Christmas: second
Jesse Jacobsen
Last Modified: "Sun Dec 26 08:53:58 2004"
Luke 2:15--20
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that
the shepherds said to one another, ``Let us now go to Bethlehem and
see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to
us.'' And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe
lying in a manger.
Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which
was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it
marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But
Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
Let Us See This Thing
When a little baby has just been born, everyone who sees him might agree
that a miracle has taken place. Just what they all mean by that might
be a point of disagreement. One sees a new person, a human being knit
in the womb of his mother by God Himself --- proof that the Holy Spirit
is the true giver of life. Someone else sees a piece of living humanity
that was just recently a part of his mother's body, someone with the
potential to be real person someday, but who isn't one yet. Someone
else might see a combination of these things.
We can all look around in some way. We can sense our environment. But
the way we process our sensations, the way we catalog and interpret what
we see depends greatly upon what be believe.
You might wish that someone you love could have been there after the
birth of Jesus, as He lay in the manger, with Mary, Joseph, and the
shepherds bowing before Him. Seeing a moment like that would surely
prove that Jesus is the Son of God, our Savior. Not necessarily. One
person's nativity scene is another person's misuse of a perfectly good
stable. Those animals were overcrowded! They were being neglected! At
least, according to one point of view.
The answer of the age is to say that all points of view must be valid
--- even when they don't harmonize with each other. Beauty and truth
are completely in the eye of the beholder. So is that little baby a
gift from God? Yes. Is he only a potential person, who may someday be
the latest example of human evolution? Yes. Both are held as true at
the same time. That's the kind of answer that supposedly makes it
possible for all people to live at peace with each other: we're all
right! But it's folly.
What should we believe? What will a little baby be taught when he grows
older? Is he a human being, made by God to receive His love? Or is he
a highly-evolved animal who happens to call himself a man? Does He owe
obedience to his Creator, or should he be choosing the god he likes best
from all the options he finds? Christians believe that the answers are
clear, because God has given them. The wisdom of this age says that
every possible answer is true, making every answer meaningless. If each
of us is the maker of our own truth, then nothing is true, there can be
no peace on earth, and death is terrible.
If a multitude of the heavenly host appeared to you, praising and
glorifying God in the highest, and if one of them told you to find
Christ, the Lord wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, what
would you believe? If you went and found the baby just as you had been
told, what would you believe then? ``That's one interpretation!'' No,
it's the only interpretation. This baby boy Jesus was exactly
what the angels said. He is Christ, the Lord. So let's respond to the
angels in faith this morning, as the shepherds did. Let us see this
thing that has come to pass. For God has said it. For We have received
it.
For God has said it
The message that the angels brought to the shepherds was one they had to
listen to. An angel doesn't deliver messages from himself. They are
messengers of God --- even when the message seems incredible.
We hear the message of the angels every year. After a while, you just
expect it. It was even printed in the newspaper yesterday in the King
James Version. Like when you repeat a word over and over again enough
times, even Luke 2 begins to lose its original impact. In this age that
sees truth as relative, it can lose any meaning at all. Why is it
acceptable to print the words of Luke 2 on the front page of the
newspaper? Because they represent a major point of view, one
influential religious tradition.
Still, I'll take it. God's Word has a power of its own, and if it will
be printed and read in newspapers for any reason, God can use it for
good. But the point is that our age considers even the message of the
angels to be harmless. It's just another perspective.
That's not what the shepherds thought. First, they quaked in fear. (I
don't know whether they were ever the same again.) After that, they
were amazed. ``The shepherds said to one another, `Let us now
go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord
has made known to us.' '' They understood that this message from
heaven was, well, from heaven. It was God's Word. Sure, it was spoken
by a humble servant of God, but it was God's message. In essence, God
had spoken to the shepherds.
That's the kind of thing that changes your life. It's why they said to
one another, ``Let us now go ... and see this thing.''
They could have said that work was more important. Or that there wasn't
time to do what the angel said. But they knew who was really speaking
to them, and that His Word is truth. The Christ was finally born after
ages of waiting. The time had come, and the place of His birth was a
short walk into town. Of course they went to see this thing.
