Journey #5 December 29, 2019 Carroll First UMC

Journey #5  December 29, 2019

Carroll First UMC

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?  Some did.  Others might not have…but that is kind of the nature of Christmas, isn’t it?  It is full of surprises.  Some good, others disappointing.

Studying the Christmas story can be like that.  You see this is the kind of stuff that they don’t teach us in Sunday school, but the truth is that the widely popular picture we have in our minds of just what happened on that first Christmas has some minor inaccuracies in it. None of them change the story, but I find them interesting.

 You may be surprised to find out that there probably wasn’t an Inn or an innkeeper in the Christmas story.  The word that has been translated “inn” is more accurately a guest room. Remember they were poor and could probably never have imagined staying at the Bethlehem Mariot. And since Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown they probably didn’t need to.  It is much more likely that there was no room in the guest room of the family home.

An alternative thought is that there was room for them to sleep, but with all the cousins and nieces and nephews also staying in the guest room, there was no privacy for them to have a baby. So instead of there being no “room,” maybe they needed their own “place.”  

 So, they went to the stable. The stable, in those days, was essentially the family garage, and very likely (like most houses) it was a cave rather than a wooden barn. So, we can think of this as the family fixed up the garage or basement for the expecting parents.  That’s a surprise, isn’t it? This picture shows the cave under the church of the nativity (called the Grotto of the nativity) and the arrow points to a star on the floor is the traditional spot of Jesus’ birth.

 Similarly, the manger was probably not a wooden box as we envision it.  Wood was a precious commodity in that part of the world.  More likely, it was a stone feeding trough.  I have a feeling if I want an authentic stone manger next year, Nina will tell me I am on my own.

I don’t mean to burst you bubble, but I want you to think critically and have an open mind to learning that not all our romantic ideas of Christmas are 100% historical.

 Today, however, I want to spend most of our time talking about the angels.    What’s so surprising about angels?  Well, first, this is the 4th time we see angels in this story.  (One each at Mary’s, Joseph’s, and Zechariah’s annunciation and now to the shepherds) Nowhere in the Bible, do angels appear more often than in the Christmas story. 

 Angels are messengers.  Messengers from God to people.  God had been trying to get his message of good news and great love and grace to people for 5000 years.  His message kept getting lost somewhere in the spam filter of our brains.  This time God was just bound and determined that we would get the message. 

So far in this story, God’s messengers have appeared to a respected, but skeptical Jewish priest (Zechariah) and a poor little girl named Mary, a common Jewish laborer (Joseph), and now to the shepherds..  God used a mass marketing advertising campaign before Jesus was ever born to make sure that, if not everybody, at least somebody was listening.

 Today we read of perhaps the most spectacular angel message of all-- this is the Super bowl commercial of angel messages. 

 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11

 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

 2This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth 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 heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’

Let’s look at the angel's message because I think it will tell us something important about God, something about Jesus, and something about being a disciple of the newborn king.

 The first thing the angel said was “don’t be afraid for behold.”  This must have been quite a shock to the shepherds.  “Don’t be afraid for behold.” 

I was interested in the combination of Greek words here because they are so vivid and active.  If I were be play amateur Bible Translator, I would translate this as “don’t run away like a frightened lamb.  Stop and REALLY SEE … REALLY SOAK IN this sight and this message.  The angel said, “Do not be fleeing but be seeing”

 Then the angel says, “I have good news for you and all people.” Now, we must understand the audience.  Good communication is always directed at a specific audience.  There were in that region- around Bethlehem- Shepherds.  Now shepherds were among the lowest rung on the ladder of workers in Israel. Of course lower would have been someone who had an unclean job like swineherd, picking up dead carcasses or tax collector.  

Shepherds were dirty, smelly, perhaps a little rough around the edges-- but they were also for the most part humble, honest people.  Notice it was not just to regular shepherds that the message was directed.  “There was in that region shepherds out in their fields keeping their watch over their flocks by night.”  This was the night shift of shepherds.  Talk about the lowest of the low.  These guys are the underling…wanna-a-bees that worked for the shepherds who went to be with their families after a hard day in the field.  It was to these second-class shepherds that the angel's message came.

