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"Following the Shepherds"
On a day like this, in the beauty of this church, with the
decorations, the music – in the midst of all our Christmas Day
celebrations, very little needs to be said to take us back to
that little town of Bethlehem.
God’s Word captures our imagination, and it is as if, we travel
back in time to “see this thing that has happened, that the
Lord has made known to us.” So please, journey with me for a
while.
We have just come to the gentle hills outside the little town
of Bethlehem. Do you see what I see? There are several shepherds
ahead of us. But something unusual has happened to these shepherds,
for they have left their flocks in the field. And they are walking
quickly, almost running, towards Bethlehem.
Of course, we know why, don’t we? These are the shepherds, who
were keeping watch over their flocks by night. While at the same
time, in the crowded little town where King David was from, a
Jewish virgin was giving birth to the promised Christ, the
long-awaited Messiah. The Redeemer from of old is a newborn
baby.
Well, this news can’t go unheralded. So, not long ago, angels
proclaimed the Good News of Jesus’ Birth to those shepherds up
there on the road ahead of us. The angels told them to “fear not,”
and then they made the Birth announcement – that Christ, the
Savior, was born.
But not only that, the angel gave specific directions to the
location of this Messiah, this Word made flesh, Who is now
dwelling among us. The directions were to go to the city of
David, to a stable, and to a manger, where they would find a
baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
What’s more, the shepherds are told to go NOW – even at this
hour. So there they are, just ahead of us hurrying towards a
manger somewhere in the town of Bethlehem.
But, let’s pause for a moment, and let the shepherds hurry
on ahead of us. It’s okay. We’ll catch up. You see, for you
and me, THIS is the moment in all of these events, where OUR
Christmas story resides, and I don’t want us to miss it.
Simple shepherds, looking for a humble baby.
You see, this moment informs us that God is coming NOT
to be served by us, but to help us – to BE us. In this
moment we KNOW that Christ really has come to be a SAVIOR,
not an emperor, not a ruler, not a dictator.
Certainly, the proper protocol would prescribe that the
Lord God Almighty would be given the very best that this
creation could offer. The royally correct thing to do
would be to find gold-laced, purple satin robes to adorn
the King’s tiny body.
But no, the great Jehovah is wrapped in torn strips of swaddling
cloths. The Creator of the cosmos is placed in an animal’s feeding
trough, and is housed in a little hole-in-the-ground stable. The
Incarnation of God, wrapped in rough, common swaddling clothes
is what we would least expect, AND is exactly what the Lord desired.
In the Christ Child’s humility and poverty, God proclaims, loudly,
that He is on a mission, not a vacation. For our sake, Jesus left
the riches of heaven above and came down here to this world, which
sits in the darkness of sin, and He took upon Himself the clothing
of a fallen humanity. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ,” St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8 “that though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty
might become rich.”
However, to accomplish our salvation, Jesus must soon leave
the stable and be about His Father’s business. And so, Jesus
goes about the business of saving you and me from the sinfulness
that would forever separate us from God. In His years on earth
Jesus lives the perfect life we should be living.
He avoids every sin. He overpowers every temptation. And, He
loves His Father in Heaven with a perfect, submissive love. He
is THE perfect human. He is Adam, before the fall. Even
surrounded by sinful people and an evil, fallen world, He
still remains perfect.
He is everything we aren’t. And so, in this, He deserves
royal treatment. He earns glorious honor. He earns a life
of rewards, and ease, and luxury. But here is where the
dirty stable, and the rough manger, and the humble swaddling
clothes of today’s story come flooding back into our thoughts.
They foreshadow a dirty crown of thorns, and a rough, terrible
cross, and humble, in fact, humiliating suffering. They remind
us that Jesus did not come for royal treatment, or glorious
honor, or a life of rewards. But, He came to give His life –
His perfect life in exchange for my sins, and yours.
The work of salvation began in the manger in Bethlehem. But,
it was finished on the cross. There our sins were judged and
punished. There forgiveness was won. There Jesus declared,
“It is finished.”
And then, in Christ’s resurrection, that forgiveness was made
permanent. Christ’s resurrection means that the blessings of
forgiveness and eternal life which comes through Christ’s birth,
life, and death cannot be revoked. It will never be altered. They
will never be withdrawn.
I wanted us to pause at this point in the story because, we are
simple shepherds – so to speak – journeying through this life. But,
a humble Savior has been born. And we have followed the shepherds,
now, to this poor, rustic place in Bethlehem and we have beheld
this thing that God has done.
