CHRISTMAS EVE 2020

CHRISTMAS EVE, 2020 | A Sermon Based on Luke 2:1-20 | by Paula Murray |

¹In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn Son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. ⁸And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths 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, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” ¹⁵When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.                                                                                                                     English Standard Version (ESV)

When words fail us, Scripture is there to provide both the best description of what ails us and the remedy for that ailment.  From Isaiah we hear, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.”  These words were originally spoken to a people who lived in Israel, a land on which poured a harsh, often brutally so, light, so the darkness of which Isaiah spoke was clearly not physical.   It was spiritual that darkness, a consequence of a state which had broken the bonds of faithfulness and trust between God and His people, and between the people and their leaders, and the consequent evil and immoral acts that followed from the top of the social order to the bottom.  It began with gentle scoffing at God and the faithful by those who thought themselves wiser, better educated, and more competent than those who acknowledged God and struggled daily to keep His commandments.   Arrogance led to doubt, and doubt led to idolatry, and idolatry led to immorality, and soon spiritual darkness sprouted and spread across the land like some noxious weed.  Eventually, the people of Israel from the top down denied God’s role in their lives, keeping instead their own counsel and committing wicked acts against one another, especially against those who were unable to defend themselves and dependent upon the civility and charity of those more powerful than themselves.

No one is more vulnerable to those who have broken the bonds of faith, civility, and charity than a helpless infant.  It was as an infant, a defenseless newborn, that Jesus Christ, the great Light of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke, came into the world.  Of the kingly lineage of the House of David, Jesus was nonetheless born to a young mother and a foster father of limited means but who humbly sought to live as God almighty asked His people to live: with gratitude for their lives and means and in obedience to His Law.  Isaiah said of this holy Child, “For a child has been born for us, a Son given to us; authority rests upon His shoulders, and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Like the prince born to a king, this Child would bear the authority entrusted to His Father and His Father’s office.  He would, then, exercise judgment over His people, Israel and ensure peace within the land from enemies both internal and external.  And being of the house of King David, He would be the recipient of the promise the Almighty God made to King David himself, that His line would someday exercise kingly authority over all nations forever more.  A child, yes, born to young Mary and serious Joseph, helpless to feed Himself or care for Himself, but one born to be the Lord and King of Israel and of the nations.

And so we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”

The Lord is come, but He who has been born and whose birth we celebrate with the angels and the shepherds and the ordinary folk of the world is no mere authority figure but is also the Light of the world.  He is the very grace of God made flesh, bringing salvation to all, rescuing us from the sorrowful shadows of sin and the bleak darkness of death.  In His very appearing, in His incarnation of the Virgin Mary, He makes blessedly manifest the lengths to which God is willing to go to ransom His creation from its brokenness and mortality.  God is all in, wholly dedicated to the restoration of the fullness of life and light to His creation.  Through Christ His Son, He will hide His glory; He will take mortal flesh; He will bear in His sinless self the sins of His broken people to a cross He did not deserve and a grave He had no need of prior to His incarnation. Christ did all this willingly to redeem us from sin and purify us who are His own people.  And He began the whole of this salvic ministry as a baby, a defenseless child.

And so we sing, “Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!”

I’ll give you this.  Quite apart from the spiritual darkness that engulfed Israel, Bethlehem was dark that long ago night when Jesus was born of Mary.  There were no street lights, no brightly lit grocery store marquees, no surgical lights beaming on the bed on which Mary lay to give birth.   There was instead the quiet darkness of a stable filled with new hay and the soft snorts of a sleeping cow, a donkey and perhaps a goat or two. Silent, until the holy Babe was born and the scream of a newborn startled by cold air on warm, tender skin was heard throughout the previously quiet neighborhood.

Loud though it may be, the startled cry of the newborn infant brings a resounding joy to newly made parents.  The joy we feel tonight is quieter, a consequence of years spent celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, but no less glorious for that.  The wonders of God’s love lay there before us, in the manger, in the Scripture texts that describe in terse detail the story of the birth of Jesus, the angelic choir, the mystified shepherds, and the curious wisemen, in the carols we sing.  It’s there, all of it, and we are blessed.

And so we sing, “No more let sin and sorrow grow.”

The blessing is this, the Light has come into the darkness of our world.  The world in Jesus’ day was not blessed with electricity and artificial light. But the greater darkness of the day was spiritual, as it is in our day of light saturated skies.  Like that day, faithlessness abounds among us, and acts that come out of lives untethered to God are catastrophic, especially for those who cannot defend themselves from the harm evil does.  But even in an age of covid, when disease strikes down the elderly and infirm and children suffer the consequences of their parents’ job losses, the Light still blesses.  He does rule the world with truth and grace.  Any apparent gains of the darkness are only that, apparent.  Christ the Savior born of Mary, the Light sent into the world, has already won the ultimate victory over the darkness.

“Fear not,” said the angel to the shepherds, “for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” That babe was born, was found in a manger, died for our sins, was raised from the dead and ascended to the Father, and will return in glory to complete the work of the world’s restoration.  Like Mary, we ponder what this means, but in difficult times like these, we trust in that holy Babe Who is our Light with our lives and our salvation.