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How
many of you know the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” with Jimmy
Stewart? “It’s a Wonderful Life” has become a beloved Christmas
movie because of what it stands for: hope. Let me give you a quick
rundown of the story line: George Bailey runs a little savings and loan
in a small town and through some bad breaks finds himself on the very
edge of bankruptcy one Christmas Eve. If he goes down, the future of all
the people who invested in his savings and loan also go down. He feels
like a total failure, and thinks the world would have been better if he
had never been born. He is ready to kill himself.
But
just when he is ready to throw himself into the water and drown himself,
along comes an angel with the unlikely name Clarence, whose mission is
to give George hope. How? By showing him all the good he has already
done, and how people’s lives would be much, much worse if he had never
lived. Of course, there is a happy ending. What good would hope be if it
didn’t point to a happy ending. The townspeople get together and raise
the money to save George’s savings and loan, Clarence gets points in
heaven, and the what if question mark turned into a big exclamation
point.
For
those who like history, as I do, it can be fun to play the what-if game.
What if the British had crushed the American Revolution, would we all
pause for tea in the afternoon? If the south had won the Battle of
Gettysburg, maybe we would all be singing “Dixie” for a National
Anthem. Would be have gotten bogged down in Vietnam if President Kennedy
had not been killed? Such questions lead to endless hours of debate, but
really, there are no answers.
But
imagine what the world would have been like if Jesus Christ had never
lived. Just for a start, many of the world’s universities would not
exist, because they were founded by Christian organizations devoted to
learning. Same thing with many hospitals that were opened by those who
wanted to show compassion in Christ’s name. People might very well
still own slaves, because the drive to abolish slavery was rooted in
Christianity. Wars would be endless, one round of vengeance after
another. Life would be nothing but a seesaw game of “I’d better get
you before you get me,” little better than animals preying on each
other in the woods.
Above
and beyond all other problems and woes, however, we would have no hope.
The world would be dark. Our hearts would be dark. God would never have
visited the world, so there would be no chance of his ever coming back.
Obviously there would be no Christmas, and no Christmas presents, which
stand for God’s greatest gift to the world. No Christmas carols. No
Christmas trees. The world without Jesus would like a winter without
Christmas.
Many
of us live our lives like Tattoo the basset hound. Tattoo didn’t think
he was going for a run that night, but he had no choice when his master
caught his leash in the car door and started to drive away. Tattoo had
to try to run alongside the car, no doubt barking like mad because he
was caught up in circumstances that gave him no choice but to run for
all he was worth. Finally a motorcycle cop spotted this poor dog and
stopped the car, but not before Tattoo had reached top speeds of 25
miles per hour, falling down and rolling over several times.
Do
you ever feel like Tattoo? Like you’re doing a whole lot of running
and barking and not getting anywhere you want to be? Until a baby was
born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, people had no hope that they could
ever get anywhere. You lived, you died, and you were forgotten. Someone
else took your place, your home, your possessions. You wonder how people
managed to live that way at all. I mean, why struggle without a payoff.
But when that little baby was born out in the middle of nowhere, there
finally was hope for something better.
In
February 1809 a man left Hastings, Kentucky to visit Washington, D.C.
and see what important things were happening in the world. In a month or
so he came back home to tell the town what he had learned. When he
finished telling stories about the president and Congress he asked,
“Well, what’s been happening here? What’s new in Hastings since I
left?” One of the women replied, “Oh, nothing ever happens in this
town. Except Mrs. Lincoln had a baby, and they call him Abe.”
This
is why we sing about Emanuel—God with us—at Christmas. He was with
us 2,000 years ago, and he is with us now, in the present moment, to
show us what God is like. We have a God who cared enough to come. You
remember the old Hallmark slogan, “When you care enough to send your
very best?” That’s what God did. He sent his son Jesus to earth to
tell us that God is all about love. He healed the sick. He raised the
dead. He showed compassion to the outcasts of the world. Above all, he
taught us not to value ourselves the way the world values people. Our
value to God is far more than what anyone on earth thinks of us, and he
will not rest until we are safe with him in heaven.
There
is a story of a painting that hung in a museum; a painting of a chess
match between Satan and a man. On the man’s face was fear, the strain
of effort and above all, hopelessness. Anyone who knew anything about
chess could tell why with one glance at the board. Satan had this match
won. He was about to declare checkmate. Checkmate means that whatever
move the man could make, Satan could take his king and win the game.
Obviously they were playing for the man’s soul, and he was in a
corner, forced to either concede, or make a fatal move.
One
day, a chess master came to the museum, having heard about this
painting. He sat in front of the painting and stared at it for hours and
hours. He came back to the museum day after day and studied the problem
until finally one day a smile came to his face. He walked up to the
painting and spoke to the man who was in desperate straits, “Take
courage. I know the way out.” That’s what Christ did for the world.
He got us out of the trap.
The
Apostle Paul put a lot of store—if you were a poker player you might
say he put all his chips—on Christ and the hope that he brings to the
world. Near the end of his letter to the Romans Paul writes, “May God,
the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your
faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of
the Holy Spirit.” Christmas means the coming of hope to a world that
so often looks like there is no hope.
We
talked about the “what if” game before. We said there were no
answers to these questions. Christ was born, and yet people ask, “Then why isn’t the world a
perfect place?” There are still plenty of wars. There’s still plenty
of ignorance in the world. Slavery still exists, although nowadays
people volunteer for the slavery of drug addiction or alcoholism or
gambling addiction and so on. People still prey on each other. We know
these things all too well. Maybe you’ve said, “I hate how it gets
dark so early this time of year.” Well, the world is dark and cold in
many ways.
But
you know what? A candle burns brightest on a dark stage. Christ’s
light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never won the
battle. Will never win. Can never win. God has sent us the light to
remind us that life is stronger than death. That good will overcome
evil. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light,” the
prophet wrote. “On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a
light has dawned.”
Maybe
if the Apostle Paul were writing his first letter to the Corinthians
today, he would have written, “And now abideth faith, hope and love,
and the greatest of these is hope.” What is Jesus had never been born?
No hope. That’s why we light a candle today. The first candle is hope.
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