"To You a Savior is Born"

What one word do these images have in common?

Sometimes when we use a word, we have to be sure that people know what we mean.  Sometimes a word can have more than one meaning. 

The word ‘save’ can mean a number of different things. 

On the day that Jesus was born, there were some shepherds living out in the fields, watching over their sheep.  And that night, when it was dark, an angel stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, shining a great light in the midst of the darkness. 

And the angel said: “Do not be afraid.”  (That’s an important message of the gospel:  “do not be afraid.”) 

And the angel said:  “To you is born this day in the city of David… a Savior.”

A “savior” is a person who saves.  Jesus is our Savior.  Jesus saves us.  But what does that mean?

A professor of mine in seminary said that someone once asked her, “Are you saved?”  My professor responded by saying, “Saved from what?”

Jesus saves.  Jesus is our savior.  And this, according to the angel, is good news of great joy for all people. 

But what does it mean?

Who knows what language the gospel of Luke was originally written in? (Hint: it wasn’t the King James English.)

Greek.

And in ancient Greek, the word that means “to be saved” is sozo.

But when sozo is translated into English, sometimes different words are used to convey its meaning.

When the Bible says you will be saved, that’s sozo.

When the Bible says you will be healed, that’s sozo.

When the Bible says you will be made well, that’s sozo.

When the Bible says you will be made whole, that’s sozo.

Sozo is salvation, and salvation is healing and wholeness.

Somehow, in recent times it has been assumed that sozo only refers to what happens after death, that being saved has very little to do with this life, the life we’re living right now.

Not so.

Let me explain.

Jesus was born in a very dark time in history.  The Roman Empire had, not too long before, squashed a rebellion and ended a civil war.  Now it was brutally eliminating all who opposed the Roman government’s way of doing things.  Dissension was not tolerated.  If you didn’t like what Rome was doing, you better keep quiet… or you’d end up crucified on a cross.

In fact, the hills around Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, were covered with crosses on which hung dozens, if not hundreds, of those accused of taking part in a failed rebellion in the nearby city of Sepphoris. Rome squashed that rebellion, and destroyed the city of Sepphoris. 

And the people of Nazareth, in the shadow of Sepphoris, trembled in fear.

This is how the Roman Emperor brought peace on earth:  through brutal, violent force and oppression.

The religious leaders – the high priests who ruled in Jerusalem – worked with the Roman government, which granted them special favors as long as they helped keep the peace.  In other words, those high priests worked with Rome to keep the people in their place.  To keep the people quiet, without resources, working so hard just to survive that they couldn’t possibly muster the energy to challenge Rome.  All their energy went into just surviving.

As a result, the people were tired, poor, oppressed, broken.  Their spirits were crushed. 

They needed to be saved.

When the angel told Mary about the child who would be born to her, Mary responded with a song.  “My soul magnifies the Lord,” she sang, “for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

To be saved means that the lowly are lifted up and the hungry are filled with good things.

Later, when Jesus began his ministry, he announced that his purpose, his mission, was “to bring good news to the poor, and to proclaim release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed.”

To be saved means just that: good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed.

The word gospel literally means “good news,” and it’s not really good news if we have to wait until we die to be saved.  It’s not really good news that so many live in a present hell and are told only that it will be better in the life to come. 

Good news and salvation come when we comfort those who mourn; provide care to those who are sick; feed those who are hungry; and work for a true and lasting peace, a peace that is not established through violence but through justice.

Good news and salvation come when no person goes without health insurance.

Good news and salvation come when we stop cutting relief programs for the poorest among us, and work toward a fairer sharing of our resources.

Good news and salvation come when no one is made to feel unwelcome or unloved because of their sexual orientation, or discriminated against because of their skin color.

Good news and salvation come when we look to that place within us, and realize that, despite all our flaws and imperfections, there is within us a divine spark, and that each of us is a beloved child of God, beautiful in God’s eyes…

…and that God has enabled us to be the good news for others, to provide salvation, to be a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world by practicing kindness and compassion and love in all we do. 

For this is the way of Jesus, the Savior who is born to us.