( Luke 2:1-21 ) - [ Deutsch ]
Dear Christmas Eve congregation, our Christmas story begins like this, and is completely worldly and factual: at the time when Quirinius was governor in Syria and Augustus emperor in Rome, a change of times was heralded. All the world was to be counted: men and women, children, cattle, fields, vines, fruit trees, all property. It was not as romantic as it might sound on our Christmas Eve. In those days, the Emperor Augustus issued a decree that a census take place throughout the world. It was an order: not one and nothing was to escape this count.
It was at this time that Mary and Joseph became parents for the first time: a turning point for the young couple. Suddenly they were more than sweetheart and beloved, husband and wife. Suddenly, they were mother and father and together parents. Responsible for this little bundle of life.
And the love and joy would be huge and priceless.
Sometimes, the future changes its direction. Something drastic changes the expected course of time. Actually, we all assume that everything will always remain as it is. But some incisions can never be forgotten. It is the same in my life, as futurologist Matthias Horx says about the global Corona Crisis: the world as we knew it, is dissolving. And the future, which will be vastly different from what we thought, does not yet reveal itself.
And certainly, there are also great concerns about what consequences we will have to bear, the entire world too. Before and after Covid, before and after the fall of the Wall, before and after apartheid, before and after 11th September, before and after the attack on Ukraine.
Turn of the times. Something has happened that fundamentally changes the world and life, including my personal life.
We are still counting the years of our calendar as after Christ. In most countries of the world, the timeline is still divided into the years before and after Jesus' birth. The fact that God came into the world in Christ changed everything, that is what it means. Let us remember this anew: the turning point of time more than 2000 years ago.
Ordinary people longed for change. They longed for peace and freedom, for love and recognition, for warmth and togetherness. No different, then, from what we do today. And they too were concerned for themselves and their world. As we do today.
Luke, the author of the Christmas story, embeds the tale in this world history.
And it is important: Emperor Augustus was the sole ruler of what was then the most powerful empire in the West, and Quirinius was his commander-in-chief in the Middle East as far as present-day Iraq. The titles "Saviour" and "Kyrios" belonged to Emperor Augustus. He was the lord of lords, the venerable one. And the Roman elite and Augustus were convinced that they were the peace power and could bring peace to the world. For that, of course, Augustus needed money. The tax collections and censuses were the most powerful act of the most powerful man. There was anything but joy among the common people. That is easy to imagine. At the beginning of the birth story of Jesus we find the brutality of this world. The powerful of this world who did not care about needy people and ensured that tax and financial policies stay harsh realities.
They were simple people whom we meet in the birth story of Jesus. Mary and Joseph and shepherds in the fields.
The shepherds too, lived in constant worry as they did not know what the Roman occupiers would do next. On this night, the worry escalated into fear. For suddenly there was light and noise in the dark solitude of the field. They panicked when the whole sky opened above them. Something unimaginable broke into their everyday lives. Something for which they had no explanation. It happened so suddenly and with such a force that they were stunned. A light in the night. A light never seen before.
Then someone who was not of this world cried out, "Turn of the times for you! It is really true! Stop trembling and fear not. The times are changing. Nothing will be the same, for the Saviour is born to you today!"
In a simple house on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, more than two thousand years ago, something broke into this world that changed the world. That night, the future changed direction. God intervened.
And when eight days were up and he was to be circumcised, he was given the name Jesus. Dear congregation, this is how the birth story ends. It begins with the name Augustus and ends with the name Jesus. That is no coincidence, Augustus and Jesus are opposites. The birth of this child surpasses the power of Augustus. And therein lies all hope. Hope is only possible in looking at the child, while knowing of the brutality, coldness, and harshness of this world. Even the most powerful man must serve the plans of God. The future takes on a new direction because of and towards this child.
It shook the shepherds that night in the fields outside Bethlehem. Yes, in the silence of that night on the edge of the world of that time, a whole new, unheard-of process of divine liberation and salvation began. Endangered like a new-born baby in a feeding trough. This process will still require much patience and trust in the promise of a life already marked by God's peace and justice: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests."
"For this day, a Saviour has been born unto you." Yes, also for us today.
A small bundle of life despite all the worries of the world.
“Fear not. Behold, I proclaim great joy to you, that will be for all the people; for on this day unto you a Saviour has been born, he is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.” That is the central message in our story.
A small bundle of love that also accepts you as you are with all your sorrows and fear.
A small bundle and he will grow, despite the signs of the times.
For you and me. Turn of the times. Amen.