Christmas Eve, 12/24/2010

Sermon on Luke 2:8-20, by Andrew Smith

Grace and peace to your from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for the sermon this evening is from the heart of the account of the birth of Jesus Christ Luke 2:8-20.

⁸In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."¹³And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

This is our text. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Tonight is the big night. Are you ready? Are all the gifts wrapped? Is all the baking done? All the plans sorted out who will visit whom and when? Christmas is a busy time for us. There is a lot to do to get ready for. In the church we spent a number of hours getting ready. The children were rehearsing the program for Sunday since mid-October. The church services over the past 4 weeks in this season of Advent and really an additional three weeks even before Advent began were about preparing for the arrival of the Lord. Preparing for the Lord's second coming and preparing for the celebration of his first coming in the flesh of the Virgin Mary get all blurred in the church because his first coming is a promise, a guarantee of his second. And so we in the church prepare. We decorate. We go around caroling to our shut-ins reminding them of the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger lest they forget and lose heart and be unprepared should He return again.

There the shepherds were tending their flocks at night. They thought they would be ready for anything-wolves, thieves, you name it. And "And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them." And they were frightened. Now for some reason in the last several years, people seem to have a fascination with angels. You see them everywhere and the images run the gamut, everything from Peter Paul Rubens' fat baby cherubs to underwear models and everything in between so long as it has big fluffy wings and looks non-threateningBut this angel of the Lord here in Luke 2 was not a fat baby cherub and he certainly wasn't an underwear model because I doubt that rough and tumble shepherds ready to fight off thieves and wolves with sticks and stones would have been very frightened of fat baby cherubs or underwear models.

I'm sorry, but there just couldn't be an image more diametrically opposed to an angel of the Lord than an underwear model. Strangely enough, the sort of folks who are into Dungeons and Dragons and all that quasi-mystical stuff, they seem to understand what angels really do. They reap vengeance. Do a bit of Bible study and look up angel of the Lord and you'll find them throughout the OT and when they show up things get interesting. The Lord put at least two cherubim with flaming swords at the entrance to Eden to guard the tree of life. It was two angels that showed up to warn Lot to get out of Sodom. An angel of the Lord went out before Israel and protected them from Pharaoh's charioteers. The Lord sent an angel before the armies of Israel as then entered Canaan and destroyed the armies of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Balaam's donkey saw the angel of the Lord and the donkey saw the angel holding a sword. In Bible study we just read again Isaiah 6 where Isaiah finds himself in the throne room of the Lord surrounded by the six-winged seraphs. And he doesn't say, "Oooh, what a cute angel." He says, "I'm as good as dead." And that's why these shepherds are frightened.

First century Palestinian shepherds were not the most ethical businessmen. In today's economy we might consider them the ethical equivalent of, oh, say, Wall Street hedge fund managers. In his book, Contemporary Images of Christian Ministry, Donald Messer explores the reality of the shepherd in first century Palestine. "Far from being a noble profession, the job of shepherd in first century Palestine was one of the most despised trades-along with gamblers and tax collectors. Contrary to our romantic images, shepherds were generally considered to be thieves."

"Far from being viewed as reliable and responsible, [shepherds] were habitually known to graze on other people's land, and to pilfer the produce of the herd. ...They could not fulfill a judicial office or be witnesses in court. It was forbidden to buy wool, milk or kid from a shepherd because it was widely assumed that it would be stolen property. One ancient writer reports that ‘no position in the world is so despised as that of the shepherd.'"

So here were these shepherds "And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened." They should be frightened. They were about to get it. And if an angel of the Lord appeared before us tonight we should be frightened too. So you say you're ready? About how many hours would you say you spent getting ready for your Christmas celebrations? How many hours spent baking and shopping and decorating? More than you spent coming to the Lord's house this year? More than you spent studying Scripture this year? How much money did you spend getting ready for your celebrations? More than you gave to the church this year? More than you gave to support the preaching of the Gospel and the work of God's kingdom in this place? I only ask because as surely as the Lord came from heaven and was born in Bethlehem, he will come again one day.

And I ask this to catch your attention because none of us is really ready for the Lord to return just like these shepherds were not ready. Even if we were to sell everything and join a monastery or convent and spend the rest of our days getting ready we could never make ourselves ready to receive Jesus who will come again in great glory. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." The same message the angels told to the shepherds, is the same message this messenger of the Lord delivers to you. Don't be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. Your Savior was born to take your wretchedness and your sin and your terrible fear and crucify them in his flesh. That is good news of great joy!

Glory to God in the highest! Through the forgiveness of sins bought at the cross, He has given peace to His people on earth. Amen.

And may that peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, born for you. Amen.

The Rev. Andrew Smith
Augustana Lutheran Church
Hickory, North Carolina, USA
E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com

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