Christ and Christmas, Can You Hear the Baby Crying?: Second Part
What role does money play in the quality of your Christmas season?
On Friday Nov 25 the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch LA for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was “competitive shopping.” A customer shot pepper spray at other customers at a busy Northridge Wal-Mart store late Thursday night, causing minor injuries to at least 10 people who had been waiting hours for Black Friday savings, Lopez described a chaotic scene in the San Fernando Valley store among shoppers looking for video games soon after the sale began. Lopez said customers were already in the store when a whistle signaled the start of the Black Friday sale at 10 p.m., sending shoppers hurtling in search of deeply discounted items.
Lopez said that by the time he arrived at the video games, the display had been torn down. Employees attempted to hold back the scrum of shoppers and pick up merchandise even as customers trampled the video games and DVDs strewn on the floor.
“It was absolutely crazy,” he said.
“I heard screaming and I heard yelling,” said Lopez, 18. “Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up
Another customer said, “I guess what triggered it (the pepper spray attack) was people started pulling the plastic off the pallets and then shoving and bombarding the display of games. It started with people pushing and screaming because they were getting shoved onto the boxes.”
We all recognize the excessiveness, the utter foolishness of that story; All of us who have ever lined up for deal know that we would never stoop so low. We know that money should not have that kind of influence on our Christmas nor our worldview as followers of Christ, yet we know that we are influenced even pressured.
A new Statistics Canada report shows Canadians keep taking on more debt, even as they get poorer. The average debt-to-income ratio now stands at a record 153 per cent, meaning for every $1,000 of after-tax income, households owe $1,530. In 1990, average household debt was $56,800, and the debt to income ratio was 93 per cent.
Two days after Black Friday and the start of the Christmas shopping season, the traditional Christmas season began with the first Sunday of Advent, reminding us of why we celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the story:
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
All returned to their own towns to register for this census.
And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.
He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.
She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.
That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened,
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David!
And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to all whom God favors.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on,
let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord
has told us about.”
They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the
manger.
Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given
him by the angel even before he was conceived.
Then it was time for the purification offering, as required by the Law of Moses after the
birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” So they offered a sacrifice according to what was required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2: 1-24 NLT
We are going to look at this Christmas story through different lenses. There are a couple of spots where decisions of the Christ family are influenced by culture and particularly by money.
The reason Christ was born in Bethlehem was the requirement for Joseph and Mary to register for the Census, at the same time they also needed to pay a Poll tax, a head tax every Roman subject over the age of 12 had to pay, only Roman citizens were exempt. Considering that 80-90% of the population was not a citizen this was a big deal, the roads of the Roman empire would have been filled in this mass movement as subjects travelled to their ancestral home to register and pay. The head tax wasn’t a lot, only a day’s wage – but it was resented because they were forced to pay it. It was resented because they were compelled to participate in the Roman economy, and sometimes it was against their religion – literally.
The family also participated in the Jewish rite of purification for the infant Jesus; it meant bringing a sacrifice. The rich brought a lamb and the poor brought two pigeons, they brought two pigeons. The purification rite was important to them; they would have gladly brought a lamb if they had the means.
Jump about 30 years ahead. The religious establishment asks Christ, if it is a sin to pay this head tax to Caesar.
In response he asks them to show him a denarius, a roman coin. They show him and he famously responds, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
Mosaic law forbade the use of coins with an image of the emperor or a pagan god; so to keep peace, Jews were allowed to use coins without the emperor’s head when they were in Jerusalem. Irony of ironies, these teachers of the law who ranted and raved against the sins of culture, and who often created financial hardships for their people with impossible standards, were in Jerusalem, their pockets full with forbidden coins.
This season we will have opportunities to spend money on things that are good and right and align perfectly with our values and our relationship with Christ – if we had more money to spend on these things we would. There is also pressure to conform to a culture, economy and social system with some inherent weaknesses, sins. We agree that the crass commercialization of this season to remember Christ’s birth is one of those sins.
Yet we find our pockets full of the Emperor’s coins, and we can hardly wait to spend them.
Rather than being motivated by guilt, or worse being hypocritical, enjoy your financial means in other words, If you have the means, spend it….and enjoy it.
But remember “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is Gods.
The freedom to spend within our means requires more than a financial guideline, it needs a spiritual measure. This measure is found in our identification with the Messiah, Christ. It is transporting Christ’s birth over time and space and reliving it now through our worshipful response both in community and in private. It is giving space for the baby’s cry to transform us.
Can you hear the baby crying?
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the LORD Almighty will guarantee this! Isaiah 9:6-7NLT
Take the time to nurture Christ’s spirit. For some of us it is to give time for His spirit to be refreshed in us. For others of us it is to allow Christ’s spirit to be birthed in us, for the first time. To be fully human, all Christ created us to be; is to hear the baby cry.
Can you hear the baby crying?
Christ and Christmas, Can You Hear the Baby Crying?: Second Part.What role does money play in the quality of your Christmas season?