It's a Wonderful Life

It’s a Wonderful Life

(Begin with Clip from “It’s a Wonderful Life” scene where George meets Clarence and wishes he had never been born”

It’s a Wonderful Life has consistently been ranked in the top 100 movies of all times, it has been called the number one inspirational film as well as one of the most popular Christmas movies ever produced, and it’s not even about Christmas.  It is simply a movie that is set at Christmas time. Even if you’ve never seen the movie you are probably familiar with the phrase: Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings. 

It’s a Wonderful life is based on a short story, entitled “The Greatest Gift” that was written by Philip Van Doren Ster.  The author couldn’t interest a publisher and so he eventually self-published in 1943 and used the story for his Christmas cards.  Eventually though the story was seen by director Frank Capra who purchased the rights and the movie was made and released by RKO studios in 1946.  It starred Jimmy Stewart who had just returned from serving as a pilot during WW2 and Donna Reed an up and coming actress.

Interestingly enough the movie was considered to be a box office flop because of its high production costs and the stiff competition that was out at the time.  I wonder what the more successful movies of that year were?

It would be easy to assume that everyone here has seen the movie but I actually watched it for the first time last year.  

So for the three people here today who have never seen the movie here is a synopsis.  George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart is a good man who consistently puts the needs of others before his own needs, even to the point of giving up his dreams of travel and becoming an architect in order to run the family building and loan Company following his father’s death.  You still with me?  The turning point in the movie comes when George’s Uncle Billy accidentally loses $8,000.00 of the company’s money just before the bank examiner arrives to audit the books.  Enter the villain, Henry Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore who was best known for playing Scrooge on radio productions of the Christmas Carol.  Potter is an evil banker who determines that he will have George thrown in jail and charged with fraud so he can close down the competition. 

George feels 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.  However, all over town people are praying for George and God sends down Angel Second Class Clarence Odbody to intervene.  And if Clarence is successful in saving George he will be made a full angel and receive his wings, with the appropriate ringing of a bell of course.  Not great theology but a pretty good story. 

Just before George jumps off the bridge Clarence does, prompting George to once again put aside his plans in order to help someone else.  George jumps in and saves Clarence and that led to the scene that we just watched. 

After Clarence grants George his wish, he goes on to show our hero how different the world would have been without his actions.  The difference in lives that George had touched and saved, even the difference in how the town of Bedford Falls would have ended up. 

George runs back to Clarence and begs him to be allowed to live, his request is granted, all turns out well, a bell rings, an angel gets his wings and George understands that it truly is a Wonderful Life.

A couple of pieces of trivia about the movie, Jimmy Stewart wasn’t the first choice to play George, Cary Grant was.  Donna Reed was about fifth in line to play Mary.  The names of the taxi driver and policeman in the movie are Bert and Ernie, no relation to the Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. 

The FBI felt that the movie It’s a Wonderful Life was subversive.  On May 26, 1947, the FBI issued a memo stating “With regard to the picture “It’s a Wonderful Life”, [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists. [In] addition, [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.”

But that was then and this is now.  The theme of the movie is the difference that one life can make. Today is the second Sunday of Advent and we are moving toward the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.   But have you ever wondered what would the world would be like without the birth of Jesus.  A couple of months ago I heard John Ortberg preach his sermon “Who is this Man?” and he spoke about the impact that Jesus has had on the world.  And I know all of that but again I was amazed and intrigued by the difference that Jesus has made, not just in my life personally but in the world that we live in. 

Years ago I heard a little ditty that said, “Roses are red, violets are bluish if it weren’t for Christmas we’d all be Jewish.  But even if that is true, which it isn’t, that would be the least of the differences in our world.  So if we could un-ring the bell so to speak and speak Christmas and the birth of Christ out of existence, what would the world look like if Jesus had never been born?

Without Jesus Time Would be Viewed Differently 

If you take your bulletin and look at the front on the very top it says December 9, 2012.  We take that for granted.  That is the date.  More correctly it would say AD 2012, but what does the AD mean?  It is short for the Latin phrase Anno Domini  which translated into English is: In the year of our Lord. 

For most of human history time was measured by those who were in power at the time, so you will recall at the beginning of the Christmas story we read in Luke 2:1-2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

And so the birth of Jesus was originally dated by the fact that most of the known world was ruled by Caesar Augustus and today we know that Augustus died in 14.  14 What?  14 the Year of our Lord.  When Jesus was crucified it was under the authority of Caesar Tiberius.  Tiberius died in 37, the year of our Lord.   History has been divided into two sections those things that happened before Jesus was born and those things that happened after Jesus was born. 

And so the greatest men and women in history, for good or for evil are defined by two dates, when they were born and when they died, and those dates are referenced to the birth of a baby in a stable in a little village in a small occupied country over 20 centuries ago.  And so Napoleon Bonaparte lived from 1769-1821 in the year of our Lord.  And Mahatma Gandhi lived from 1869 to 1948 in the year of our Lord.  And if you were to visit the grave of the great Atheist Friedrich Nietzsche  on his tombstone you would see his life summed up by the dates 1844-1900,  in the year of our Lord. 

