DOWNWARD MOBILITY

Scripture: John 3:16-17; Philippians 2:1-11

INTRODUCTION

Preaching an Advent series of sermons from the gospel of John presents a real challenge to the pastor in the pulpit and to all of you sitting in the pews or worshipping with us by television and radio. That is so because there are no Advent, Christmas or Epiphany stories in John’s gospel – no songs or announcements by the angels, no shepherds watching their flocks by night, no mention of Mary or Joseph, no baby in the manger, no opposition or danger from King Herod, no guiding star in the sky and no visit by the wise men who came looking for the Christ Child.

John, who wrote his gospel more than 70 years after Jesus’ birth, painted his picture of the incarnation on a more cosmic and theological canvass, beginning with the light of God shining in the darkness (John 1:4-5), the word of God, the “logos” which became flesh to dwell among us (John 1:1, 14) and the grace of God which was revealed once and for all to us through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Moving from that prologue in the first chapter of his gospel, John leads us to Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River (John 1:29-34). And soon thereafter, we read what some Christians consider to be the most familiar verse in all of the Bible: For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

I hope and pray, as we focus on John’s gospel and that verse throughout this Advent season, that we will discover new insights about the incarnation, see reflections of manger light shining through the darkness, catch glimpses of hope in a world filled with despair and find signs of love which remind us, especially at this time of the year, that the God “out there” came “down here” to live among us in person, in the person of Jesus.

The Dutch priest and author Henri Nouwen described the miracle of the incarnation as “Downward Mobility.” He coined that phrase during his years of ministry in Toronto, moving there from Harvard University in 1986 to serve as resident minister to a community of physically and mentally disabled persons. Fr. Nouwen was 55 years old, had become well known through his books, lectures and worldwide travels, but he was spiritually drained and emotionally burned out as he arrived in Canada, seeking the renewal of his soul and an opportunity to simplify his life.

As he settled in with the L’Arche Community, this is how Nouwen remembered those first weeks of his new ministry:

“The…thing that struck me when I came to live in a house with mentally handicapped people was that their liking or disliking me had absolutely nothing to do with any of the many useful things I had done until then. Since nobody could read my books, they could not impress anyone, and since most of them never went to school, my twenty years at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard did not provide a significant introduction. My ecumenical experience proved even less valuable. When I offered some meat to one of the assistants at dinner, a handicapped man said to me ‘Don give him meat, he doesn’t eat meat – he’s a Presbyterian.’” (From “In the Name of Jesus” by Fr. Henri Nouwen, The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989, pages 15-16).

What Henri Nouwen experienced during his ten years in Toronto, before he died in 1996, was an amazing and life-changing reality. Listen to his own words: “The way of the Christian…is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility…(following) Jesus toward the joy and the peace of God…” (Ibid, pages 62-63).

And “the most important quality” said Nouwen, in the life of a Christian, is “humility” as we offer ourselves to God in Jesus’ name and in service to others.

II.

Looking around at the American culture in which we live today, what a stark contrast that concept of Downward Mobility presents to us. We are constantly bombarded by images of upward mobility, climbing the ladder to success and prosperity, being first, becoming the best. A cartoon in The New Yorker magazine shows a business person talking with a banker about a loan, saying “Hi, I’m Harry Davenport, rising young executive recently transferred here from Birmingham, Michigan, seeking mortgage money for a small place near the country club where we can resume living way beyond our means while attempting to keep up with the Joneses.”

Of course, none of us would ever put it that crassly. But so many of us have grown accustomed to living in the fast lane, with fancy places to go, important people to meet, all the things we own and the pressure packed calendars we keep. Several years ago, an affluent couple, scheduled to fly from Boston to Philadelphia for the Christmas holiday, were grounded by a snowstorm and had to take a Greyhound bus. As they climbed up the steps, the frustrated wife, carrying a Gucci shopping bag full of gifts, looked at the bus driver and said, “All I want to know is are we still in first class?” You see, upward mobility has become a way of life that so many of us simply take for granted.

But that’s not the way it was during the first Advent-Christmas season. A carpenter named Joseph and his young wife Mary, about to have a baby, traveled by foot and on a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. They didn’t have hotel reservations, so their little boy Jesus was born in a barn on a mid-winter night – “at the darkest time of the year, in the poorest place in town” wrote the poet Christopher Fry.

In was Downward Mobility all the way from heaven to earth, and that was how Jesus lived among us, from the moment of His birth until He died on the cross. He identified with the lost and lonely people of this world, He reached out with compassion to the poor and the oppressed, He offered healing power and hope to those who were sick and suffering, and He challenged everyone who had been blessed with God’s good gifts to share what they had received with anyone who was in need.

That was God’s plan and purpose when He sent us His Son, to show us how to live in humility and to share His love. The apostle Paul described that Downward Mobility best of all when he wrote these words in his letter to the Philippians:

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility, count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself in the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of humanity. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:3-8).

CONCLUSION

That is the image of Downward Mobility which leads us forward now into this Advent-Christmas season. During these days of December, let us remember and never forget that God so loved this world that He sent us His Son, all the way down to earth from heaven above. He showed us how to live and how to love, how to give and how to receive. And if we are willing to open our hearts to Him, then He has promised to provide us with all that we need. Do you believe that today? Henry Van Dyke believed it and he told us so with these wonderful words that now lead us in the right direction through the Advent season toward Christmas day:

“Are you willing…

To stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children;

To remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old;

To stop asking how much your friends love you and to ask yourself whether you love

them enough;

To bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts;

To trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it so

That your shadow will fall behind you?

If so, then you are ready to keep Christmas.”

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.