Home for Christmas
John 14:1-6 - Victory Fellowship
December 24, 2022 Rev. Roderick Grabski
Christmas Eve Service
It’s amazing all the images a simple 4-letter word can conjure up. I’m referring to the word “home.”
In our vocabulary we have expressions like “home life,” “home, sweet home,” “home-maker” and “home free.”
In sports its nice to have the home court advantage.
Kids that go away to camp sometimes get home sick.
Sometimes good food is likened to home-cooked meal.
Tim Allen starred in the TV show “Home Improvement.”
In baseball to score you have to come home.
We may know the words to songs like “Home, Home on the Range,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” or “Take Me Home Country Roads.”
James Dobson made a series of videos called “Turn Your Heart Toward Home.”
When you were little and rode your bike off to play with a friend, what would Mom say? Maybe, “You be home by dark,” or “Be home before dinner.” Parents with teenagers may ask at the door, “What time are you coming home?” When someone is in transition, they may be reminded “Home is where you hang your hat.” Or someone feeling out of place in a new residence could be comforted with, “Home is where your heart is.”
Christmas has a lot to do with home.
The songs, “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” make us think of times around the Christmas tree where “faithful friends who are dear to us will be near to us once more.”
ILLUS – It was in December of 1903, (just 120 years ago this month) that after many attempts, the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were successful in getting their “flying machine” off the ground and into the air at Kitty Hawk. Thrilled over the accomplishment, they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: “We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas.”
Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, “How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas.” He totally missed the big news—for the first time in human history, man had flown! (SOURCE: Daily Bread, December 23, 1991.)
Or had he missed the big news? The boys would be home for Christmas!
You know, the image of home is all over the Christmas story in the Bible. Joseph and Mary traveled for that first Christmas. They had to go to Joseph’s family’s home-town. The tiny village of Bethlehem in Judea. And that is where Jesus was born. In a sense, Joseph could have said, “I’ll be home for Christmas.”
But there is another way in which home plays a part in the Christmas story. Maybe this picture can help us out.
Norman Rockwell painted this in 1954. Here we have two people, presumably a farmer and his son sitting on the edge of a dusty old pickup truck. The boy is holding a wrapped present of some sorts in his hands, maybe something from Mom. The family dog knows something is up. His head is resting on the boy’s knee. If you look closely you see that the boy’s suitcase has books stacked on top and bears an emblem for State University. It doesn’t take long to figure out that this boy is leaving for college. His face shows that he is anxiously watching for the bus, while his father stares in the other direction. Rockwell appropriately gave this painting the name, “Breaking Home Ties.”
And I wonder what the scene was like in Heaven when Jesus left His home to come to earth. I wonder if that day moved the heart of the Father. The angels sang “glory to God in the highest” which must have touched him deeply. I’m sure God rejoiced in the miracle of incarnational love. Who wouldn’t have pride in their one and only Son
But God’s gift to us didn’t come without a tremendous price tag.
Jesus left his home in heaven. Temporarily sacrificing the kind of union He had known with the Father throughout all eternity. The Father too would feel and notice the change in the way things had always been. The Son came to earth as a baby. Vulnerable. Little. Helpless. Imagine this. The caregiver subjected himself to needing constant care. The Creator Himself willingly dwelt bodily inside the form of that which he had created. To be our salvation. To give His life for ours. To call us home.
One time Jesus would say, “In my Father’s house are many (Greek word - μονή monē) that is, dwelling places (mansions, abodes, rooms). If it weren’t so I would have told you.” (John 14:2)
Same word used in 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
He was telling us about home. Not just his home, but ours. A place with many rooms for many people that really does exist.
And quite simply, here lies the message of Christmas:
Jesus left His home to remind us, we’re not home yet.
That’s the point. That’s the message of Christmas
Maybe another picture will help.
Norman Rockwell called this painting, “Saying Grace.”
Here we see a young boy and probably his grandmother. From their bags near their chairs, you can see that they are traveling. They’ve stopped by at a busy diner for a bite to eat. It’s so crowded that the two of them have to share a table with strangers. These men, in the boy’s eyes, are some questionable characters, and he is not too sure about them. As the two bow their heads to pray, you can see that the little boy is only sitting on the edge of his chair. He leans as close to grandma as possible. Why? Because grandma is a piece of home. And in strange surroundings, that piece of home brings a whole lot of security.
On the night before He died, Jesus took his disciples into an upper room, gave them some bread and wine and told them, “This is my body. This is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.”
I think he wanted to establish a reminder that we are never far from home. This meal – of bread and wine - is a piece of home. And in strange surroundings, that piece of home brings a whole lot of security.
Where will you be this Christmas? With family? With friends? Maybe working. Maybe even alone.
The words of one song say (“Christmas Lullaby” by Amy Grant and Chris Eaton)
“Are you far away from home this dark and lonely night?
Tell me what would best help to ease your mind.
Someone to give direction for this unfamiliar road
Or one who says, “Follow me and I will lead you home.”
How beautiful How precious The Savior of old
To love so completely the loneliest soul
How gently how tenderly He says to one and all,
"Child you can follow Me and I will lead you home
Trust Me and follow Me and I will lead you home"
On the first Christmas that arrives after someone dies I say they are finally home for Christmas.
If you feel like you’ll only be home for Christmas in your dreams, just remember this - Jesus left His home to remind us that none of us is really home until we are at home with the Lord.
John 14:1-6 NKJV
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Matthew 5:13-16 NLT
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
THE SHARING OF THE LIGHT:
Please hold your candle steady while the person next to you lights their candle from yours. Be careful of dripping hot wax. Don’t extinguish your candle until after the Pastor gives the Benediction. Place your extinguished candles in the container at the back as you exit the service. Merry Christmas! Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!
SONGS: Jesus, Light of the World
HYMN #138: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
