Bonus Sermon: Christmas Eve

Luke 2:1-20 – Sermon - Christmas Eve, 2023

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Did you notice? Right from the very beginning, Luke, the writer of this gospel, wants us to know something, namely that this event, the birth of Jesus, happened in space and time. It happened in the land we now know as Palestine and Israel and it happened during the reign of Emperor Augustus Caesar.

It was not at all like the airy-fairy legends or myths of many of the ancient religions, but was real, actual. This is something that really happened, an event of history.

The story of our salvation is for real. It is rooted in history and involves real people and places. This is one of the things that makes Christianity, and its Saviour, so absolutely unique among most of the religions of the world.

2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

We know from other records, secular records, that these registrations or censuses did took place every fourteen years, so this was nothing unusual.

3 All went to their own towns to be registered.

Elsewhere in the Roman Empire this registration served two purposes, firstly, to discover who was ‘eligible’ for compulsory military service and secondly, to have a reliable head count for taxation purposes. But seeing as Jewish men were exempt from serving in the Roman army, this registration only had the latter purpose, for taxation.

4 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.

So, Bethlehem being the birthplace of their greatest king, King David, everyone who was a descendant of David was expected to ‘show up’ there and so Joseph and Mary dutifully journeyed there. And, it could have not been a very pleasant time of it for Mary, for she was very close to her due date, and the total distance of the journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth was some 80 miles.

Interestingly, for all its past glory, Bethlehem was by then just a faded shell of a community, relegated to the backwater of history, a mere Marshall or Kitscoty to a larger centre like Jerusalem. And so, Jesus entered into our world in a simple, out of the way place, humbly and

unobtrusively, in order to share our rather ordinary lives. He became one of us.

We do not know for sure that both husband and wife were required to ‘show up’ (Mary also being a descendant of David), but there are some good reasons why Joseph might have ‘chosen’ to include her:

Mary was not formally married to him yet, and so her life—and certainly her reputation—might have been at stake had she stayed at home. Her family could certainly have thrust her out, expelled her, and honour killings from family members or neighbours were not necessarily a thing of the past, then or now.

But, more likely, Joseph wanted to be around, available, for the birth of their firstborn child, a son. And so, risky as the trip was, he wanted to be with her.

5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.

Notice that they were engaged, betrothed, but not yet married, which would have been a great cause for scandal and tongue wagging, especially once it became known that she was pregnant out of wedlock. And, in a small community like Nazareth, that was a given, and probably pretty soon!

They went there to be registered, that is, to be counted in a census that had the purpose of including everyone, and not leaving anyone out, for taxation purposes. The Romans instituted this idea of returning to one’s ancestral family home because so many people were transient or had been displaced over the years.

Interestingly, this onerous—and to be honest, hated—duty also worked in to further God’s plans, for the anticipated Saviour, the Messiah, was predicted to be born in that community, Bethlehem. So, even governments and government policies and orders, ones that we don’t particularly like, can be used of God.

6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.

The timing of this child was anything but random, but part of God’s overall creative plan for the world. The Scriptures often speak of ‘the fulness of time’ and in a remarkable and incredible way, God orchestrated a vast number and array of factors, things like taxes and censuses, to bring His Son into the world at the exact and most propitious or favorable time God wanted.

7 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.

Underlining just how risky the trip was anticipated to be, the bands of cloth, the swaddling bands, were more than simple baby clothes. They were normally the clothes to wrap a body in burial, and travellers, such as Joseph, would normally have them with them for a hasty burial in case something happened to them during the trip. It was then Joseph’s own clothes that were used to wrap the newly born infant—a curious foreshadowing of Jesus’ own death many years later.

But, not only that: being wrapped in this way would have been very comforting for the new baby and give him a real sense of comfort and security, functioning much as do the papoose boards or cradle boards of certain First Nations peoples.

Inns or caravansaries in the ancient Near Eastern world were to be avoided at all costs. They were the accommodation of last resort, as they were filled with vermin and all sorts of questionable characters. They offered little in terms of shelter or safety or amenities.

A manger, an animal shelter, a place of animal warmth, secure from the wind and cold, private and away from prying eyes and yapping tongues, would certainly be preferable for something as private and personal as the birth of one’s child.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Did you notice two things here? Firstly, the shepherds and their sheep were still out in the fields, still living there, so it would not have been in the dead of winter. By November or December, the sheep would have been brought into warmer and safer quarters, so it is likely that the event took place sometime in October. Indeed, that fits well with the fact that Jesus was born some six months after His cousin John the Baptist, who was likely born around Passover, that is, in March or April.

The other thing? It was night, the very last time that anyone wanted to ‘be on the job’, seeing as it was a time of danger, thievery and mischief. Here I think of all the people who ‘have’ to work nights, whether they want to or not, and to whom we owe a great deal—such as were this motley group of shepherds.

It is odd that God choose shepherds in the first place as the first witnesses to His Son’s birth as shepherds were almost universally shunned and despised—even though their greatest of kings, King David, had once been a shepherd, and their civic and religious leaders were often described as shepherds.

