Keion Henderson - The Battle of the Wombs

Today, I want to talk about this subject: the battle of the wombs. It is my personal, yet flawed opinion that the modern church unfortunately suffers from what I like to call a tragic case of sporadic nativity anemia. This suggests that we have become weakened and anesthetized by the infrequency of our marquee story. We’ve got this stage, this scene, and this story, and yet we wait until the end of December to speak about the narrative that makes all of what we do possible. It has become a story about holiday traditions; it’s become about whether the tree is going to be real or fake. It’s about Black Friday and malls filled with shoppers, who can get the PS5, and who can’t, who will get the new Jordans that drop, and who won’t. It’s about who has garland on the railings and who does not, who can go back and pull out the throwback songs, who is best at doing it, when we will get the chestnuts roasting on an open fire, when the potluck will happen, and when we will all come together for dinner. All of that is fine, because I love the tradition surrounding this season, but the truth is, Jesus, as we would say, is the reason for the season.

If we take a step further, the truth is, can we ask the question: Is Jesus the reason for the season, or are we? Are we really the reason for the season? Some will say, «Pastor, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Christmas is in full effect; it’s in full swing! The malls are full, the stores in some states are packed, online shopping has broken records, lights are hung on the tree, front yards are filled with inflatables. Pastor, Christmas is in full swing! Preparations have begun; so why are you wasting our Sunday fussing about Christmas when it’s in full swing, and in just three or four days, it will have come and gone? Why are you wasting our time with this narrative about the nativity? Everything is going well; our families are on their way, dinner is about to be prepared, the menu has been picked, and we know who will be in the house. Pastor, what is the fuss about?»

And I have an answer for your question. While we are spending our hard-earned money on things that our children will not play with past the New Year, while we have decorated our homes with lights and garland, while we have the nativity scene set up in our front yards, and Rudolph’s nose is red and the snowman is in the yard, while there are lights on the slopes of your roof and the peaks of the top of your house, can I tell you that sometimes it upsets me that we have forgotten that a child was born? A child was born. This is not about lights; it’s about the Light of the World. It’s not about Christmas trees; it’s about the tree where our Savior gave His life, so that those of us who would have the audacity to believe could have a right to the tree of life. So, you asked me, why all of the fuss? A child was born!

If we miss this story, if we miss this narrative, we misinterpret the whole of scripture. For Luke 19 says—here it is—I’m going somewhere—that Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. «Pastor, you’re giving me whiplash! Are we in Matthew, or are we in Luke? Are we talking about Christmas, or are we talking about the birth of Jesus? Why are you in chapter 19 of Luke when you just read a scripture in Matthew chapter 2 talking about the birth of Jesus?» Why? Because Matthew 19 says He came to seek and save that which is lost, but that is not the entirety of the context.

You must understand the reason why Jesus says in Luke chapter 19 that He comes to seek and save that which is lost: because in Luke chapter 19, there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector hated by all. In fact, you don’t hate the IRS as much as they hated Zacchaeus at that time. The Bible says, and I don’t want to get into the minutiae of this story, that Jesus was coming by, and this man had such a desire to see Jesus, but he could not see him because he was short, and the crowd was prohibiting his perspective. So the Bible lets us know that he climbed up a sycamore tree. When most of us preach about Zacchaeus, we talk about the idea that he climbs the sycamore tree, but I can tell you that’s not the most important part of the story.

The most important part of the story is that he climbed the tree to see Jesus. What we find out later is that Jesus comes to see him. Jesus comes to that tree and calls that man down from the tree. Not only does He call him down from the tree—watch this—He invites him to dinner. In spite of the Pharisees, in spite of the Sadducees, and in spite of the religious leaders, he says, «Come down off of that tree so that you and I might have dinner together.» Why is this important? Because if Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost, and Zacchaeus was at the sycamore tree, and Jesus passes…