December 1998 Issue

Matthew 1:18-25

There is a story told of a little girl who drew a picture of the nativity scene. Her father, looking at his daughter's drawing, asked: "Why is one of Joseph's legs so much longer than the other?" "He's stomping his foot," the little girl explained. "He wanted a girl!"¹

Now, I doubt that Joseph was stomping his foot because he wanted a girl. Having a girl was not exactly good news in that day. But, Joseph surely felt like a bit of foot stomping as he got the news of Mary's pregnancy. This was beastly news. All Joseph wanted was a normal life, to marry the girl of his dreams and to settle down and have a big family, to teach his sons how to craft fine furniture and good, well-fitting yokes for his neighbors' oxen. Joseph must have done a lot of foot stomping as he paced around his room feeling betrayed and lonely and wondering what he should do, given such an ugly situation. Exhausted, he decided to do the honorable thing, and not make a public spectacle of Mary, but simply divorce her quietly. He fell wearily into his bed.

Then it is that God's angel comes to Joseph in a dream. The angel comes to Joseph, to foot-stomping, pacing, disillusioned Joseph, to speak of what God will do. To tell Joseph that this is God's work, God's plan—to send a child who will be called Jesus, who will save his people. A child who will be the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise, Emmanuel, God-with-us.

God-with-us was the good news that God had spoken through the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz when the people of God were in deep trouble, in the midst of a beastly war. Now when Joseph faces this ugly situation of his life, the good news he gets is "God-with-us."

God is with us. With the simplicity of the Gospel text, that fixes everything. It makes for a happy story. Joseph gets up and does what God tells him to do, takes Mary home, and we are ready for Christmas, for sweet baby Jesus, away in a manger. God is with us, and that should fix everything, make our lives happy and our world a better place. Shouldn't God-with-us mean at least that?

Question is, IF God is with us in the birth of Jesus Christ, IF God has come to be present in our lives and our world, then why are there so many lives which are unhappy, such beastly lives? Why are people so hostile, why do people call names and hate each other, and why do so many love relationships turn sour? Why are people out of work, and why is the workplace often so dehumanizing and full of conflict? Why is there domestic violence, and child abuse, and why does a young man down in Denver kill his very own parents?

And, IF God is with us in the birth of Jesus Christ, and that promise is still real to us today, 2000 years later, why is our world such an ugly place? Why do such beastly things happen in our world? So that our marines have to be sent to starving people in Somalia, so that there is war in some 40 countries of God's good earth, so that people in the cities of one nation under God wander the streets, cold and homeless and hungry?

Why if God is with us, do people live such beastly lives, why is our world such an ugly place?

Hear the good news: God is with us.

The message of Christmas is that God has sent Jesus Christ into our lives and our world, and that in Jesus Christ the kingdom of God has already come. That in Jesus, God has stepped into our ugly, beastly world to change it—to bring the beauty of the love of God.

There's a way that the Gospel message is a bit like the story of Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty steps into the ugly world of the Beast, not because he is loveable, not because he deserves her. Beauty steps into the ugly world of the beast because she loves her father. But the world of the beast does not change right away, even though Beauty is there. The beast does not become beautiful right away. Even though the servants, who share the curse of the Beast, warn him that Beauty might be the one they've been waiting for, the one who might earn his love and love him in return—the beast continues to rage and scream and roar, finally sending Beauty away. You know the story. She is attacked by the wolves, and Beast saves her. As she nurses him back to health, they bicker and blame each other, until in one beautiful moment, Beauty steps into the heart of the ugly beast: "Thank you for saving my life," she says. From that moment on, the Beast begins to change. Change comes slowly. But between snarls, the beast begins to speak some kind words. He begins to try to curb his anger. He stops eating like a beast and learns some table manners. He begins to laugh and play. And then, finally, Beast knows that he loves Beauty, and in an amazing act of love, he releases her to find
her father. Beauty and her father return to the ugly world of the beast to warn him of the danger of the townspeople's attack, but they are too late. In the fighting, Beast is stabbed, and as he lays dying, Beauty confesses her love for him. And, the spell is broken. Beast is changed by the love of Beauty. Because Beauty stepped into the ugly world of the beast, Beast was changed, little by little, until one day he changed to become the wonderful handsome prince.

It's a little like that with the birth of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God stepped into our ugly, beastly world to change it. To bring the beauty of the love of God's kingdom. But change comes slowly. Look at our world.

Yes, just look at our world. There are so many ugly people, so many beastly things happening.

But, just look at our world. There are some people who are changing. There are some persons who have been changed by the beauty of God's love. Jesus has stepped into the hearts of some persons in our world today. Little by little our world is being changed by beauty, as those persons begin loving others.

There are the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, who live in a City Park convent and go out to comfort the sick. Since they have taken a vow of poverty, their gifts to each other are their prayers. And in addition to their nursing, at Christmas, they pack cookies and candy or lotion and stockings for the poor they visit. Then, there is their nursing director, Peggy Scarbrough, who this year, just like every year for 20 years, took a week of her vacation to bake cookies for the Sisters to take to the poor.²

Little by little our world is being changed by the beauty of love, as Jesus steps into people's hearts, and people begin loving others. God is with us.

Closer to home there is the story of Eddie Segura, a sixth grader at Franklin Middle School in Greeley. Eddie wanted a sweat outfit and a Tornado Rex game for Christmas. But then he heard about a family with two toddlers and a single mom, who would have no Christmas at all. He went home and asked his own mom for $50 to help the family. But his mom could only afford three gifts apiece for her own children, and she had already spent her Christmas budget. So Eddie sacrificed the two gifts he wanted the most, and talked his mom into returning them to the store, and then took the money so that the two toddlers would have a good Christmas. What's more, Eddie felt good about doing it.³

Little by little our world is being changed by the beauty of love, because some persons begin to love others. God is with us.

The good news of Christmas is that in the child Jesus, God has stepped into our beastly world with the beauty of love.

And, the good news of Christmas is that the child Jesus still waits today to step into our hearts—your heart and mine—and to change us by the beauty of God's love.

So, look to your heart. Stop a little while from the shopping and the baking and the card-writing. Consider the condition of your heart. Are you one of the persons, who because Jesus has stepped into your heart, is changing the world with the beauty of love? Or, are there some places where the arteries of your spiritual heart are clogged up with ugly things and beastly thoughts? Jesus waits, my friends, to come into your heart this Christmas. To change you, little by little, and to fill your life with the beauty of God's love. Why not take some time to let the Christ Child enter your heart this week? Then you will be one of the persons who change our world with the beauty of that love.

Friends, hear the good news of the Gospel: God IS with us! Bringing the beauty of love into a beastly world.

Janice W. Hearn
LaSalle, CO

1. Reader's Digest (December 1991).
2. Source unknown.
3. The Greeley Tribune (December 1992).