Shepherds were considered unclean—they didn’t keep all the ‘niceties’ of official religion and so were not allowed

to worship in the synagogues or in the Temple. Their testimony was not admissible in a court of law and you certainly wouldn’t want your daughter to marry one. They were considered especially shady considering that they might allow their sheep to occasionally graze on someone else’s land and might help themselves to ‘items’ found along the way, items that might just ‘happen’ to belong to someone else.

This said, these particular shepherds, these ones just outside of Bethlehem, had a rather exulted task. The Shepherds’ Fields, as they are now called, was where the select sheep belonging to the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple, the ones used at Passover, were raised. And, so, regardless of their general disfavour, this was a very special group of shepherds. It is certainly remarkable that the other ‘Lamb of God’, the one that was destined to take away the sins of the entire world should be born right there in their midst.

9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Imagine: it is the bleakest of night, all is still and quiet, and all of a sudden, you have this startling sight. It would be enough to drive anyone to their knees, enough to terrify even the bravest of souls.

10 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:

If you will notice, angels did not have an entirely unblemished record in the Hebrew Scriptures. Often they were the bearers or instruments of bad news. No wonder the shepherds were ‘sore afraid’. And so, it is not at all surprising that the first thing that the angels often had to say was ‘fear not.’

Here we have heaven intervening, becoming visible, to let us in on the greatest news ever possible. As related elsewhere in the Scriptures, these heavenly messengers are there by God in order to serve us.

11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah,[a]the Lord.

This is exactly what was predicted hundreds of years previously by the prophet Micah. It was well known and indeed, it was this very prophecy, that the teachers of the Law shared with King Herod when the magi came to see him.

12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’

The shepherds would not be left to their own devices to try to find the child, that is, left to wandering through the

darkened streets of the city. No, the angel told them to look for a manger, a cattle-shed, probably located on the outskirts of the built-up areas of the community. And they were to look for an infant dressed in a rather peculiar way. They were being given a way in which they could participate in this gladsome event.

Note then that this reminds us that God does not leave ‘searchers’, which includes us, to muddle through life, but gives firm directions to help us find our way. In our case, it is the Bible instead of angels.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,[b] praising God and saying,

From the story of John the Baptist we learn that the whole community gathered in the family home to celebrate a new birth, albeit with song and much merriment.

However, seeing as the Holy Family was far from home and was sequestered in a lowly stable, God provided an angelic chorus instead.

14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’[c]

Notice how the angelic message begins. It begins, most naturally, with praises to God. It is with God and God alone that all real peace is initiated and maintained, so it is only right and proper that we begin with Him. And this

peace is extended to those upon whom His favour rests, that is, upon those that He chooses. This says two things, firstly, that it is God who chooses, not us, and it is God who brings about peace, a peace that is initially just between Himself and us before going any further from there. It is noteworthy that the one whose birth was thus being announced and celebrated was the great peacemaker of all of humankind.

15 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.’

Now, this has to be a very risky move on their parts, seeing as it meant leaving the majority of their sheep out there in the fields in order to come and check up on the Christ Child. Just think of it, all those precious sheep belonging to the High Priest, all that responsibility.

However, to them, something more important, something greater, was involved here: God had given them a message, one that they could only disobey at their peril. Surely, this is a great testament to their faith and trust in God and in His message as conveyed by the angels.

16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

So, they didn’t waste time, and went, went right away. They obeyed and checked out immediately what God had told them via the angelic messenger. Oh, that we could be more like that!

17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;

They, in a sense, were the first evangelists, the first to broadcast the Good News of our Saviour’s birth. And even apart from the angel had said about this baby’s identity, wasn’t this the most surprising news: a baby, born in a manger of all places, and wrapped in his father’s burial clothes? And they told the baby’s parents, Mary and Joseph, what the angel had told them. What a great confirmation this would have been for Mary and Joseph, who may well have been wondering.

18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.

No wonder: this was indeed rather surprising, and, if they took the mention of the Messiah seriously, very good news indeed. Indeed, this was the very news that many of their fellow villagers had been hoping for over these long years—if only they would receive it, receive Him.

19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

It had been quite a night, and not just with the heady and life changing experience of childbirth. Just how many mothers, even in such difficult, perilous and unusual circumstances, could count as their first visitors a bunch of grubby shepherds telling her of an angelic visitation and message! Yes, she had a lot to ponder and think about.

20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The shepherds went back to their work, their old routine, but think, would they ever be the same? Indeed, can any of us be the same after hearing about Jesus and knowing what He has done for us? Jesus, God incarnate, God come in the flesh, has come among us, been born among us, to share our lives and our existence and free us and redeem us from all that hinders us and holds us in bondage, sin and guilt and death, and forgive us and set us free for ever. May we all, you and I, always rejoice in such a wondrous and life-changing, world-changing event. Thanks be to God for this glorious gift, and this glorious night. Amen.