Muhammad, the founder of Islam lived from 570 to 632 in the year of our Lord.  There have been attempts through the years to secularize this by referring to it as CE or the Common Era, but common in what?  In the birth of Jesus.

But it’s not just a matter of time.

Jesus told his disciples in  Matthew 16:18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Without Christ there would be no Christ Followers, there would be no church.  And for some people that wouldn’t be much of an issue because they haven’t seen the church as a positive influence.  It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said “I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty -- I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind.”   

But then again this was the same Nietzsche who was cared for as an orphan by his Christian Grand Parents, who was educated in a university that was started by the church, who was treated in a hospital founded by the church, who died in 1900 the Year of our Lord and was buried in a Christian graveyard.

Without Christ there would be no Christ Followers because they were the gift that Jesus gave to the world, he told the world Luke 6:47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.

The impact that Jesus made he made though those who followed him.  If there had been no Jesus there would have been no Jesus followers to make a difference in the world.  But what was the difference He made through them?

Without Jesus the Poor Would be Viewed Differently  Tomorrow evening I will be at the mall in Bedford standing next to a  Kettle wearing a Santa hat and collecting money for the less fortunate for Christmas.  Why?  Because in 1865 a Jesus Follower named William Booth thought the words of Jesus were important when he told people to take care of the poor.  And the Salvation Army has continued to do that for almost 150 years.

At Cornerstone we are collecting money this Christmas to partner with World Hope to drill a well in a village in Sierra Leone, why?  Because almost twenty years ago a Wesleyan Pastor by the name of Joanne Lyon took the words of Jesus serious when he said Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.   And when his followers said “When did this happen?”  Jesus told them Matthew 25:40 “. . . I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

 I’m not saying that compassion is limited to Jesus and his followers but when disasters happen it is the World Hopes and World Visions, and Samaritan Purses and the Compassion Internationals that are there firstest with the mostest.  Why?  Because two thousand years ago Jesus was born and told his followers to care for the poor and the unfortunate.

Which is why in 1863 when an international organization was founded in Geneva Switzerland to care for those in need the symbol they chose was a Red Cross.   It’s why the origination that was started to provide a safe refuge for young men from the streets of London in 1844 was called the YMCA.   Young Men’s Christian Association. 

And because Jesus welcomed the little children it was the church that established the first orphanages, and because it was Jesus who had compassion on the lepers that it was the church that ministered to those who were considered unclean and undesirable by the rest of the world.

Which leads us to the next point. 

Without Jesus the Sick Would be Viewed Differently  How many people here were born at the Grace Maternity Hospital here in Halifax.  Do you know why there is a Grace Maternity Hospital?  Because in 1906 some followers of Jesus decided that there should be a hospital in Halifax where “Fallen women” could have their babies safely and with dignity.  Because they remembered how Jesus treated “fallen women”.  And those Jesus followers did the job so well that when the city of Halifax decided to start a dedicated maternity institution they asked the Jesus Followers to start it and the Salvation Army called it the Grace Maternity Hospital. 

In the second and third centuries two plagues hit the known world and historical reports tell us that up to 1/3 of large cities were dying.   That the population was so overwhelmed that the dead were simply thrown into the streets, and eventually not just the dead but the dying where thrown into the street. 

And we have historical footage  (video clip from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, Bring out your dead scene)  That wasn’t actually historical footage, but we do have a historical account.

Dionysius a Bishop of the early church wrote this  “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease.”  Why would they do that?  Because they remembered the stories of Jesus who would touch those who were considered untouchable.

It is why the first hospitals were started by Jesus Followers in Monasteries and even today have names like Saint Judes and St. Joseph’s and St. Elsewhere.  Because for two thousand years those who have taken the name of Christ read the stories in the Gospels where Jesus saw the sick and had compassion on them, saw the lepers and touched them, even when others wouldn’t and they remembered how Jesus healed people. 

When the disciples of John came to Jesus to ask if he was the messiah Jesus told them in Luke 7:22 Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”   And the followers of Jesus still do it today.  When I travel through Africa the majority of hospitals and clinics have been built by Christian churches.  Not all of them but most of them.  And those that were started by other groups were started because of the example set by the Christian Church and it’s always been that way.

Remember how the early Christ followers ministered during the Plagues in Rome?  Here is an excerpt from the book “The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History” “Thus, a century later, the emperor Julian launched a campaign to institute pagan charities in an effort to match the Christians.  Julian complained in a letter to the high priest of Galatia in 362 that the pagans needed to equal the virtues of Christians, for recent Christian growth was caused by their “moral character, even if pretended,” and by their benevolence toward strangers and care for the graves of the dead.”

And because a Jesus Follower by the name of Tommy Douglas remembered how concerned Jesus was with the ill he thought it was important for all Canadians to have access to medical care. 

