saying in the angels’ pronouncement to the shepherds that "Nobody’s are somebody’s to God". "Nobody’s" mattered to Him. He was saying in that act that those who spent days and nights caring for sheep with matted wool matter to Him! And I think we all too often forget that in our beautiful sanctuaries with our stained-glass windows and our high steeple. And I thank God for all of that; that majesty and awe help us to worship here. But I think we forget that Jesus chose to hang out with the persons in society that others overlooked. Jesus hung out with the outcasts. Peter, Simon the Zealot, and Matthew weren’t exactly the elite of Jewish society! Peter was a smelly fisherman. Simon the Zealot was a revolutionary thug. Matthew was a despised tax collector. And Jesus says, "Come on you guys. I want you as part of my inner circle." He had the audacity to touch the lepers. He elevated the status of sinners and women and children. We baptized Alaina this morning, but do you remember what was said to Jesus? "Why are you taking time to care about kids? Kids aren’t important. You shouldn’t be messing around with them." But he joyfully took them in His arms. When he arose from the grave, His first appearance was to a woman who probably previously was a prostitute! And it’s to her that He first appears. Friends, that’s unbelievable! But how often in our sentimentalized and sanitized images of Christmas we miss the miracle!
Paying attention to the overlooked and undervalued of our society is a debt we owe that is long overdue. I truly believe that a measure of a person’s character can often be found in how they treat overlooked persons around them. How they treat the waitress at the downtown diner. How they treat the attendant at the car wash that takes our money as we start to drive through. How we treat the cashiers at Wal-Mart. How we treat the clerks at Big Foot or Speedway convenience stores. How we treat the single mom who isn’t shopping at Ayres but is shopping at Goodwill picking out Christmas clothes for her children. How do we treat them? Do we even see them?
I love pizza; that shows all too well. I think Willard’s got the best pizza in town. And I usually don’t have it delivered because often it’s cold by the time they find my house. So I go down and pick it up. And when you go down and pick it up you pick it up at the end of the bar. I went down early this week before the basketball game and picked up a pizza and, you know, I looked around. I’ve got some observations to share with you. You might not want to hear them. Most everybody in there was smiling. They were talking in depth with one another. You know, sometimes when I come to church those two things aren’t true! And as I was looking around the thought occurred to me thinking about the message for today that if Jesus were here in Franklin with us he’d come to our Bible study. He would be happy to preach in our worship services. But beyond that He wouldn’t be hanging around the church. He’d be down at Willards. He’d be at Applebee’s. He’d be at the bowling alley. He’d spend a lot of time in Wal-Mart. He’d be at the ballgames. Why? Because there is where He could interact with people who needed the message He came to bring. If you haven’t read Philip Yancey’s marvelous book, The Jesus I Never Knew, you need to read it. It will give you a perspective on our Lord you haven’t had before.
Let’s never forget the profound words of Jesus in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew, Chapter 25, when He said, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty; you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I didn’t have clothes and you clothed me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." And they said, "Lord, we never saw you in those situations?" To which He replied, "Whenever you do it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you do it to me." And when I was reading that this week I was thinking my brothers get connected to those folks. He’s saying when you do it to the least of these, who are also in my family, the over looked, you are doing it to me.
Friends, the shepherds in our world are still around us. They are the working poor. They are the elderly without the benefit of family close by. They are folks who live in the government-assisted apartments. They are the persons who live in the more run-down part of town. They are the AIDS patients. They are battered wives and neglected children. And our second Advent candle reminds us this Christmas to bring glory to God by honoring the overlooked.
Max Lucado tells this story which I use in closing. He tells of the Sunday in which David Robinson from the NBA, a star, visited his church in San Antonio. At the end of the first service that morning this handsome, well-dressed seven-foot basketball player was mobbed by persons in the congregation. Everybody wanted to touch him. Everybody wanted to shake his hand. Later that morning, just before the start of the second service, a homeless person walked in to the back of the auditorium. He came down the aisle with his backpack, his ratty jeans, his torn t-shirt. His face was unshaven and he had a distinct odor. He walked down to the front and sat down. And Max Lucado remarked that the contrast from just a few minutes earlier was unmistakable. When David Robinson came in he was immediately swarmed. Everyone wanted to touch him and be close to him. Nobody immediately jumped up to sit down next to this homeless man. And then, after two or three minutes, one of the elders of the church got up from their seat in the back, came down and sat next to that homeless man and reached out and touched him. And the message that the Holy Spirit pressed on Max Lucado’s heart in that moment was this: If you want to touch Jesus, who do you touch? If you want to touch Jesus, who do you touch?
Would you pray with me. Oh, Lord we need to ponder that question. Forgive us, Lord, for our smugness at times, our self-righteousness, our failure to see others through Your eyes of love and compassion. Reminds us that if we want to touch you perhaps the ones we need to touch are the persons that no one else wants to. Persons who with our eyes unopen, we don’t even see. So open our eyes and open our hearts to see, to touch, and to honor the overlooked this Christmas season not only for Christmas but throughout the year. We need your power to do that, Lord. But you’ll grant it if we’ll just ask. Amen.
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