Did you realize that God speaks to us, too? I don't mean whispers in
the darkness or visions of glory. I don't mean communing with nature in
the forests, the mountains, or on the sea. I'm talking about God's
Word. It may not be spoken to us by angels from heaven, but it still
comes to us from God. He puts pastors in pulpits to preach exactly what
the angels preached to those shepherds, and more. He puts teachers in
classrooms where both children and adults come to learn the Good News
about Jesus. He sends missionaries into strange places to bring the
same Word to those who are perishing without it.
God speaks His Word through the liturgy of the Divine Service. You know
why it's called the Divine Service? Because God is serving us with His
Word --- and the Sacraments, beside. God puts His Word into our homes
to be heard in family devotions, where we gather to hear it and to
respond in prayer and maybe even in song. God has seen that His Word is
published and distributed in many languages. Its doctrine has been
summarized and confessed, and brought to every corner of the earth.
Those angels were doing something that God has kept up ever since. Did
you notice what the shepherds did after they saw Jesus? ``When
they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them
concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those
things which were told them by the shepherds.'' The shepherds became
God's messengers, and all who heard them were hearing the very word of
God.
So let's receive this message gladly, accepting it as coming
from heaven itself. Let us see this thing that has come to pass,
for God has said it.
For We have received it
The message of the angels has penetrated the whole world. Some believe
it. Some treat it as one tradition among many. Believe it or not,
there are still some who have not heard it, or who have not heard the
message accurately.
For our part, the second reason we should see this thing that has
come to pass is because the message has come to us. This was not by
accident. God wants us to hear and believe that Jesus is also
our Christ, our Lord. Let us see this thing, for we have
received it.
It's not a small thing to receive the message of Jesus Christ. God
wants all to be saved, but He accomplishes this through that message.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, ``It pleased God through the
foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.'' And to
the Romans, the same apostle wrote that the Gospel message is
``the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.'' If
we had not received this message from God in some way, we could not
believe in our Savior, be sprinkled in His cleansing blood, be partakers
of His holy table, or enter the eternal conclusion of all these things.
Whether we believe it or not, Jesus was truly born. He truly lived,
died, and rose again. But those who do not believe it have no part in
Him, and those who do not hear the message cannot believe it.
It's a vitally important thing to receive the message of Jesus Christ.
As I said, God speaking to you is a life-changing sort of thing. And
every time God speaks to someone, His purpose always leads us to Jesus
Christ. The whole Bible is about Jesus. Every Christian sermon is
ultimately about Jesus. Every Christian Bible study leads us finally to
Jesus. Sunday School teaches Jesus above all other things, and all the
other things are also about Jesus. God has spoken to us, and
continues to do so. Every time we hear Him, it is a life-changing sort
of thing, because His Word is life. Seeing the impact of His Word on our
lives, we can appreciate why the shepherds gladly raced into Bethlehem,
and why they were so excited to tell everyone what they had heard and
seen.
Receiving the message about Jesus Christ is not a small thing, even
after we have become Christians. For one thing, the apostle Peter wrote
that Christians ``are kept by the power of God through faith for
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.'' Of course, the
power of God for us is His Word. God uses it to sustain our faith in
this world. We need that, since we are in constant contact with the
wisdom of this age. Paul wrote ``that your faith should not be
in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.'' And we ourselves keep
struggling within ourselves to remain faithful to the truth that God
revealed. Our strength, again, comes from the message God sends us: His
Word about Jesus.
So let us also see this thing that has come to pass. Today, we are the
ones whom God has told. It is our privilege to find Jesus --- not
swaddled in a manger, but here for us in His Word and Sacrament. We
find Him that way every week: the Son of God come to earth, to be our
Savior, Christ the Lord. He won our salvation through His suffering and
merit. Today, He bestows that salvation upon all who believe the
promise, and He makes the promise to you and me. We certainly ought to
treasure these things in our hearts, like Mary did. But God also sends
us --- like the shepherds --- to tell others what we have seen and
heard. In this way the good news of the angels may be heard and
believed by many more.
In the end, everyone will see that there is such a thing as truth, and
that God has revealed it. The name of truth is Jesus Christ.
``God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen
by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.'' Set us see this thing; for God has said it,
for we have received it. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
This document was translated from LATEX by
HEVEA.