Advent 4
Who will make him welcome…??
This homily completes our advent series where we have been reflecting on some of our most popular christmass carols.
A good Christmass carol, or any hymn for that matter, should not only be a joy to sing, should not just teach us something, but it will also challenge us to think and act differently.
Today’s hymn is the classic ‘Long ago prophets knew’. By the marvels of modern technology and because it’s the 21st century and we can do anything and everything here, except cure the common cold, achieve world peace… Oh and stop nasty potholes from appearing in the roads … The words to this splendid hymn appear in the pew sheet for you. If you are reading this online then this might work . https://hymnary.org/hymn/
The carol tells the Christmass story leading up to the time Mary and Joseph arrive at Bethlehem.
Verse one is all about the prophets of long ago who foretold the birth of the Saviour. These people knew that the
“Christ would come, born a Jew,
That he would come to make all things new;
That he would bear his people’s burden,
and that he would freely love and pardon”.
Verse two tries to explain the mystery of God made flesh, well, as much as anyone can.
God enters into our time, on a specific day and in a specific place. The Christ child who is God, becomes touchable, measurable, and holdable. He is born of a woman. God is divinely human.
Verse three tells us more about this woman who is pivotal and essential to God’s plan. The hymn gives us her name, guesses at how she might have felt, and that she believed and obeyed.
Mary, hail! Though afraid, she believed, she obeyed
And then there is a mind warping line that should both challenge and excite us.
In her womb, God is laid.
Just sit with that and think about it. …
In her womb God is laid.
Mother Mary had God in her womb. What does it say about her, for God could have chosen anyone?
And what does it say about the crazy, outrageous risk God took?
Verse 4 tells us that Mary and Joseph finally make it to Bethlehem and the stable door is open waiting for them.
Journey ends! Where afar
Bethlem shines, like a star,
stable door stands ajar.
So we have the prelude of the Christmass story told to us in the verses.
But there is also something very important going on with the Chorus of this hymn.
The first three times the chorus is sung it asks a very pertinent question
When he comes,
who will make him welcome?
But on the last verse, the chorus changes and it’s really easy to spot the difference.
Jesus comes!
We will make him welcome.
So the hymn is about the two comings of Christ. The first was at Bethlehem in a stable where Mary, Joseph, some aromatic animals and shepherds welcomed him.
The 2nd coming of Christ is at the end of time when he comes to wrap up everything and make all things tidy. And we will welcome him.
But there is something going on between these two comings of Christ, here in 2024.
Every day we have an opportunity to welcome him.
The stable door of our hearts and lives must be ajar to all who come knocking, looking for hope, acceptance, love and reconciliation.
When I was writing this I thought of some of the characters that made Jesus welcome when He walked the dusty plains of Palestine.
The thankful leper, the prodigal son, the waiters at the wedding at Cana, the tax collectors and the prostitutes, the blind man yelling out on the roadside for mercy, the woman caught in adultery and the centurion, to name but a few.
The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart and the peacemakers. These are the people who welcome Christ because they welcome all.
I also think of those who did not make him welcome, like the clergy of the day and there is a Christmass warning for every cleric.
Who will make him welcome? We will, but before we can welcome him we first have to be able to see him. Where to look?
The trick I think is to begin by seeing him within our own selves first. To rejoice and whoop with delight that just as God chose a very grungy place to be born the first time around, we understand that there is no place where God cannot be. Even in our own hearts and lives. And when he is born in us; when we see that and understand that, it’s not so hard to see God in those around us.
His first arrival was largely hidden from the world. He came at night, to a one-hick village, where there was no printing press, internet or social media, yet the word was made flesh and the message spread.
We will see him in the shabby, and the broken, and those who think differently to us. He appears in the most unlikely of people and in the most grubby and fragile of places.
Like bread and wine, like you and I.
When He comes, He has come, He will come and we will make him welcome.
It was a heck of a risk
It began by sending out the invitation to a single teenage lass who lived in a quiet little Hamlet where the services were being withdrawn and the community forgotten.
She could have said a polite ‘No thanks; this seems like a scam’. Actually, she was kind of right. While the deal was authentic, it cost her everything. Once she had said yes, there was no going back to the simple, quiet, life of anonymity.
But the risk was even more daring, more scandalous, more outrageous than she could ever have imagined. To send the Son, the heir, to the place where the slur was ‘can anything good come from Bethlehem’ was not the most astute business move. But it was because it was bold, brash, daring, audacious and unthinkable that made it all the more appealing to those who were looked down from the lofty heights of entitlement.
Whenever a gift is handed over to someone else there is always a risk. What will the recipient do with it? Re-gift it in 12 months time? Treasure it, rejoice in it, use it, put it at the back of the wardrobe or in the recycle bin? Stomp on it, crush it, discard it the moment it becomes a nuisance and does not follow the prescribed instruction manual.
A gift is a vulnerable thing, a priceless, risky thing especially when it is given with more love than we can ever comprehend. When the giver has invested everything. When the Giver gives their very self. It’s a heck of a risk.
What happens if… the world spins merrily, giddily on its way, oblivious to the offer? Was the giver reluctant, to have second thoughts? Will it be worth it? Will it all pay off? Only you, dear reader know.