Stories of Descent

“Stories of Descent”

Christmas Eve 2010 message

John 1:9-14

[PRAYER]

Well good evening, friends.  I want to thank Jared and the team for leading us in such appropriate songs and the reading of Scriptures that anchor the story that we celebrate this night all through the Biblical text.  My name is Brad and it’s my privilege to be part of the teaching and leadership team here at Jericho Ridge. 

Well, I don’t know about you, but I love the year in review programs and pieces that come out at this time of the year.  The magazines, the television specials…  I have a poor memory so the Olympics seems like, an eternity ago to me so I need these programs to remind me about what has happened throughout the course of a year.  But I must say I was a bit surprised when TIME magazine picked Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as person of the year.  I think there were a few more inspiration moments in 2010 than my time on Facebook.  So congratulations TIME magazine on discovering Facebook, three years after my 90 year grandfather did. 

If you were to ask me, which nobody did, what the inspirational story of the latter half of 2010 was, I would have to say it was story of descent.  It was story that captured our collective attention in a way that transcended national or religious or socio-economic barriers in a way that few news stories do these days.  It was the story of 33 men of the deep – the Chilean miners. 

The story began as a tragedy…  On August 5, 2010…    A cave-in occurred at the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile.  The mine had experienced several accidents in the past and one fatality.  And the cave in had occurred over 5 kilometers from the mine’s main shaft so rescue was presumed difficult, if not impossible.  The accident leaves 33 men trapped 700 meters below ground…  “In the dark, the men had every reason to believe they would die of starvation.  Trapped in a black hole.  They drank oil-tainted water and consumed only two spoonful’s of tuna, a biscuit and a small sip of milk every two days…  Several penned farewell letters to those they loved most.” (Maclean’s, Nov 1, 2010, Page 37).  On the surface, 8 separate bore holes are dug to attempt to discern if the men are alive or dead.  After 14 days, one drill breaks into an area where the miners are thought to be trapped but finds no signs of life.  The descent into despair is almost palpable.  But after 17 agonizing days, a breakthrough…  A drill bit from the surface penetrates their isolation and the miners are able to attach a note that indicates they are still alive.  It reads “estamos bien en el refugio – los 33”  (treinta y tres) – We all 33 are alive in the refuge”.  But now the real story of descent begins.  How do you rescue 33 men trapped 2300 feet below a rocky desert?  A $20 million international rescue effort is mounted [photo] 4 separate rescue shafts are begun and the men request that Bibles be sent down along with food and medicine.  One of the miners, Jose Ojeda writes: “I tell you, we pray here every day at noon since this happened.  Here was have different faiths, [but we are all] brothers in God”.  Jimmy Sanchez, age 19, said in fact there were 34 of us buried in the mountain because “God never left us”.  Chile's president Sebastián Piñera stated, "When the first miner emerges safe and sound, I hope all the bells of all the churches of Chile ring out forcefully, with joy and hope. Faith has moved mountains.”

As the time of their rescue approaches, one billion people from around the globe watching the live TV that streams out of ‘Camp Hope’.  It takes 18 agonizing minutes for the first rescuer to descend into the darkness in what became known as the phoenix capsule.  Time after time the rescue capsule descends until, on October 13, 69 days after the cave in, all 33 are rescued.  Take a look at this amazing video footage of their ordeal

{VIDEO} – 1 minute (finishes with ‘barely wider than a man’s shoulders’. 

What a miraculous story of descent.  A story which changes and continues to change their lives forever.  In reflecting on their rescue, Mario Sepulveda, one of the 33 miners said: “I have been with God and I’ve been with the devil. They both fought for me. God won.”         

Because you see, any descent in our lives – economic, interpersonal, vocational – often causes us think about our priorities with a new level of clarity.  For these miners, it was no exception…  Alex Vega said this of his ordeal: I realized that my family is the first thing in my life…  I’ve also changed spiritually, I’ve become closer to God.”                

