A Necessary Interruption
Dr. Larry Thorson
Luke 2:8-20
8 And there were shepherds living out
in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But
the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great
joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the
town of
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host
appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and
the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had
seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this
child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all
these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had
heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Well it’s Christmas Eve. Unfortunately I have some bad news for you. Most of the stores are now closed. If you haven’t bought your presents yet, I
hope you’re a very creative artist.
All month I’ve been trying to warn those who
have been in attendance here that they better interrupt their day to day
activities to get ready because Christmas was coming like it or not. You’re either going to have a great Christmas
or a “man I can’t wait for this thing to be over” kind of Christmas. It’s your decision.
I have to admit that over the years I
haven’t enjoyed Christmas very much. For
one thing Christmas is a lot of extra work.
Take hanging Christmas lights for example. Somehow I would always pick the coldest day
of December to hang the lights. It might
be 70 degrees all week, but the day I hung the lights it would be 45 degrees
and windy.
Then there’s the Christmas tree. What a mess.
First there’s finding one, paying too much for it, then there’s hauling
it home, fighting to get the tree stand on the bottom and then carrying it into
the house without breaking anything on the way.
How do you get all the needles off the carpet without jamming your
vacuum cleaner. Finally there’s getting
the tree to stand upright in the house and not fall over, which it usually does
at least once a season. That’s way too
much work. Not to mention trying to find
the perfect gifts for loved ones all the while fighting horrendous, nervous
traffic before the stores close on Christmas Eve. Plus I never feel any closer to God at
Christmas than any other time of year.
Bah humbug.
Finally one year I realized what was
going on about Christmas for me and this year was able to make some changes for
the better. Life was busy enough as it
was and Christmas was an interruption of that busyness. I don’t like interruptions. It’s kind of like when you’re late to be
somewhere and an old friend who is only going to be in town for a few hours
stops by to visit. Do you skip what you
were late for and stay to visit or do you ignore your friend? Christmas is an interruption of our day to day
life. But it’s a good interruption and
one that we need.
Christmas has always been an interruption
since its inception. The Christmas Eve
story is about two upstanding Jewish teenagers, Mary and Joseph whose normal
lives were interrupted by the birth of the Savior. But they weren’t the only ones whose lives
were interrupted by Christmas. Think
about those innkeepers who turned them down trying to explain to their wives
how they could turn away a ninth month pregnant woman and her apparent husband. “You did what?” “What kind of an animal are you?” “I should put you out in the stable.”
There were shepherds living out in the
fields watching their sheep at night. All
of a sudden an angel interrupts their night.
They probably had never seen an angel before. It says they were terrified. Then there was this whole choir that appeared
out in the field. That had to wake the sheep up. No sleeping that night.
In verse 15 it says the shepherds changed
plans and made their way out of the countryside and into
I hate interruptions. “We interrupt our regular programming to
bring you an updated weather report.” “A
tornado touched down northwest of downtown at approximately
Those were the kinds of interruptions
that became the norm for us each spring in
The birth of the Christ was an interruption that affected a lot of
people. Some people saw it as a tornado
warning and ran for shelter. Some people
saw it as a nuisance that they wanted to do away with. The same event but completely different
responses.
You’ve just settled down in your easy
chair and the door bell rings. Not
expecting anyone you wonder whose selling what now and how do you get rid of
them politely in case this one turns out to be God’s angel in disguise. Do you all have that problem? I have a general policy that I never, ever
buy anything from a door to door or phone to phone salesperson. Period.
One day the doorbell rang and I went to
answer it. It was a roofing salesman
wanting to know if I wanted a free estimate for a new roof. A new roof?
He got me out of my easy chair trying to sell me a new roof? What was that dreamer smoking? I looked at him in the eye and said “Come on
in, I’ve been waiting for you.” You see
our roof in
Interruptions aren’t bad things if they
meet a need. There was a distinguished
theologian lecturing at a church Bible conference many years ago. As he expounded the depths of Reformed
theology in Genesis and Romans his class of adult lay leaders in that church
was faced with a dilemma. It seems that
when this very stately man had gone to the restroom he had failed to zip his
pants back up. That’s when you wish
someone friendly will discreetly interrupt you.
Into this world is born a Savior to
interrupt our comfortable lives. But a
savior to save us from what, the bad place?
Why would we go to the bad place?
What I hear so often is that God is a loving God and would never send us
to the bad place. That’s true. We send ourselves.
J. Vernon McGee used to say “get twenty
of the best long jump athletes in the world and take them to the
To reach God would be like long jumping
to Catalina from the
I love the idea of time machines. Why can’t somebody invent a time
machine? I’ve always wanted to go back
to the Santa Clara Valley of the 1950’s that I was born in and see the
beautiful orchards that are now gone.
Then I could redo my life with what I now know. Well that mechanism has a better chance of
being developed than our being able to develop a mechanism to help us cross the
chasm of sin that separates us from God.
That’s why God chose to interrupt so many
lives by becoming a baby and being reborn as Jesus the Christ. We’re like the motorcycle officer riding on a
freeway in the dark following the Northridge earthquake who didn’t see the
bridge that was out in time to stop and was killed. Sometimes our lives depend on being
interrupted.
So think of Christmas as an annual interruption
of our lives. It’s a reminder that left to our own devises we’re going to the
bad place and God doesn’t want that. God
loves you so much that losing you breaks his heart. That’s why God suffered so much as a human
for us.
Jesus’ birth is a huge interruption into
what we’re doing. It’s either an
annoyance for you or a roofing contractor the day after a hail storm. I have come to embrace Christmas by willingly
interrupting everything that I do during December instead of begrudgingly
allowing Christmas to interrupt what I was doing. Now Christmas is fun.
To follow Christ means to embrace Christ
by willingly interrupting everything you do in your life rather than
begrudgingly allowing Christ to interrupt what you think is more
important. It starts by acknowledging
that without Christ you’re left swimming 26 miles to Catalina. Then take a look at whether you’re enjoying
following Christ or begrudgingly enduring him.
Acknowledge the Christ. Receive him.
Embrace him with your whole being.
Do it now before the sirens blow.
Amen.