i also reference isaiah 9:2-7
the holy gospel according to luke (2:1-20)
In
those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus
that
all the world should be registered.
2This
was the first registration
and
was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3All
went to their own towns to be registered.
4Joseph
also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea,
to
the city of David called Bethlehem,
because
he was descended from the house and family of David.
5He
went to be registered with Mary,
to
whom he was engaged
and
who was expecting a child.
6While
they were there,
the
time came for her to deliver her child.
7And
she gave birth to her firstborn son
and
wrapped him in bands of cloth,
and
laid him in a manger,
because there was no place for them in the
inn.
8In
that region there were shepherds living
in the fields,
keeping
watch over their flock by night.
9Then
an angel of the Lord stood before them,
and
the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and
they were terrified.
10But
the angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid; for see—
I
am bringing you good news of great joy
for all the people:
11to
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who
is the Messiah, the Lord.
12This
will be a sign for you:
you
will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth
and
lying in a manger.”
13And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,
praising
God and saying,
14“Glory
to God in the highest heaven,
and
on earth peace among those whom God favors!”
15When
the angels had left them and gone into heaven,
the
shepherds said to one another,
“Let
us go now to Bethlehem
and
see this thing that has taken place,
which
the Lord has made known to us.”
16So
they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and
the child lying in the manger.
17When
they saw this,
they
made known what had been told them about this child;
18and
all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.
19But Mary treasured all these
words
and
pondered them in her heart.
20The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all
they had heard and seen,
as
it had been told them.
the gospel of the lord.
tonight is the night we celebrate god coming into our
world. god coming to our ordinary,
sometimes quite messy lives and captivating us. the songs of christmas are songs that captivate us more,
perhaps, than any others in the church year—why else would there be so much
controversy around when we are and are not allowed to sing them? from hendel’s messiah, announcing, in
isaiah, the birth of a baby to end all war who shall be called the prince of
peace, to the carols we have sung and will sing tonight of an angel
interrupting the ordinary dirt and grime of lowly shepherds with news of the
birth of a baby, in its own dirt and grime of a manger—a barn, to hold all the
smelly animals.
today and tomorrow, like the shepherds, we interrupt our day-to-day
lives to welcome the christ-child among us. we have been waiting these last four weeks of advent,
anticipating sometimes patiently, sometimes impatiently the coming of
christ. the halls are decked, the
figgy pudding is made, and the baby comes. now he’s here in our messy midst!
i can’t imagine this night being, for mary, quite so calm,
clean, and comfortable as it is right now for us. last sunday we heard mary’s magnificat, her decision to join
god in this plan of salvation for all the world—an end to oppression, upending
of injustice: lifting up the lowly and casting down the powerful, filling the
hungry and leaving the rich to hunger.
and now the time has come. mary and joseph find themselves in the dirt and grime of a
barn—a manger—with no room at the inn, they are left to the dirt that comes
with inadequate shelter. mary, in
a strange land, obeying the dictates of emperor augustus, feels the beginning
of a pain that will come to fruition and reach her heart in 33 years.
at the same time, messengers of god come into the ordinary
dirt of these shepherds’ lives to tell of god come to them. as any of us might, their first
reaction is terror. an authentic
response, not only to the sudden appearance of a messenger of god with the
glory of the lord shining all around, but the news of god’s presence with us is
also a scary thing.
in isaiah god’s presence and favor is not good news for
those with authority, because authority rests upon the shoulders of this child
born to us. god’s presence, without
a doubt, upsets the status quo.
even for shepherds who were pretty low down as far as status went back
in those days, a change in the status quo was dangerous. they were barely getting by and big
changes could mean loss of livelihood and starvation.
lucky for them, fear also usually comes with a bit of
paralysis, so before they can collect their wits and take off running, the
angel has time to tell them that there is good news of great joy. even as their heartbeats begin to drop
back down, close to normal, the shepherds are still pretty terrified, but now also
intrigued.
they
listen to the angel and take the risk of traveling in the middle of the night
to check out this baby. and
it
is
worth it. they see the
savior! the baby king! and it did rock their world. they return back to the dark and
uncertainty of the night and their lives, but they return “glorifying and praising god for all they had heard and seen, as it
had been told them.” their hope
still shining in their dark night.
they may have gone to bethlehem and then returned back to
their ordinary lives, but they returned
different. they went a bit afraid—maybe a little anxious or nervous,
perhaps a familiar feeling for those of us who have ever gone to a new church
or back to church after some time away, wondering what we will find. how will people treat us? will mary and joseph know who we
are? will this christ-child be
worth the trip? will jesus be
there?
the shepherds go to bethlehem as a mixed bag of
emotions. and they find jesus. they find a baby and a family exhausted
from the birth of a child, and not just any child, but the very son of god.
and when the shepherds leave, they don’t simply go back to
their ordinary lives, commenting on the cool show they just saw. they go back to lives of anxiety and
insecurity, but they go back as new people. they have seen christ, the prince of peace. god has come to us and it’s not a new
emperor, or caesar, or president.
god has come to us through the young, unwed couple, without housing or a
bed to sleep on. god has come to
us in a baby born in a barn. god’s
glory, god’s power is in the weak and the lowly and that is who those shepherds
are.
those shepherds return glorifying and praising god because
in jesus, they finally get that they too can bear the image of god. in this christ-child they see the god
who is love. they see a poor and
lonely family, in the dirt and grime of the barn, in whom god’s love and life
is made manifest. the shepherds
see this baby, who is the prince of peace and know that god comes to us in the
lowly of society. they know that
the presence of god in their lowly lives means that everyone can truly bear the
image of god in our own selves, our own lives, even in our own anxieties and
insecurities.
and so we come with our dirt and grime, runny noses,
sugar-filled bellies, trying to ride out the tension that can accompany large
family gatherings. and as we
encounter christ here in this place, in the bread broken and wine poured out
for us all, we too leave different.
we leave glorifying and praising god, and encountering christ, as he
comes to us, in those we meet in the dirt and grime of life, and in each other.
thanks be to god.
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