God’s message that came to the lowliest of the low shepherds. The angels say, “to you and to all people.” The message also came to men and women, wealthy and poor, religious, non-religious, and even people who followed other religions like the Magi. To all people and to us. No matter who you are, no matter what kind of life you live, no matter how religious you are or are not, no matter what you have done or used to do, no matter what family problems you have, or how you have hurt your loved ones, no matter what you think in the dark quiet corners of your heart; God’s message of love for you reaches out from God’s heart to yours.  To you and to all people…

 What did he want the shepherds to "behold "? 

He wanted them to see “good news of great joy.”  It is news of great joy, not great fear.  How long do you suppose it had been since these lowest of low, night shift shepherds had heard good news?  As we look back on 2019, how much good news has there been.

There isn’t much good happening in Washington, or south Korea, or China, or Jerusalem.

 The United Methodist denomination is coming apart at the seams.

There are hurricanes and the death of Haden Fry.

There is the opioid addiction crisis, the condition of the mental health system, and the broken healthcare system.

A person just gets beaten down by all the bad news.  When you are already on the bottom of the social ladder like the night shift shepherds, there isn’t very far to go down, but that doesn’t make the darkness any easier. 

             I suspect they were ready for some good news of Great joy. I am too. And I’ll bet you are too.  That good news is “God has come this day in the city of David.  a SAVIOR who is CHRIST the LORD”

 I don’t know about you, but I could use a savior. A savior comes to save us from our sins and guilt, however Paul reminds us that sin that lives in us. I need someone to save me from a life of complete narcissism focused on wanting “more more more” I need someone to save me from screwing up my marriage.  I need someone to save me from being the worst person I can be. I need someone to save me from my guilt and shame, from hopelessness and despair, from fear and a living death.  I need someone to save me from my self-centeredness, self-absorption, resentfulness, bitterness. 

I need someone to save me in order to free me from regret and guilt over things past.

I need someone to save me so I can be loving and seek justice and offer compassion.  Don’t we all need someone to save us from the ugliness of our shared human condition?  Don’t we all need a Savior to make us the people God wants us to be?

“A savior who is Christ.”  Christ is the Greek version of the word messiah. 

Messiah is a Divine King expected to come to rule and raise the people out of darkness into the light of the kingdom of heaven.

I don’t know about you, but I could use a messiah or divine king lead me out of my brokenness and deliver some healing and hope. We could use a divine king to lead our church nation and world out of the hole we are digging for ourselves and into God’s glorious light. We all need a messiah.

“A savior who is Christ the Lord.” I don’t know about you, but I could use a Lord. I need a reason for being that is beyond my self-centered desires. I need to be focused on serving someone greater than I. I need a Lord to serve.  Someone to live for, someone to honor and obey and serve?  Don’t we all need a Lord?

We need a savior, a messiah, and lord.  The angels said, “To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is the messiah and the lord.” We all need a savior to save us from ourselves (which is to say sin) …We will need a messiah to give us hope beyond our own small existence. We all need a Lord to bring us meaning and purpose beyond ourselves.

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!’

This is the tag line at the end of the commercial.  It is God’s tag line saying, “I’m God, and I approve this message”

Are you willing?  How badly do you want salvation?  How much do you need the hope of a savior? 

Are you willing?  How badly do you need to be lifted out of darkness into the light of divine hope by the messiah come to all people as a baby born in a manger?

 Are you willing?  Willing to lay your life before the Lord of Life who died for our sake to free you from the death grip that sin has on your heart? Are you willing? 

If you are wiling but have never made the commitment to discipleship, or if you feel like you need to renew it. Pray silently with me right now.

If you are willing let’s stand and proclaim Jesus as Savior, Christ, and Lord using the ancient words of the Nicene Creed.