Perhaps that’s why this particular story of descent fascinated us so deeply.  Whenever someone descends from a position of safety and comfort, it moves us.  Like those rescuers, whenever someone willingly goes into the depths of the earth to save a person who is trapped and cannot free themselves, not matter how hard they try… we take notice.  We know that sitting at home watching on TV, we can’t rescue them.  But we hope and pray that somebody can.  That someone would be willing to give themselves fully to that mission. 

You may have already picked up on the parallels between the story of the Chileans miners and the story of Christmas…  They are both stories of descent.  Of rescue.  You see, Christmas reminds us that the whole human race was trapped and in desperate need of redemption and hope.  But Christmas reminds us that The most profound story of descent in human history didn’t bring us closer to God…  More accurately, it brought God closer to us.

The New Testament gospel of John uses the language of descent to describe the greatest rescue mission in history:

“The light shines in the darkness,

      and the darkness can never extinguish it…

9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world…

14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

In the fullness of time, the Father sent the Son, Jesus, into our world.  He descended from heaven… lower and lower and lower, until at last His descent was complete.  He descends to a lowly manger, in one of the lowliest parts of the socioeconomic, political, and cultural stratosphere.  He descends and breaks through into our world on a rescue mission of unparalleled import and consequence.  The light has come to shine in the darkness. 

The challenge with stories of descent is that they reveal our helplessness… Descending can make you feel helpless.    I can remember in 1991 being in St. Petersburg, Russia and riding the subway system there.  Everything looks like a normal subway until you get to the escalator down and you look at the angle [photo].  It is STEEP!  And so I asked our guide and friends about it.  Turns out that the metro system in St. Petersburg was built during the cold war to double as a bomb shelter so they built in a full mile underground.  So there I am descending on this very shaky escalator, the florescent light bulbs buzzing overhead as I descend.  And my first thought was “I’m never coming out of here alive again…  If something happens, I’ll be trapped a MILE underground and they’ll never rescue me in time”.  A bit of an irrational thought as you board public transit, I know, but the descent highlighted my helplessness (and reinforced why I didn’t choose mining as my vocation!).  But when you descend, you acknowledge like those miners did, that when something goes wrong, I am helpless to save myself.  I need someone else to descend and to rescue me. 

The same is true in our lives…  We need a rescue mission, a light to shine into our darkness.  And the amazing news of hope and joy that we celebrate this evening is that God himself descended into our world on that rescue mission. And He still breaks through today.  He still breaks through into the marriage that is falling apart; into the young heart that is filled with fear and anxiety about the future; into the dark places of sin, shame and actions that we undertake that hurt us and those we love.  He still breaks through into that journey that you are on walking with someone with a terminal illness or the loss of someone close to you.  Perhaps you have been so busy leading up to this night that you are exhausted but you still have to play host tomorrow and bitterness or resentment is growing in your heart.  Big problems or little ones, we all need a rescue mission.  The message of Christmas is that this particular story of descent changes everything.  It means that Heaven has and can yet again breakthrough dramatically. 

{Note: Piano to begin to play softly “O Holy Night” in background}

I don’t know where you are at tonight in that inner place in your life, but I know where I want to be.  I want to voluntarily again put myself in a place of helplessness.  I want someone to descend and rescue me.  I want to invite you tonight to put aside your fears, more accurately, to release your fears and your failures.  To release your need for control, to release your right to decide the destiny of your own life…  And you may want to express this physically, by initiating your own story of descent – descending to your knees right where you are sitting.  This physical posture is just one way of saying to God “I receive the rescue which you are offering me this evening”.  One of the greatest ironies of our existence as humans is that From descent, springs HOPE.  The Scriptures put it this way:

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.  

¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”  When you initiate your story of descent and humility, don’t be surprised when a sense of hope and joy fills your life like you have never experienced before.  Like those miners emerging from their rocky grave – hope springs eternal. 

The team is going to come and they play songs of reflection and invitation, I want  to pray for you.  My prayer for each person here this evening is that our response has been or will be to say “Jesus, I accept your descent as fully sufficient to rescue me.  And I receive it with humility for the first time or perhaps yet again this evening.”  Will you accept His descent as fully sufficient to rescue you? Let’s pray.