❖ Video (Whole Worship Service)
❖ Audio (Message)
God’s Weakness That Surpasses Any Force or Power
Luke 2:1-7
Message for the third Sunday of Advent
Mari Ikeda
It’s the third Sunday of Advent today.
To start my message today, I’d like you to have an image in your mind. I have used this image in a different context before. It’s domino toppling, especially not a linear sequence, but a planar one. The trick is to stand dominoes to be toppled automatically one after another by toppling only the first domino. It feels nice to make all the dominoes fall just by flipping and toppling the first one by our finger. It may sound exaggerative, but I think the feeling has something in common with our desire to dominate that we all have. In the part of our heart that is destructive and violent, we feel nice to make many people obey us with only a finger, don’t we?
In fact, people get into a power struggle wherever people gather, anywhere in the world, even in a country where a democracy is established. A contest for power and a hierarchy is generated not only among politicians, but in any human relationships, in workplace, classroom, church, and even at home. In addition, once a power structure is established, it cannot be easily changed. The war in Ukraine has sadly become yet another example to show that an established power structure causes a tragedy. It is unfortunate but very common around us that an individual’s mistake causes many people to suffer for generations, which means domino toppling is happening so many places around us.
Now let me explain why I wanted to use the image of domino toppling; because I thought it makes easier for us to understand and compare our way with God’s way. We tend to expect God to correct all people’s wrongs and save us all at once, as if He plays backward and does the reverse of how we topple many dominoes with a finger. However, on the contrary to our expectation, God’s way is to help a domino that we toppled stand up one by one. In doing so, He even breathes life to each domino so that neighboring dominoes can help each other stand up. Moreover, He also gives strength to dominoes not to fall while their neighboring dominoes still lean on them heavily. This is a time-consuming task that needs patient efforts. Although we may wonder why God uses such a roundabout way, it was the only way for God to teach us about love and make this world a better place.
Now, my long introduction is over. I’d like to read a Christmas text in Luke 2:1-7 today. This text is written in a very detached tone without any expressions of emotion like “they feared” or “they rejoiced,” unlike other Christmas texts. Nonetheless, in this detached-toned account, we can see how a man enjoys domino toppling with his finger on the one hand, while God tries to raise up the dominoes that men toppled, one by one. Let’s read the whole text.
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
A. The Emperor’s way and God’s way are polar opposites
1. The emperor coerces people into submission by force and power
“Caesar Augustus” was the emperor of the ancient Roman Empire. The Empire defeated many small countries of the Mediterranean by force, made them subordinate, and expanded its dominion by collecting taxes from them. It is said that the census mentioned in the text here was also for the purpose of taxation. As no one could defied the imperial order, Joseph and May had to take on a long journey for the census, despite Mary’s pregnancy.
It’s always the case with people in power, both in the past and present, that they force people into submission by force and power for their personal profits. Or perhaps it’s just the case with most people in general that once they become leaders, they forget their responsibility of leading other people well, and only misunderstand that they have the right to control others. It’s true that in order to let our society function smoothly, we need some rules and regulations, as well as some form of top-down decision-making structure. However, the good feeling of making many people submit to us and changing the scenery only by a flip of our finger is so tempting and irresistible that we desire to get the power and never want to lose it again once we get it. That leads us to a never-ceasing conflict with others.
2. God becomes powerless and defenseless in order to change people’s hearts
Now, where is God, and what is He doing in this Bible text? Surprisingly, He is just sleeping peacefully as a newborn baby in a manger in a stable. A baby, powerless and defenseless, unable to do anything by himself, even to survive without his parents’ care. But the baby was God the Almighty, the Creator of this world, who became a man and came to this world. Although it’s natural that babies are powerless and defenseless, what good can God do for us by becoming one of those babies of ours Himself?
This question is raised again when Jesus dies on the cross. What good can we expect God to do for us, if He passively accepts his execution as a sinner and dies? In fact, both in his birth time and death time, Jesus was powerless and defenseless, unable to do anything by Himself, but just accepted the way people treated Him as they wished.
However, that was the very intention of God. He deliberately gave up all His power for us. True love is to do everything one can do for others, by giving up one’s convenience and profit, even at the risk of one’s damage. To expect nothing in return, but to be able to joyfully sacrifice oneself without feeling sacrificial is what the true love means. In order to teach us that love, God did not care about losing His status as God and became completely weak before us.
God never forces anyone for anything. But He gave up all His power and even His life on His part, to show us He loves us. That was the only way He had in order to let the fallen dominoes stand on their feet and teach us how wrong the way this world is, where we take for granted to enjoy domino toppling. It means that each of us as each fallen domino stands up by seeing the wrong way of this world and by understanding and believing what true love God wants this world to keep.
In this way, I believe the role God entrusted us in order to realize His plan is far greater than we think.
B. God entrusted many things to people
1. Jesus had to be protected by Mary and Joseph
As written in the text today, God came as Jesus, born as a son of the couple of Joseph and Mary. As a newborn baby, Jesus was not able to even survive unless the couple protected Him. To follow back even further, He was not even born if the two did not accept such an unprecedented reality as the pregnancy by the Holy Spirit. Though it’s true that they were special because the angel directly spoke to them to guide them, they were still only human beings just as us. So it’s not too much to say that the fate of Jesus was left in the hands of the young couple.
Here we see again the purpose for which God became weak. By becoming weak and in need of people’s help, though He was God, God showed to us His reckless trust in us. We can’t expose our weakness to someone unless we have a trust in that person. Or if we have no choice but rely on someone, we feel anxious because our fate is in the hands of that person. We may be betrayed or exploited. But that was what God did. Although He knew that we would betray and exploit Him, He entrusted His life and fate to us. Because to love means to have a trust. Thus, we should understand that God loves and trusts us recklessly, much more than we can imagine, and entrusts many things to us.
2. To leave something of value in this world that will never change
Now, what specifically does God entrust to us? It is for us to take over God’s way itself. It is to admit before others that we are weak and ask for help, instead of boasting our strength. It is also to accept other people’s weaknesses and forgive their mistakes. It is not to lose hope by trusting people even when people betray and exploit us. These are all very difficult. But these are exactly what God has done for us and the very task He entrusts to us because He trusts we can do.
Maybe Caesar Augustus once got the power to control the entire Roman world. However, he could not keep his wealth and power forever, and had nothing he could bring along to the after-life. On the contrary, Jesus, the baby lying in a manger, has kept moving people’s hearts all over the world for more than two thousand years. In all ages His love has lifted people on their feet, united us to each other, and overturned our domino toppling. Accepting one another’s weaknesses is better than having wealth or honor. This is something of value that will never change, that God gave us. To keep telling about this to the world is the task entrusted to us.
（Prayer）
Dear our Lord Jesus, you gave up your status as God and became weak as one of us to come to this world. You sacrificed your life for us. Help us fill our hearts with confidence and joy in knowing that you love us. Give our hearts strength to love and trust people. Help us admit our own weaknesses and accept each other’s weaknesses, so that we can help each other. Dear Lord Jesus, please guide us. We pray this in Your name, Amen.
Summary
God came into this world as a helpless baby and died as a helpless sinner. People use force and power to forcibly control people, but God moves our hearts by making himself vulnerable and not hiding his weakness. This was to teach us that accepting one another’s weaknesses is better than having wealth or honor. That is the way God rules this world, and that is the work entrusted to us.
For Discussion
- What is God’s weakness that surpasses any force or power, wealth or honor?
- What kind of work does God entrust to us?