“IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE”: FIND YOUR HOPE
“It’s a Wonderful Life” has been a holiday staple for as long as I can remember. It is consistently ranked in the top 100 movies of all time and is one of the most popular Christmas movies, even though it is not even about Christmas.
If by chance you have never seen this movie I will give you a brief synopsis before playing you a clip:
George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is a good man who through various circumstances is called upon to put the needs of others before his own needs. Bailey dreams of traveling the world and building things but when his father dies he reluctantly remains in Bedford Falls to run the family business, a building and loan company. Through a mishap, George’s Uncle Billy loses $8000 of company money just before the bank examiner arrives to audit the books. The competition, Henry Potter, is a wealthy and ruthless banker who takes advantage of this situation to have George thrown in jail and charged with fraud so he can close down the little business.
George feels at this point that he has let everyone down and he decides that he is worth more to his family dead than alive and decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. But all over town people are praying for George and God sends an angel to intervene.
The theology concerning angels is not great but the story is a good one.
<Play Clip: George at the Bridge>
After George utters those fateful words about never being born, the angel Clarence grants his wish. He goes on to show George how different his world would have been without him in it. George’s wife Mary would have become a lonely spinster; Bedford Falls becomes Pottersville; Mr. Gowler, the druggist accidently poisons a child because George wasn’t there to stop him, and so on. You get the idea.
It’s a romantic and unrealistic feel-good movie with a bit of truth in it. Overall it begs the question, what would the world be like if a certain individual had never been born?
What if Jesus Christ had never been born?
The prophet Isaiah spoke of the birth of Christ in rather humble details. He wrote, “A shoot will come up from the stumpof Jesse…” (11:1). What we ought to see in our mind’s eye is a once majestic tree with its mighty trunk soaring into the sky, its branches spreading like a canopy over the earth, and its leaves so plentiful and fruitful. Picture then that this tree caught a disease that rendered it sickly so that it withered and died. It had to be cut down to the root, to a mere stump.
This was the royal tree of Israel from which kings emerged. But because of sin, spiritual adultery and idolatry, the kings of Israel were cut off and not allowed to rule anymore.
Isaiah, however, held out hope and preached that One would come from humble circumstances, from the remains of the tree, from the stump. This One would rule with authority and with justice and with power. This One would be the perfect king.
In 1926, Dr. James Allan Francis wrote a piece of prose called One Solitary Life. In it he describes poignantly the impact of Jesus on our world.
One Solitary Life
Nearly two thousand years ago in an obscure village, a child was born of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village where He worked as a carpenter until He was thirty. Then for three years He became an itinerant preacher.
This man never went to college or seminary. He never wrote a book. He never held a public office. He never had a family nor owned a home. He never put His foot inside a big city nor traveled even 200 miles from His birthplace. And though He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness, throngs of people followed Him. He had no credentials but Himself.
While He was still young, the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His followers ran away. He was turned over to His enemies and sentenced to death on a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – the simple coat He had worn. His body was laid in a borrowed grave provided by a compassionate friend.
But three days later this Man arose from the dead – living proof that He was, as He had claimed, the Savior whom God had sent, the Incarnate Son of God.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today the risen Lord Jesus Christ is the central figure of the human race. On our calendars His birth divides history into two eras. One day of every week is set aside in remembrance of Him. And our two most important holidays celebrate His birth and resurrection. On church steeples around the world, His cross has become the symbol of victory over sin and death.
This one Man’s life has furnished the theme for more songs, books, poems and paintings than any other person or event in history. Thousands of colleges, hospitals, orphanages and other institutions have been founded in honor of this One who gave His life for us.
All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the governments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned have not changed the course of history as much as this One Solitary Life.
Consider the impact of this one life on our world in its various aspects:
TIME – What year is it? 2023. Or as it was once officially titled, A.D. 2023. A.D. is short for the Latin, Anno Domini, or “the year of our Lord.” History is divided into two portions, B.C. or “Before Christ,” and A.D. Today’s historians have tried to de-spiritualize these designations, calling them B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (the Common Era). But what is the dividing point? The birth of Christ! His life is still pivotal even if historians and scientists don’t want to admit it.
LIFE - The way we view life itself has changed dramatically because of Christ. From ancient times virtues like courage and wisdom were honored as worthy of our pursuit, but not humility. If you were on top you boasted about it and were proud to be a leader. Domination was the goal. Plutarch wrote a self-help book that might appeal to some today: How to Praise Yourself Inoffensively.
Jesus turned all of this on its head and presented us with his foot-washing servanthood. He taught that kings will lord it over others, but not the followers of Christ – they are to be servants of all. One historian wrote that it was unlikely that any of us would aspire to humility were it not for the historical impact of the crucifixion.
From this humility and servanthood came a desire to care for the sick. Because of Christ we have hospitals with Christian names: Grace, St. Boniface and so on.
PEOPLE – Jesus changed the way we view people. Children in the ancient world were routinely left to die of exposure if they were the wrong gender. Jesus loved children and called them to himself. A Norwegian scholar named Bakke wrote a study of this impact, simply titled: When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity.
Jesus also saw women as people, not as objects to be worshiped or property to be owned. There were 100 women to 140 men in the ancient world. He restored dignity to women by raising them up to a place of personhood. The longest personal conversation we have on record of Jesus having is with a woman – the woman at the well (John 4).
Now if Jesus had never been born, TIME, LIFE, and PEOPLE would never have been impacted so positively. We don’t have time to explore the countless ways that a child born to a peasant woman in a backwater town changed the world. But he did! He was born of a virgin one special night and brought light to the world.
George Bailey is a fictitious character whose story was glamorized with a Hollywood ending. Jesus is the Son of God and of course he is going to leave an impact on the world.
But what about you? Would the world be any different if you had never been born? Do you impact anyone in a significant way that your absence would be missed?
Many people wonder about this at Christmas time for some reason. Maybe that’s why George Bailey’s story is so attractive to us. But we know that our life is not a Hollywood story that ends up all well and good.
What if you had never been born? I want to assure you this morning that you have no idea the impact you have in the life of others or in the chain of history. You are worth far more to others and to God than you know. Your life might not be “Hollywood” but it matters to God. He knows you and appointed you to be who you are, where you are, for reasons known only to God’s special purposes for his own glory.
Consider the story of a young woman born to the “wrong” family and of the “wrong” race. She marries a man who dies tragically young. Being a conscientious woman she cares for her mother-in-law even though she doesn’t have any obligation to do so. She meets another man of the “right” family, pledges her love to him, and marries him. This woman never knew in her lifetime that she was to be the great-grandmother of King David. She never knew in her lifetime that one day her progeny, her descendent would be the Savior of the world. Ruth played a huge part in a drama and didn’t even know what impact her life and faithfulness would play.
You have no idea what impact you will have on the present or the future. But in Christ it will be glorious, because in Christ we have hope that our lives are part of something much bigger than ourselves.
No one remembers the name of the Sunday School teacher who led Dwight L. Moody to the Lord. Moody’s evangelism led Billy Sunday to the Lord; Sunday’s preaching led to Billy Graham’s conversion; Graham touched countless people including myself. What a legacy for that unknown teacher.
The Apostle Paul quoted Isaiah 11:10 in his letter to the Romans, but it sounds a little different (must have been a newer translation). He wrote, “And again, Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in Him.’ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” (Rom 15:12-13).
We have hope because Christ was born, hope that our lives are not some meaningless waste of time and space in the spectrum of history. Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But we hope for what we do not yet have and we wait for it patiently. In this hope we were saved through Christ.
AMEN
