Dr. Ron Sumners
December 18, 2005
Christmas will soon be here. An air of expectation is in the air. Little children are expecting Santa Claus. Most of us are expecting Christmas presents. Some of you are expecting Christmas bonuses. Some of you are expecting better days ahead in the coming year. I hope that all of us are eagerly anticipating the celebration of the coming of the Prince of Peace.
Perhaps like no other day of the year, Christmas has a way of enlarging our expectations. But the day will come and go as it always does and the enthusiasm will wane and then disappear; the expectations shrink, and we will slip back into the old, predictable, daily routine. The status quo becomes our security blanket. Our expectations are lowered to a point where our vision of life is limited to things-as-they-are and nothing more.
A book called "Amazing Facts of Everyday Life" was published a few years ago. It contained a long list of events that would occur every day of the year. For example, it predicted a daily average of 5,962 marriages. 10,930,000 cows would be milked each day. Postage stamps would be sold at the rate of 90,000,000 per day. At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, hot dogs would be consumed at the rate of 5,479 per day.
In our high-tech world, the fact that events are easily predictable is not a big surprise to us. But the fact that my life and your life are predictable is a devastating thought. Ours is a faith that should call us out from the routine and predictable. In the words of Paul, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).
Ours is a faith that evokes openness to the discovery of ever new insights in dealing with the question of who we are and what we ought to do. Ours is a faith that inspires us to rise above the ordinary. Ours is a faith that asks no less of us than to risk our life in the cause of things-as-they-ought-to-be. Ours is a faith that urges us to embrace Paul's vision of newness of life, not just on Christmas Day, but every day!
A woman in a convalescent home was given a party to celebrate her one hundredth birthday. Her pastor came to offer his congratulations along with many of her friends. Her mind was keenly alert, and she was thoroughly enjoying the festivities. A reporter came to interview her. He asked that high-spirited, onehundred-year-old woman, "Do you have any children?" She replied, with a sparkle in her eye and without hesitation, "Not yet!"
Ours is a "not yet" faith. Our full human potential is not yet realized, and so we expect to grow. Our ability to love God and our neighbor is not yet perfected, and so we expect to improve. Our Christian ministry of loving service is not yet completed, and so we expect to do more. The divine mystery of the crib in Bethlehem and the cross on Golgotha has not yet fully penetrated our hearts, so we expect the unexpected as we pick up our cross daily to follow Christ into each new life situation.
A foreman in a brass foundry was guiding a new employee on a tour of the plant. They came into an area where molten metal was being poured into huge crucibles. The crucibles were made of translucent material that glowed like fire when hot. The foreman took a heavy sledgehammer, and holding it in both hands, delivered a powerful blow against one of the empty, but still hot, crucibles. He struck again and again but could do no more than make tiny dents in the huge container.
Then he picked up a small hammer and approached a crucible that had completely cooled. With a short motion of the wrist, he tapped the cold crucible and shattered it. "Nothing can break one of those crucibles when they are hot," he explained, "but anything can break them when they are cold." Then, taking the role of philosopher, he added, "It's pretty hard to break a man whose spirit is hot, but even little things will break him when his spirit goes cold."
Shortly before his death, Jesus warned the disciples that they would break under the pressure of coming events unless they kept their spirits hot. "Many will come in my name, and they will lead many astray ... They will deliver you to tribulation, and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away; and betray one another, and hate one another. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. And this Gospel will be preached throughout the whole world" (Matthew 24:5-14).
When the risen Christ appeared to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke tells us that" ... He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Him. And their eyes were opened, and they said to one another, “did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the scriptures?"' (Luke 24:27).
The Gospel continues to be preached by men and women whose hearts are burning with desire to open up to the world the love of God as it has been revealed to them through Jesus Christ; by men and women whose spiritual temperature rises, not just Christmas Day but every day.
There will always be genuine Christian disciples whose vision of life rises above the ordinary. There will always be genuine Christian disciples willing to risk their life in the cause of things-as-they-ought-to-be! There will always be genuine Christian disciples willing to expect the unexpected as they pick up their cross daily and follow Christ into each new life situation. There will always be genuine Christian disciples who, in the face of all manner of trials and tribulations, will endure to the end, saying, " ... the old has passed away, behold the NEW has come!"
Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Talk about an air of expectancy! Both women were pregnant. Elizabeth was expecting a son who would become known to all the ages as John the Baptist - the one who prepared the way for Jesus' public ministry.
Mary was expecting the Son of God, the true light that enlightens every man. His name was to be Jesus. In this tender encounter, Elizabeth's spiritual temperature soars. Luke tells us that she was filled with the Holy Spirit as she exclaimed to Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb ..." And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of that which was spoken to her from the Lord.
When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a Son and call His name Jesus, she was called, by the grace of God to rise above the ordinary; to expect the unexpected; to be open to the discovery of new insights in dealing with the questions of who she was and who she ought to be. Thus, she said to the angelic messenger, "Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke I :38).
Blessed are the genuine Disciples of Christ who believe that there will be a fulfillment of what has been spoken of the Lord. Blessed are the genuine Disciples of Christ who, by the grace of God, are disposed to say, with each new day and each new situation, "Let it be to me according to your word!" Blessed are the genuine "Not Yet" Disciples of Christ whose love for God and neighbor will not grow cold but will endure through all eternity.
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