Radical love and the spirit of Christmas

Good morning, sisters and brothers.  I hope you’ll forgive the way I sound; I contracted a cold the other day in a last ditch effort to make my Father speak for half an hour by himself, but to no avail.  In all seriousness, though, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today, and I pray that the Spirit will open all of our hearts.

I come to speak to you about Christmas and the spirit of Christmas.  First, I wish to talk about the Nativity story itself.  There is a long-standing tradition among many of Christ’s followers that Mary and Joseph were turned away from every public inn or “hotel” in the little town of Bethlehem, even though she was about to give birth.  Only a very brief knowledge of Middle Eastern culture is needed to see that this is unlikely.

Mary and Joseph were both descendants of David, returning to the City of David; they were royalty without crowns.  They also likely would have had many relatives still in the region.  Even if they could not find place with extended family, customs of hospitality to guests and strangers would have made it easy for them to find a private home to welcome them, rather than begging at the door of the public house and being turned away to a barn or a cave.  No one, especially not a couple born of royal blood who were about to have a child, would not have been turned away to find their own shelter; to do so would have shamed the entire village.  Rather, a deep spirit of generosity would have been extended to them and doors opened.

The Greek words topos and kataluma are used in Luke 2:7.  They are translated in the King James Version as “room” and “inn” respectively, as in “She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”.  A better translation would be “space” and “guest room”.  In fact, kataluma is used later in Luke when Jesus asks to use a guest room to celebrate Passover.  It wasn’t that the local hotels had the No Vacancy sign up, it was that the spare room in a two room home was already full.  Another guest family, or perhaps even the host family, may have occupied the more private second room when Mary and Joseph came into the house.  

In those days, animals were commonly brought in at night and kept in a portion of the house that was slightly lower than the family’s living quarters.  For this purpose there would have been a manger within the walls of the house itself, and with some clean straw, it would have made a safe resting place for a newborn among tight quarters, free from drafts and bustling feet.  And after a birth attended by the women of the house and possibly a midwife or other experienced women from the neighborhood, the announcement of a first born son would have resulted in jubilation and congratulations with music and dancing by the men while mother and child got settled in.  The shepherds would have had little trouble finding the source of the ruckus; the sign of being laid in a manger was intended merely to confirm that this one child was the promised Messiah.  By this understanding of life in First Century Judea, we see that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were never turned away. They were accepted and taken in and sheltered as honored guests, their hosts possibly even giving up their own space in the house for them, and the birth celebrated by a loving community of family and friends.  Is this not the spirit of Christmas?

Do we likewise recognize not only Christ, but our brothers and sisters on the Earth as being members of a royal lineage and make space for them within the home of our hearts?  Do we honor them by making room and being generous and kind with our substance, rather than pushing them out into the cold?  Do we show love to the weary travelers around us?

Jesus taught and exhibited a radical philosophy of love in his mortal ministry.  (You know?  “Radical dude!”  No?  Sorry.  I mean “radical” in the sense of being very different from the usual or traditional.)  While hospitality was the standard for guests in one’s home, Israel was still culturally ruled by “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” and to forgive a person only to their seventh insult.  Jesus taught that instead we should turn the other cheek, and forgive to seventy times seven.  In the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew chapter 5, Christ tells us that whoever sues for our coat, we should give them our cloak as well.  Whoever compels us to go a mile with them, go with them two.  Love our enemies and pray for them and do good to them.  Why?  Why would we do that?

I think, in part, it is this: When we give more to someone who has taken from us, when we do what we can to fill whatever need they have, we remove from them the spiritual wound of being a thief or a beggar or a suer.  When someone asks us to go with them on part of their journey--when they say to us, “I need someone to walk with me for a little while, for company or as a guardian or a guide” and we go that distance and further still, we follow through.  We tell them, ‘I will travel this difficult road with you, and I will still be a friend when you no longer “need” me, because I have come to love you and I will make certain that you get where you’re going as safely as possible.’  When we pray for an enemy, when we serve them and love them, we often gain a friend and an ally.  Differences may remain, but they matter far less when people love each other.  This was a radical idea in Jesus’ day, and sadly, it remains so today.

Loving each other is the ultimate message of Jesus’ teachings.  Loving each other is the spirit of Christmas.  This is not a lop-sided, parasitic love that drains the life from one to feed the other, but a dynamic relationship of mutual understanding, tolerance, and admiration.  If nothing else, it is a recognition of the divinity in every soul.  “As I have loved you, love one another.  By this shall [all] know you are my disciples.”  Jesus put no exceptions on His new commandment.  The quality of love that we give to others is the hallmark of how well we follow Him.  The love of God, the love of  Christ is radical, unconditional, and boundless.  Christ’s love is service and humility and grace.  Our Heavenly Father and Mother love us so radically, that They sent Jesus to suffer and die for us in order to make us at-one with Them.  Christ loves and serves the unloveable and lowly--the lepers, the harlots, the tax collectors, the outcasts--as well as those who are easy to love and mighty.  To me, this is the spirit of Christmas.  Can we strive to do the same, and not limit it to the month of December?

I have talked with and listened to many of our faith who have reduced or left off activity in the Church, even those who have left the Church entirely.  While no reason is universal, overwhelmingly,the primary reason given for staying away is a lack of Christ-like love from those who are meant to be their brothers and sisters, a lack of acceptance or support.  To characterize this as their “choosing to be offended” misses a point of which I think our Savior would have been keenly aware.  I am not here to call you to repentance, because I don’t know the dynamics of your ward.  However, I wish to encourage everyone here to be sensitive, to be kind, to stand up for the downtrodden, and to open the homes of their hearts to those who are different.  Love those who may seem to you to be unfaithful or weak or rebellious or weird.  Love them without agenda, for they have their story and their reasons just like you do.  Mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort, for the sake of nothing more than being a better disciple of Jesus yourself and making the world a better place.  We are followers of a carpenter-rabbi-god who began his life in an overcrowded two room house in ancient Palestine, and thirty years later left everything behind to preach love to his people and the world.  It doesn’t get much more different or more humble than that.  May we make room inside ourselves for Him and all our brothers and sisters, year-round, in the spirit of Christmas.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

* For more information on how the Nativity more likely happened, please go tohttp://www.truthortradition.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1126

And yes, I was wearing pants.