After speaking about the same
old, same old last week I felt compelled to report that when I stopped at a
couple of restaurants I did, unfortunately, order the same old, old (Monday morning report – I am pleased to add that
after church I did order something new.
Maybe there is hope for me!
But I was disappointed that no one seemed to notice.)
How many of you like to take a road trip? Even though many of us spend a great deal of time in our
cars, there’s still nothing quite like taking to the open road, embarking on
the great American tradition of a road trip. My first great road trip came when I was in college, when
two of my friends and I set out for Florida for spring break. It was my first visit to the beach and
I was very excited. We left after
class and planned to drive through the night, with a goal of arriving in
Sarasota soon after sunrise. Three
of us set out in a Chevrolet Nova, with a big sunroof that had been added. This wasn’t a small sunroof that we find
in today’s cars; this was a big, wide-open hole in the roof that had space for
two people to stand up in (which, I’ll add as a safety note, is not what anyone
should do, even though we often did.
But it was the 70s, and we weren’t very safety conscious back then).
We crossed the Florida state line in the middle of the night, and
when we passed the Welcome to Florida
sign we had to celebrate. We put
in a Beach Boys tape – 8 track, of course – and two of us stuck our heads out
of the sunroof and began to sing along with the tape. Which was, actually, a rather bad idea. Riding along with you head sticking out
of a sunroof, in the middle of the night, on a warm spring evening in Florida
meant we were bombarded with all manner of bugs and flying creatures. But it was a road trip, and a great
one.
I love the idea of the road as a metaphor for life, and this morning
I want us to think about that famous road trip of Mary and Joseph as they
traveled to Bethlehem.
1
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be
taken of all the inhabited earth.
2 This was the first census taken while
Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 And everyone was on his way to register
for the census, each to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from
the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
5 in order to register along with Mary,
who was engaged to him, and was with child.
6 While they were there, the days were
completed for her to give birth.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son;
and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no
room for them in the inn.
Interestingly, many of the Biblical stories take place “on the
road.” Much of the teaching Jesus
offered to his disciples came about as he traveled with his disciples. Many of the stories of the life of
Jesus come from his travels, such as the powerful story of Zaccheus (Luke
19:1-10). As Jesus traveled
through Jericho, Zaccheus had a life-changing experience. One of the most well-known of Jesus’
parables is a story of people walking along a road – the good Samaritan (Luke
10:25 – 37). Beyond the gospels,
we find other great stories from the road. Saul, in the most famous conversion in history, encountered
Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-8), where he was transformed into the
great pastor/evangelist Paul. In
the Old Testament we have one of the greatest road stories – the wilderness
wandering of the Hebrew people in Exodus.
It was not at all a long journey, in terms of distance, but certainly
was in terms of time. But it was
on this journey that the Hebrews were forged into the people of God and became
the great nation of Israel.
I want you to think about your life this morning as the ultimate
road trip. Where is God leading
you? Where has he led you? What have you learned on the road of
life?
Beyond these questions, which I hope you will consider in the days
ahead, I want to offer three lessons we learn from the story of Mary and Joseph
traveling to Bethlehem.
1. Don’t Expect An Easy
Road.
I’ve driven a lot of broken down, clunky cars throughout my life,
and traveling was not easy in those vehicles. My early cars had no air conditioning, no FM radio
(certainly not satellite), and were prone to breaking down on regular
occasions. I was very excited,
though, when I added an FM converter to my car, except I soon discovered I had
to be within twenty miles of a station for it to work.
For those of us who grew up driving old, broken-down cars, traveling
has certainly improved. My car has
far more options than I need, but I have to say, I like them. I like cruise control, satellite radio,
air conditioning, and heated seats. I really like having GPS in my phone and no more old, paper
maps to try and fold up to put back in the glove compartment.
Does all the comfort take some of the adventure out of
traveling? I don’t know, but it is
certainly easier and more comfortable.
