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Luke 4:16-21
December 14, 2014
My Christmas Playlist>“Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”
Jesus came for those on the outside.
Question of the Week
When have you felt like a misfit?
Prayer
Sermon
When I was in high school and college, for several years I remember
visiting this tree farm to cut a Christmas tree
It seemed really far away from my parents’ house – how we found it I’m not
sure
And there is one thing that stands out in my memory of this tree farm: for
years, they had this one-antlered reindeer
It was sad, really – they had just this one reindeer, and the poor thing
looked like the Grinch’s dog Max
Seeing that one-antlered reindeer always made me think of Rudolph, the
reindeer who was so different that no one wanted anything to do with
him
Steph refuses to watch the TV special when it comes on because everyone
in the story – including Santa, of all people – is just plain mean
I watched it again a few years ago and I’ll admit, I have to agree with her
And yes, everyone turns it around in the end, but still, it’s hard to go back
once you’ve seen Santa making fun of someone
Rudolph seems like such a strange song to become a favorite of children
If it were written today it probably would be banned for encouraging bullying
Most people don’t know the history behind Rudolph
His story was first told in a Christmastime promotion by a copywriter for
Montgomery Ward back in 1939 – a guy who normally wrote for
catalogs
If you read the original poem, it’s really pretty bad
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I’ll post a link with this sermon and you can see what I mean1
Robert May, who wrote it, said his bosses asked him: “Can’t you come up
with anything better?”
But underneath the bad poetry was an idea that was, obviously, pure
genius – one that’s stood the test of time
Like most great stories, there’s a sad part to its history: partway through the
project, May lost his wife to cancer
He was drowning in medical bills and trying to make it on his small salary
when, a few years later, after the war, the CEO of Montgomery Ward
relinquished the company’s rights to the character and gave them to
May
May asked his brother-in-law, an aspiring songwriter named Johnny Marks,
to try and pull together a song based on the poem
He did, and after being passed over by a couple of artists, Gene Autry, a
famous country singer, agreed to record it in 1949
For many years, it was the second-biggest-selling single of all time, behind
Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”2
The TV special wouldn’t come until 1964
So why is this song and story loved by children?
Well, my theory is that it’s precisely because it’s the story of someone on
the outside – someone who is bullied and made fun of –
who shows the world that what he has to offer is important, no matter what
anyone says
That’s a story, unfortunately, that a lot of our kids can relate to
The TV special takes this theme of Rudolph being left out, ignored and
bullied and plays it up
So you add in Hermie, the elf who wants to be a dentist
you add in The Island of Misfit Toys
In the end, even the Abominable Snowman finds his place (after he’s had
all his teeth removed, of course)
Rudolph, at its core, is a story of those on the outside being brought into
the center
Sound familiar?
It should.
Because, at least to my mind, that’s the gospel.
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That’s true whenever and wherever it’s proclaimed
But it’s especially clear when we look at the Christmas story
Everyone in the Christmas story is an outsider
John the Baptist, whose birth story parallels Jesus’, ends up being a
preacher who lives out in the desert eating locusts and wild honey
The shepherds, who are the first to hear about the birth, are among the
lowest class in society
Mary is a poor girl who finds herself unmarried and pregnant
Her fiancé Joseph, I imagine, took a lot of heat for following through on his
proposal after people heard about the pregnancy
Even the child himself is born in a stable among the animals, because
that’s the only place where his family can find a space
Everyone in this story is an outsider
That makes sense
Because Jesus, in the passage we read from Luke’s gospel, makes it plain
that that’s who he came for
Luke presents Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth as a kind of
introduction to his entire ministry
Jesus goes to the synagogue, is given the scroll of the book of Isaiah to
read, and he begins to share a passage from Isaiah 613
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the
year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
When Jesus sits down to offer his commentary on the text, he says, simply,
“Today, this scripture is fulfilled.”
In other words, “friends, this is what I came to do.”
To bring good news to the poor.
Release to the prisoners.
Recovery of sight to the blind.
Freedom for the oppressed.
So that all might know the Lord’s favor.
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Jesus came for this purpose: that everyone who has ever felt like they’re on
the outside might be able to find a place on the inside.
He came for the Rudolphs of this world.
So that even those who have been hurt and excluded by other people
might know that they are loved by God.
And so this is what hurts me when the church sets itself up as a place of
exclusion and exclusivity,
when we say to anyone, whether intentionally or unintentionally, “you’re not
welcome here.”
When that happens, it seems to me that we have failed at one of the things
that’s closest to the heart of Jesus himself:
bringing those on the outside into the center.
Helping those who have always stood on the edges of the crowd to
understand that they too are God’s beloved,
that they have something to offer Christ’s kingdom.
“Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then how the reindeer loved him…”
I think the main difference between the church and the song is that we
make the decision to love long before we learn that someone is
‘useful’
The world loves only after making a decision that someone is ‘useful’
How many kids get bullied up until the point that their classmates learn that
they are a great athlete, that they’re a great singer, that they’re a
great artist, or whatever?
This is why it’s so important for our kids to find a place in the church
I know that our leaders here try very hard to make our youth groups a place
where kids can be themselves and be loved and accepted for who
they are, no matter what
When the church can do that, it’s transformative – it’s nothing less than lifegiving
I remember being on a youth mission week with kids from another church
and during the communion service on the last night, one of the things
kept saying over and over was this:
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“this is the only place I come to during the year where I feel like I can be
who I really am”
What these kids were looking for was a place where people tried to know
them, where they weren’t judged by appearances or by what they
could contribute
but they were loved just for who they were
I saw this in a simple gesture: every time one of the kids stood up in
worship to offer a song, a reading, a testimony, the others applauded
That’s what we all long for
To find a place where we are simply loved
That’s all Rudolph is looking for in the song
Now he finds vindication – which is powerful too
But at the core, all he needed was to know he was loved
Jesus came for people on the outside
And he wants a church that has his heart for people who are on the outside
People who are oppressed by sin, yes
But also those who are abused by systems - of discrimination, of poverty
And people who are just different
Jesus came to offer them freedom
To offer them love
And that love comes through us
His church
Consider that this week
In the name of the one who came to bring those on the outside in
Amen.
By Joe Monahan, Medford UMC, Medford NJ
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http://www.npr.org/2013/12/25/256579598/writing-rudolph-the-original-red-nosed-manuscript#con256879513
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer#Song
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Technically, there may also be a reference here to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58:6 reads: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to
loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”
(NRSV) Scholars explain this either by noting that Jesus may have been reciting from memory (which seems
contrary to the text), that he may have known a different form of the book of Isaiah (differences have indeed been
found in ancient copies of the text), or that Luke in preparing his gospel may have misquoted or embellished the
text. Since copies of scripture texts were handmade and therefore expensive, it’s not hard to imagine Luke not
having something handy to refer to as he wrote.
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