If Jesus Had Never Been Born

Introduction

I expect most of you will be familiar with the James Stewart film “It's a Wonderful Life.” It’s a feel good film in which the main character gets to see what his town would have been like, if he had never been born.

Last year I started to make a list of what our world would be like if Jesus had never been born. I was amazed at how long the list was and it became obvious to me quite quickly that this world would be a much darker and duller place if we were still waiting for the first Christmas.

This thought might come as something of a surprise to many because it seems that whenever the merits or otherwise of Christianity are debated on the radio or TV, someone says that religion just leads to more hatred and war. I'm amazed at how few people challenge this notion.

If the First and Second World Wars had been started by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury I'd understand it! The fact is that the world was torn apart many times by wars before Jesus was born.

"Yes," they say, "but what about the Crusades?" The flaw in this logic is that those appalling events 800 years ago were in direct defiance of Jesus’ own teaching. Jesus said “Love your enemies." He said "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." He said "Blessed are the peacemakers.”

So let’s think about what life would really be like today if Jesus had never been born.

Everyday Life

There is so much we take for granted that would be completely different. If Jesus had never been born, this would not be 2010 AD because AD means the year of our Lord.

If Jesus had never been born, towns we know as St. Albans, St. Petersburg, San Francisco, Christchurch, Corpus Christi, Santa Cruz and Bishop Auckland would all have a different name.

If Jesus had never been born everybody you know called Christine, Christian, or Christopher would be called something else.

If Jesus had never been born, many idioms would never have entered our every day speech; Good Samaritan, prodigal son, wolf in sheep’s clothing, love your neighbour, go the second mile, do unto others as you would have them do to you, turn the other cheek and salt of the earth; all of which were coined by Jesus.

Christmas

If Jesus had never been born, we would never have heard of Santa Claus. That fat bearded man in a red velvet suit is based on a real person; a generous Christian bishop from Turkey who gave impoverished girls dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes.

If Jesus had never been born, we would never have heard a single Christmas carol or Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.

Social progress

If Jesus had never been born, we would have never heard of Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa. Blacks in America would still be second class citizens and the poor of Calcutta would have no one to love them.

If Jesus had never been born, organizations such as the Samaritans, Christian Aid, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army would never have been founded. Life for the suicidal, the sick, the hungry and the world’s poor would be much, much worse.

If Jesus had never been born the first free hospital in the 4th Century would never have been built – and nor would tens of thousands after it.

If Jesus had never been born, the slave trade might still be here, since it was opposed almost single-handedly on Christian principles by a Christian politician - William Wilberforce.

Education

If Jesus had never been born, thousands of schools would never have opened and church schools in Britain today wouldn’t have long waiting lists.

If Jesus had never been born, Oxford, Cambridge, Paris Sorbonne, Princeton, Harvard and Yale Universities would not have opened.

The Arts

If Jesus had never been born, we wouldn’t have much priceless classical art including Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

If Jesus had never been born, we would have no films such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Ben Hur, Chariots of Fire, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and scores of others.

If Jesus had never been born, we would have no Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, no Dickens’s Christmas Carol, and no The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

If Jesus had never been born, we would never have heard “Amazing Grace” or “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.”

Civic Life

If Jesus had never been born, we would never have had a national anthem which addresses God and asks him to save; we would probably be a pagan nation worshipping the sun and the moon as fertility symbols.

If Jesus had never been born we would never swear on the Bible in court or say that anything is gospel truth.

International Affairs

If Jesus had never been born the net flow of immigration in the world today would not be from non Christian countries to Christian ones – because they’d be no more desirable places to live.

If Jesus had never been born, the Auca Indians of Ecuador would still be spearing white men to death instead of baptizing their children.

If Jesus had never been born, the Arawakan natives of the Caribbean would still be cannibals.

If Jesus had never been born, descendents of the Maya in Mexico would still sacrifice their children instead of teaching them to praise their Creator.

Ending - The Heart of the Matter

If Jesus had never been born, hundreds of Old Testament prophecies would have remained unfulfilled. Death would not have been conquered. God would be a liar.

If Jesus had never been born, three wise men would have just been three wise guys.

If Jesus had never been born, there would be no mediator between God and man, for the only one able to bring God and man together, Christ Jesus, would have been as fictitious as the tooth fairy. We would still be dead in our sins with no hope of eternal life.

If Jesus had never been born, the risen Christ wouldn’t be here tonight, waiting for you to give your heart to him in faith.

What a difference Jesus makes!

Happy Christmas. And thank God for Jesus!


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees and St Mary's Long Newton, 19th December 2010