Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
December 29, 2002
Philippians 2: 1-11
In these days since Christmas, I’ve actually been thinking about someone we didn’t talk about this year at Christmas… the Grinch. Remember the Grinch? The Grinch, what did they say -- his brain was full of spiders… he had garlic in his soul… and termites in his smile. Not a friendly or very happy fellow. The Grinch really didn’t like anything or anyone, but what the Grinch liked least of all, and it came around every year, was Christmas. The Grinch hated Christmas. So what did the Grinch decide to do? He decided to steal Christmas. Now the people who really loved Christmas, who lived down the mountain from the Grinch, were the Who’s of Whoville. So what did the Grinch decide to do? Steal Christmas from the Who’s. On Christmas Eve he dresses up like Santa, gets a sleigh, dresses his dog like a reindeer and goes down to Whoville with this big sack and – is he bringing presents? No, he’s taking them! He takes the lights, the trees, the presents, the candy canes, everything, even the ‘roast beast.’ He takes it all! Nothing left! He puts it all in his big sack and goes up into his cave in the mountains and waits. And he can’t wait to hear the Who’s crying and sobbing the next day when they find out that Christmas has been stolen.
So the next day comes, Christmas Day, and the Grinch goes outside, waiting to hear them sobbing and wailing and what does he hear? Singing! The Who’s in Whoville have formed a big circle and are doing what we just did – they’re singing Christmas Carols. The Grinch can’t believe it! Didn’t he steal Christmas? No, he stole the stuff of Christmas, but the Who’s in Whoville still felt the joy and love and hope of Christmas, so they came together on Christmas Day and sang and held hands. He couldn’t steal Christmas.
Hmm… What did Dr. Seuss say? “The Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day?” What does he do? He suddenly realizes he wants to be like them! He puts all the stuff in his sleigh and takes it back down to Whoville. He gives them back all the stuff of Christmas. He wants to share Christmas with them – he wants what they have, that love and joy.
It is an interesting story – it turns things upside-down. You would think that the Grinch is the powerful one and the Who’s of Whoville are the helpless ones. He can do anything he wants to them. But what happens in the end? Their love and their joy are far more powerful than anything the Grinch can do and he wants some of it.
Well Christmas, needless to say, also turns things upside-down. For how does God choose to come to us? Not as a mighty warrior. The central symbol of Christmas is a cradle. A babe in the manger is almost the definition of helplessness. This is how God chooses to come, essentially at the mercy of humanity. Paul gets right to the point: God in Christ emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness and being found in human form – humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is something to think about… is this really what we want in our God? This quality of helplessness?
Well, needless to say, in this season I have also been thinking about Lord of the Rings. Wonderful characters in Lord of the Rings – the powerful wizard Gandalf; the mighty warrior Aragorn and other noble creatures – men, elves, dwarfs, marvelous horses, powerful eagles…. But in the story, who is the one who is chosen for the awesome task of bearing the ring of power. Who is the one who is chosen to take that ring and destroy it in the fire from which it came? Not the wizard or the warrior, but a hobbit – Frodo. Small, weak, not particularly skilled in the use of a sword or a bow, but he is the one who must undertake this awesome and dangerous journey and task. And as the story progresses, I really think his powerlessness, his helplessness, become his greatest strength. He, above all, is finally able to resist the temptation of the ring. Something that Aragorn and Gandalf say they can never do. Frodo is faithful, loyal, goodhearted, stubbornly hopeful and these are qualities which finally, the great evil in Mordor, can never seem to quite to figure out. It expects great armies – it gets a hobbit. And in the end, against Frodo’s helplessness, it doesn’t stand a chance.
When asked about God’s influence in history, Joseph Stalin was said to have asked, “How many battalions does he command?” This is the world’s view – you want to change things, you want to overcome evil, you want to shape a world – nothing works like force -- cannon and shot. But then God comes along and turns things upside-down. God chooses a different path: a cradle and a cross. Symbols of helplessness. When you consider the life of Jesus, what is it in that life that continues to inspire, to shape us to guide us? I would argue that the power of Jesus life lay in its tenderness, its compassion, its forgiving quality and its willingness to give of itself for others. Qualities that the world basically regards as helpless. Like Stalin, we ask, “How many battalions?”
Then I think of those Who’s of Whoville. I think of Frodo the Hobbit. And I think of Jesus in a manger and later, on a cross. All so helpless and yet all so strangely powerful. Through their tenderness, their compassion, their patient good will, they confront evil, and they overcome. There’s no need to look elsewhere folks, that babe in the manger, that man on the cross – these are God’s thrusts into an evil world. And ultimately, this is the only way He can be with us, the only way that God can help us.
A visitor to a famous art gallery turned to a guard and said, “These paintings aren’t so great!” to which the guard responded, “Sir, these paintings aren’t on trial, you are.” Just so – the helplessness of God does not put God on trial, but us. God has made his move. God has shown us the way. Will we join Him?