Grace Lutheran Church Fourth Sunday in Advent, Dec 24, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Fourth Sunday in Advent “Big presents in small packages”

December 24, 2006 Micah 5:2-5a

“Big gift in small package” was the recent headline of a newspaper in Ocala, Florida. The article went on to describe what joy four dozen Boy Scouts brought to the seniors living of Hampton Manor at Deerwood. The size of these boys did not decrease the joy they brought. Big presents in small packages can be wonderful to receive.

The NBC Today show a while back had a special on how to throw a great birthday party. One of the hints given centered around the Big Box Theory. The expert emphasized that young kids have not yet learned that good things can come in small packages. For them, the bigger the box the better the present!

The Big Box Theory is not true only for kids. Today people continue to look for God at work in great big packages of power and authority and forget to look to the little baby born in the tiny town of Bethlehem.

The prophet Micah gives to us a big present in the promise of a small package. Micah promised that from out of Bethlehem would arise the one whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

Bethlehem was too small to be listed among the cities of Judah. The Old Testament books of Joshua and Nehemiah list what appear to be exhaustive lists of the cities of Judah. But you will not find Bethlehem among those lists.

Bethlehem was too small to produce a military leader. A larger town would have a commander of her own, but a town of Bethlehem’s size was lumped under another city’s commander.

But a big present for us comes in this small package, this town of David. David had been Israel’s greatest king. But when Samuel had gone to the town of Bethlehem and Jesse paraded his sons. Samuel did not choose the tallest, brightest, or strongest. Samuel asked do you have more sons. Jesse brought forward the forgotten David. It was David that Samuel anointed to be King in Israel, the boy shepherd who would not even be big enough to join his brothers in battle against the Philistines. But of course David would wind up in that battle when Goliath used his taunting words against Israel and the little boy David struck him down with his sling shot.

Jesus born in Bethlehem is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Micah. God’s selection of Bethlehem points out that God often works through the forgotten, set aside, and seemingly insignificant to accomplish his awesome work of salvation.

Micah promises that the one born in Bethlehem would be “whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” This is on one level a look back to the lineage of King David, who by the time of the prophet Micah was a long ago memory. ON a deeper level Micah points us back to the eternal nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus, born of Mary, is the Word of God present at creation. Jesus did not make his first appearance in Bethlehem. Jesus is the eternal son of the Father, from the beginning Jesus was. Before there was, there was Jesus. When the Father said, “Let there be light,” and we find light in creation, it was the Word of God at work that brought light to the dark void of nothingness.

The promise of Jesus is a promise that goes back before any kings and rulers walked this earth. In the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion Aslan hands himself over to the witch as a substitute for Edmund the boy who had betrayed Narnia. Aslan was killed. All hope seemed to be lost, but he rose from the dead. Lucy and Susan discover Aslan lives and ask how. Aslan responds that there is a magic deeper than the evil witch.

C.S. Lewis talking about the Deeper magic is a reminder of the promise of Micah that the birth of the Messiah was going to break into this world, that the Messiah is from the ancient days. It would seem that sin is deeply entrenched in our world and in our lives. Indeed we are born in sin and apart from God can do no good things. But no matter how deep sin has entrenched into our lives, Jesus has come from those ancient days of creation to restore us to the kingdom.

God is at work in this world of ours. But unfortunately people often search for God’s big present of hope and salvation in the big packages of this world. Instead of looking for God in the T.V. Evangelists that prance across their stage doing healing and miracles. Others might be looking for God to be at work in this world through the events of Israel, trying to find God fulfilling some sort of modern prophecy.

People are looking for God, there is no mistake of that. But just like the wise man who looked in Jerusalem, people continue today to wander lost for the messiah who has come to bring us salvation.

Our messiah came as a tiny baby in the tiny town of Bethlehem. But in this small package betrays its huge present for you.

Jesus has come to stand and shepherd his flock. The strength of the Lord is found in Jesus. We do not need to aimlessly search on TV or in the news to answer, “If God is at work.” The strength of the Lord is found in Jesus. Jesus is the majesty of the name of the Lord made flesh. People will fail you. Unfortunately countless people have given up on their faith because their eyes have been on the works of others and not the work of Jesus. Our faith must not feed upon the good works of others. I will fail you. I will sleep-in, I will forget appointments, I will leave my dirty dishes in the church lounge sink. I have come into this pulpit to not point you to me, but to point you to the one who never fails you.

Jesus is here in his strength and majesty today through the Word and Sacraments. Jesus stands in this worship to shepherd his flock. In him you can dwell secure. He shall be your peace.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church Sermons