But it wasn’t just for the poor and the sick that Jesus makes a difference. 

Sometimes the church has been seen as anti-women, but Without Jesus Women Would be Viewed Differently

When Jesus was born historians tell us that for every 100 women there were 140 men.  Why?  Because boy children were worth more than female children and so often when a girl child was born she was set outside and allowed to die.  And that imbalance continues in Countries like China and India today.

One historian records a chilling letter from a pagan husband to his wife: “Know that I am still in Alexandria.... I ask and beg you to take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I received payment I shall send it up to you. If you are delivered (before I come home), if it is a boy keep it, if a girl, discard it.”

Under Roman law fathers were required to raise all healthy male children but were only required to keep their first daughter, any others were disposable.  Women had no rights, they were considered mere property of their husbands.  A man could have his wife killed for committing adultery but the only time a man was punished was when he committed adultery with another man’s wife and the other man demanded punishment.

And yet the longest personal conversation that we have a record of Jesus having is with a woman, in John chapter four.   And he talked to her as an equal, which wasn’t the norm of the day but seemed to be the norm for Jesus because he never hesitated to talk to women and defend women.  And when the early followers of Christ gathered together in groups called churches many of those identified as leaders were women.

And because of how Jesus treated women one of his followers wrote Galatians 3:26-28 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on the character of Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  That was radical. 

And at that time a man could divorce his wife simply by saying “I divorce you”  but Jesus and his church decreed that men could no longer simply divorce their wives for just any reason but only for the ultimate betrayal, adultery. 

And Jesus never commanded that woman should cover themselves from head to toe and hide away from men, instead he told men to respect them and not look on them as objects.

If we go back to the movie some say that town of Bedford Falls was modeled after the town of Seneca Falls in NY, which you may remember was the site of the First Women’s Rights Convention in the US.  Happened in 1848 and was held in the Wesleyan Church, why?  Because Jesus followers remembered that Jesus treated women as equals and the early church said “There is no longer male and female.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And because Jesus followers remembered how Jesus valued women we have organization like the Dean Brody Foundation and World Hope battling the exploitation of girls and women developing countries. 

But it wasn’t only people who were impacted by the birth of Jesus.

Do you remember the last command of Jesus?  Sure you do.  It’s found in Matthew 28:19 where Jesus told his followers to do three things.  1) Make disciples  2) Baptize those disciples, which is why if you are a disciple you need to be baptized and January 6^th would be an awesome opportunity and 3) They were to teach those disciples.  When the first church was described in the book of Acts it is recorded that they devoted themselves to the Apostle’s Teaching and not just men and boys but women and girls.  Without Jesus Education Would be Viewed Differently 

There had always been education, but it had been reserved for wealthy privileged males.  In AD 150 a man who followed Jesus by the name of Justin Martyr opened a school, and there he taught, men and women, free and slaves.  And because of that the Romans had him beheaded. 

And for the past two thousand years the church has been at the forefront of not only teaching knowledge but also in preserving knowledge.  Why?  Because they remembered when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was his reply was not only to love God with all of our hearts but with all of our minds as well. 

And so learning about everything was seen by many in the church as a means of helping believers know more about the God who created everything. 

Which is why Augustine said “A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities and deploring and avoiding those who ‘though they knew God did not glorify him as God...”

There is sometimes a feeling the church is anti-intellectual and yet when Rome collapsed and the barbarians overran the Roman Empire and the scrolls and manuscripts that contained the classics of ancient civilizations were in danger of being lost, it was in Christian communities called monasteries that those documents were painstakingly copied and preserved by hand.  Because a man named Jesus told his followers to love God with all their minds.

And these monasteries became places of learning and eventually formed schools called Universities all over Europe and Asia.   And within six years of the Puritans landing in the New World  they established a school whose motto translated into English was “Truth for Christ and the Church.”  You might recognize the name of the school, it was called Harvard.  As a matter of fact ninety two percent of the first 138 institutions of higher learning in the United States were founded by churches.

Closer to home, of the ten Universities in Nova Scotia four were started by the Catholic Church, one by the Anglicans, one by the Baptist and one by the Methodists.   In New Brunswick of the eight universities one was started by the Catholic Church, one by the Baptist, one by the Anglicans,one was Methodist, one was Wesleyan and one was non-denominational.  Love God with all your mind.  

Most people know about Sunday School, but how many of you know that it was started in 1780 by a Jesus follower as a mean to teach children of common people how to read and write.  In that day and age children worked 6 days a week and his dream was to give them an opportunity on the seventh day to learn regardless of how much or how little they had.  And within 50 years we are told that there were 160,000 Jesus Followers teaching 1.5 million children how to read and write and how to love God with all their minds. 

And it was the church which developed alphabets, and dictionaries and developed written music so songs of worship could be shared around the world.  Love God with all your minds.

As I got into this message I realized that I was into much more than one message could handle, and to quote John 21:25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

But the most important question today isn’t: What difference has Jesus made in the world? but what difference has Jesus made in your life?