But it is time to get back to reality, to get on with the business
of our lives. The service will be ending soon. The holidays will
come to a close, and it will be time to go back to our families,
to our work, to school, pre-school, back to retirement, or whatever
is ahead of us.
How many years have we made this journey to Bethlehem and back? How
many years have we traveled to the manger on Christmas Day? And
then we go back to real life.
As the years go by, perhaps the eager steps we have taken in
the past towards the manger are no longer in such haste. Perhaps
life has become more difficult and exhausting, and the journey
to Bethlehem has lost its excitement. As the burdens and troubles
of life press upon us, perhaps the annual trip to the manger has
begun to lose its meaning and seems pointless.
Every year, as the shepherds hurry off to find Mary and Joseph
and the baby, do you find yourself lagging behind, distracted,
or stumbling to keep up?
It is not uncommon. And the reasons are many.
There are the constant struggles and problems of life. There
are the sorrows of death, as a loved one is snatched away.
There are the gnawing worries and fears over how to make
ends meet. Then there are the common pangs of hunger, and
thirst, and being exhausted physically – you know, the
normal things of life.
There is the compassionate heart that hurts so deeply as
it looks upon the many lost people in this world. There
is the indignant anger at those who would inflict evil
upon others, or lead little ones astray. There is the
numbing hurt of knowing that tomorrow is filled with
another day of illness and treatments.
There is the piercing pain of friends being cruel or
abandoning you. And there is the awful emptiness in
wondering if God really does care, or if He really
does love me.
Dear people, we are a LONG way from the stable and that
manger, aren’t we? They seem so long ago as we stand here
upon this earth in 2007. Too often we lift our heads and
we don’t see silent nights, or holy nights. We listen, but
we don’t hear the cattle lowing as the poor Baby sleeps.
Those sounds are from the distant past.
We have left Bethlehem and shepherds, mangers and inns
behind us and we are here at a different place and a
different time. “Does any of this really make a difference
in my life?”
And the answer is a resounding YES, for one simple reason –
Jesus didn’t stay in Bethlehem. He didn’t remain in that
manger. The message of Christmas – indeed – the peace and
blessings of Christmas are not dependent upon US taking some
emotional journey back to Bethlehem.
No, the peace and blessings of Christmas are found when we
discover that the same Baby Jesus is THE Jesus Who dwells in
our hearts of faith, at this very moment, in this very hour,
in this very church. It is JESUS Who travels through the
distance of space and time, not us, and HE connects us
to Bethlehem.
Christmas becomes real, NOT because we have an emotional
feeling over an event long ago. It becomes real because we
KNOW Someone Who was there. The power of Christmas is:
Jesus Christ, who was there at Bethlehem AND here in our
hearts and lives, right now.
This is the Jesus Who endured all, and overcame all – even
death – so that you can have hope and new life in this world
of sin and darkness.
And, Jesus GIVES hope and new life by US knowing that we are
forgiven children of God. We are dearly loved by God and are
destined for an amazing eternity. Jesus GIVES hope and new
life by US knowing that God is working for good things in
our lives, no matter what. Therefore we have the power to
be at peace, even when things are going wrong.
The power of Christmas is the power to handle this earthly
life. It is the power not to be overcome by this earthly
life. It is the power to have LIGHT in darkness – and HOPE
in our troubles.
Our faith in Christ opens the door today to some amazing
Christmas gifts. We have the gift of patience – oh, yes
you do!! We have the gift of patience, because God’s Word
tells us that He is always for us, not against us. And if
He IS truly FOR us, then, we can wait (can’t we?) for whatever
He is doing in our lives. I didn’t say it would be easy – but
we can do it.
We have the gift of endurance, because God’s Word promises
that even in suffering, God is working good things out for
us. So, we can trust and endure (can’t we?) if we have to –
if that’s what God wants us to do.
We have the gift of peace, because God’s Word tells us that
nothing can separate us from Christ’s love. So, if friends
leave, or family splits, or people are mean and unkind, we
are still baptized children of God (aren’t we?), full of His
grace and purposes. God never stops using us, and His will for
our lives is still being done. So, relax dear child of God.
We have the gift of confidence, because God’s Word declares that
we are beloved, valuable, and meaningful members of God’s family.
We have the gift of joy, because God’s Word promises that every
single one of our sins are forgiven, and God only looks at us with
love and kindness. When God sees you, He smiles with fatherly delight –
and reaches into your life with blessings and strength once again.
Now, those are some amazing gifts. And God gives them to us fresh
every day. So, Merry Christmas!
Amen.
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