It is worth noting, I think, that we want to take all the difficulty out
of travel and minimize every possible challenge, which is much like our
attitude towards life. We want to
make life as easy as possible, reducing all possible difficulties and
challenges. Such a carefree life
would be nice, but we don’t learn much that way, do we? The point of life is not to take the
safest, easiest route from Point A to Point B, but to follow faithfully where
God leads us, which is inevitably through some adventurous times.
The distance, as the crow flies, from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about
70 miles, but the path almost always taken was about 92 miles. It was not an easy journey for Mary and
Joseph. Walking about three miles
an hour they could cover, perhaps, fifteen to twenty miles a day, which would
take them four or five days at the least and most likely it took them seven or
eight. It was a difficult,
treacherous path, which is a great analogy for life, because life can be a difficult,
uncertain, perilous journey, and somehow, we have convinced ourselves that
because we live in the modern age life is supposed to be simpler and easier
because of all the advantages of the modern age, such as technology and
advanced medical care. And make no
doubt about it, we enjoy some great advantages over previous generations of
humanity.
But people still get sick and die. People still lose their jobs and struggle financially. Relationships still disintegrate and
fracture. People are still afraid
and anxious about life. Some
things are easier, but we still face the same difficulties that our ancestors
faced generations, and centuries, and millennia ago, because life is a
difficult journey.
Life is a winding, twisting, up and down journey, filled with highs
and lows, some of which can be quite extreme.
But maybe those bumps in the road have a deeper meaning than we
generally realize. Maybe a detour
will lead us to a greater opportunity.
Maybe some of those bumps will bring a tenderness to our hearts that
cause us to reach out to someone else in their time of suffering.
2. We Don’t Travel Alone.
I think one of the things Mary and Joseph had going for them was the
presence of family and friends.
They were going home.
Bethlehem was the city of David, and Joseph was in the line of David. I’m certain they traveled with other
family members. As they made their
way to Bethlehem, I’m certain their caravan grew to include other family
members and friends. When they
arrived in Bethlehem there were other family members and friends already gathered
there.
I’m not saying that made everything better, but I’m sure it
lightened the stress of travel, being surrounded by people they loved and
people who loved them.
Life is always better with other people, isn’t it? I know that other people can be a
challenge – although it’s never us who are the challenge, is it? It’s always someone else.
But as challenging as others might be at times, aren’t you grateful
for the people God has placed in your life? We are not solitary creatures. God has created us for relationships, and what a gift those
relationships are to us. Think
about that fact when you face a challenge, think about that promise when you
struggle, think about that gift when you wonder how you will make it through a
tough stretch of life.
3. Help Someone Along the
Way.
This was not a vacation trip for Mary and Joseph. This was a Roman-mandated trip to
return to their ancestral home to be counted in a census so the Romans could
levy taxes and in so doing, make their difficult lives even more difficult. Along the way, there would be plenty of
talk about the injustices placed upon the people by the Romans, and the talk
would certainly have contained a great deal of bitterness and anger. The already difficult lives of people
would be made much more difficult as they had to take time out from their
struggle to make a living in order to make what was, for many, a difficult,
expensive, and perilous journey.
Life is very difficult for many, many people. There are so many people who suffer
from grief. There are so many
people who are lonely. There are
so many people who are sick. There
are so many people who suffer from injustice and unfairness. There are so many people who need
someone to reach out to them a helping hand in the name of Christ.
I have been helped along the way by so very many people. I can’t begin to imagine what my life
would be like were it not for others, whose paths crossed mine, and the help
they offered.
Christmas is a difficult time for many people, and we often provide
a helping hand to others, as we should.
But there are people who struggle every day of the year, and we must
remember our calling by God to reach out a hand of love and care to them.
Think about your spiritual road trip in the coming days. Where is God leading you? To what ministries might he be calling
you? Through what challenges has
he led you? What have you learned
from the twists and turns, and the bumps and detours? Remember, always, that God is leading you through this great
adventure called life, and while it is not always an easy journey, it is one in
which he always travels with you.
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