Trinity Episcopal Church
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Christmas Day
December 25, 2006
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Isaiah 62:6-12
Psalm 97:1-12
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:1-20
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph 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. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And 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. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" When 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." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:1-20)
Views of Christmas
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
I seem to approach Christmas differently each year. That’s probably true for many of us. When I was a child, I anticipated Christmas with an uncontrollable excitement that kept me awake. In college, I was so exhausted that I didn’t anticipate anything except staying in bed as long as possible. When my daughter was small, it was both of these things. I stayed up late to make sure that all of her gifts were arranged under the tree with perfection, and that the cookies and milk she had left for Santa were consumed. I went to bed exhausted from last minute preparation, but was catapulted from sleep by cold little hands on my shoulder and the excited shouts of “Daddy, it’s Christmas!”
Luke’s Gospel also gives us different perspectives on the events that attended Jesus’ birth. The first part of today’s reading describes the birth itself; the second relates the annunciation to the shepherds; and the final part portrays the visit of the shepherds to Bethlehem.[1] But Luke doesn’t just give us a few views of an event. Luke also gives us prophecy, history and symbolism.
The prophetic element lies in how Luke seems to use Micah (5:2), Isaiah (1:3), and Jeremiah (14:8) to link Jesus to the house of David by his birth in Bethlehem. But more importantly, Luke makes the Hebrew story of salvation the story for the Gentiles as well because Luke sees that through Abraham, all nations shall be blessed. For Luke, “every Gentile believer can properly say, ‘Abraham and Sarah are my father and mother’.”[2]
The historical element is present here too. Luke ties secular history with divine purpose, much like the Old Testament prophets saw King Cyrus of Persia acting as God’s agent in letting the Babylonian exiles return to Jerusalem. Luke wants us to understand that the Emperor Augustus and the governor of Palestine also act as God’s agents.
The third element is symbolism. Luke goes to great lengths to describe the infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Such a view makes God’s offspring – or God’s self – very vulnerable, subject to the conditions of the earth and human beings. In Luke’s story, the Son of God lies unnoticed, without trumpets or music, and sleeps without a real place to lay his head.
Very important people in this story are the shepherds. They go almost noticed by us – unless we are reminded by a church Christmas pageant, such as we enjoyed here yesterday afternoon, where our own children or those of our friends dressed in bathrobes and played the part of the shepherds. But more than half of Luke’s birth narrative is devoted to shepherds and their reaction to Jesus’ arrival. What’s the deal with those shepherds?
A principal message of Luke’s Gospel is that everyone in God’s kingdom is on the same level. It is a place where the valleys are filled, the hills are made low, and the rough places made smooth (Lk 3:4-5). Luke levels the earthly playing field portraying the kingdom of God as a place where everyone, regardless of their place in society, will be saved. Shepherds were despised by the people of Jesus’ time. They were unable to keep the details of ceremonial Jewish law; “they could not observe all the meticulous hand-washings and rules and regulations. Their flocks made far too constant demands on them; and so the orthodox [upstanding citizens of the day] looked down on them.” Shepherds can easily be seen to be the least likely to have God’s favor, but Luke, as well as others in the Bible, make it clear that God’s favor does rest on the least likely of peoples. Mary, the mother of Jesus, being an unwed pregnant woman was the outcast of her society, yet she became the mother of God. But it was to simple shepherds living near tiny Bethlehem that God’s message first came. The last of Luke’s society were the first to hear of God’s arrival in this world.
William Barclay suggests that these shepherds were special keepers of sheep. Each morning and evening an unblemished lamb was offered in the temple in Jerusalem. The Temple authorities had their own private flocks, and these flocks were maintained near Jerusalem. Barclay writes that “it is a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”[3]
The annunciation of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds is startling. Just as the angel finishes telling the shepherds, “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger,” a multitude of the heavenly host praise God and say “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those he favors!” This is an example of Luke’s high estate being brought low. In Palestine, the birth of a boy was an occasion of great joy, and when the time of the birth was near, friends and local musicians would gather near the house.[4] When the birth of the boy was announced, the musicians broke into song, and there was a great party (If it was a girl, the musicians went away in silence). Jesus was born in a stable, away from his parent’s home. Therefore there could be no musical announcement of his birth. So, Luke provides a heavenly group of minstrels to sing songs for Jesus. The heavenly host played the fiddle for the lowly boy lying in a manger.
Luke is not only a brilliant and clever writer to cram so much into a few verses (and we haven’t thoroughly gotten into this text all that much), he is also an insightful theologian. Drawing us into the story, we can identify with the shepherds – not because they are shepherds, but because of how they react to the angels and to what they see in the stable. If we let our hearts and minds wander to that hillside, we can somehow feel and know the very real presence of God within us, just as they grasped the presence of God in their midst.
Each time we hear this story we are compelled to go to Bethlehem and see this thing that took place. And each time we go, we take our life experiences with us. Sometimes we find great excitement as we anticipate seeing God in this world, lying vulnerable like a baby in a manger. Other times, we go exhausted, almost too tired to see anything at all. Sometimes we are sad when we go, having lost a beloved relative, spouse, or friend, and we are unsure whether there is a loving or caring God out there at all. But, like those shepherds of so long ago, we venture to the manger anyway, and gaze upon the rough simplicity of the birth of the Son of God.
Somehow, I hope that as we go there this day, we do so knowing that God really does experience the life we live, the pain we feel, and the joy we know, because God lives it too.
The shepherds were the first to see that God is really here in this world. They saw and understood that God is in humankind. The shepherds understood this profound Truth, and were unable to keep silent; when they returned to their fields, they glorified and praised God for all that they had seen and heard, just like Mary and Zechariah who praised God when the annunciation was confirmed to each of them.
We are incarnational people who praise God for revealing to us that God is with us and in us at each of the stages of our lives. From the very beginning to the end, and at each of the excited, joyous, and exhausting places in between. And perhaps especially at those times when we are the loneliest and most vulnerable, and the least likely to be aware of God’s presence. And that is something for which to give thanks. Merry Christmas!
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Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted sentinels; all day and all night they shall never be silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned throughout the earth. The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink the wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in my holy courts. Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up an ensign over the peoples. The LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, "See, your salvation comes; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him." They shall be called, "The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD"; and you shall be called, "Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken."
1 The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him,
and consumes his adversaries on every side.
4 His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples behold his glory.
7 All worshipers of images are put to shame,
those who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him.
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the towns of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O God.
9 For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 The LORD loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph 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. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And 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. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" When 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." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born [this day] of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
[1] Fred B. Craddock, John H. Hayes, Carl R. Holladay, and Gene M. Tucker. Preaching Through the Christian Year: Year C, A Comprehensive Commentary on the Lectionary. (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1994), 30.
[2] Craddock, et al., 30.
[3] William Barclay. The Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition. (Louisville, KN: John Knox Press, 1975), 22-23.
[4] Barclay, 17.
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Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
21 December 2006
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