Christmas 2022 Luke 2:8-16 “Our Christmas Message”

23 Dec Christmas 2022 Luke 2:8-16 “Our Christmas Message”

Christmas 2022      Luke 2:8-16       “Our Christmas Message”

This is the climax of the season.  This is the day.  This is it!  Today is what everyone has been waiting for with all kinds of expectations.  Most of us will have all kinds of wonderful food.  We have presents, family and guests.  This is when we have all the festivities.  I praise the Lord that He loves us so much that He loves it when we have celebrations, especially when the celebrations are in honor of Him.  This is a time when you can just take a little timeout from your busy schedule and honor God.

Paul Decker tells the story of a young woman who went away for college and left her plants and goldfish to the care of her mother who had a slight tendency to forget.  I think we all know of people who have a brown thumb or they just cannot take care of plants no matter what they do.  Well, this mother had one.  The plants the daughter left with her all died within a month.  The mother called to break the news to her.  Then a couple of weeks later the daughter called and the mother told her that the goldfish had died too.  There was a long pause in the conversation and finally the daughter asked, “How’s Dad?”

I’m not going to try to make a point that Dad is more important than anyone else.  But I think the point here is that we sometimes overlook what is important.  I think that this is just the way we are made.  How we look at something will depend on what is going on in our lives.  Often times we don’t really see some of the beautiful flowers of the spring when we are so busy fighting flood waters or just plain working.  So, this type of thing happens and it’s ok.

Today, I would like us to take a look at the shepherds in our story who are often overlooked.  Our reading today is one of many that we read every year for Christmas.  I would like us to notice a couple of things about these shepherds.  First of all, they were living in the fields.  This was their home.  The shepherds were also considered to be a very lowly class of people.  No good Jew would have much to do with them because they would be considered to be unclean.  By just tending their flocks on a daily basis they would have to do things to make them unclean.  I’m sure glad that we don’t still live by all of those clean and unclean rules today.  But as unclean as they were, they were also Jews who were waiting for the Messiah.

This is what the Jewish hierarchy missed.  They were too busy looking for a warrior king to come to them that they missed the real deal, but not the shepherds, not these lowly shepherds!  I think that there is a real parallel to today.  I would guess that most of our rich people, the powerful people from this country and the world don’t believe in Jesus.  I think that money and power corrupt many people.  So, we have the ruling class of this world telling us that this didn’t happen.  However, we have the poor people of China and Africa telling us that they know that all of this did happen and it is true.  We have laborers, farmers and common people of North Dakota who know that Jesus is alive and well and that He was born 2000 years ago.  Therefore, I think that we have a lot in common with these so-called lowly shepherds and I praise the Lord for it.

Another thing I would like to point out about the shepherds is that they were terrified when the angel came to them.  They were a well beyond being a little scared.  We may think that this is not a big deal, but I think it was.  It was dark out with those flocks.  They were probably sleeping as were the sheep.  Suddenly, with no warning at all, the glory of the Lord shown around them and there was an angel.  I cannot even imagine how terrified they were.  As a matter of fact, the Greek word used here means going far beyond being terrified.  However, the angel of the Lord was very soothing as it gave the message.  This is one of the themes that run through the Bible.  God can be very terrifying and He can also be very soothing at the same time.  And Jesus is the soothing part of the message.  He came to us as a gentle little baby.  In His life He did no wrong.  He was a comfort to all those around Him.

I remember a few years ago, Sharon and I met with another pastor and his wife for supper.  He was telling us about a young couple who came to him and wanted to get married.  He met with this young couple and he found that they knew nothing about God or Jesus or religion.  They thought that it was just the thing to do to get married in a church.  After talking with them some more he found, and I have found this also, that this couple didn’t really see a need for Jesus.  After all, they were very capable of doing everything themselves.  They saw no need for God.  Unfortunately, this couple also fought a lot and they knew nothing about communicating.  What was his was his and what was hers was hers.  My pastor friend commented that so far going on their own without God wasn’t working very well for them.  Maybe they should try a different approach.  If you are at all like this, maybe you should try a different approach also, an approach that includes Jesus Christ.

Anyway, the question became what does Jesus do for us?  What did this tiny baby bring that we can get no other place?  First of all, Jesus brings you peace.  This is the peace that calms your hearts when you get anxious.  This is the peace you can have when everything in your world goes wrong.  This is the peace that everyone is looking for and it is right in front of them.  This is the peace that is found only in Jesus Christ.  There is no other way in the world to achieve this peace except through Jesus Christ.  The only way to this peace is to fall in love with this baby and falling in love with babies shouldn’t be too hard to do.

But Jesus doesn’t stop with peace.  He also gives us love.  This is the time of year when you need love the most.  I don’t know why but this is the time of year when people can get really lost.  I suppose it has something to do with expectations but I don’t really know.  But what I do know is that the love of Jesus crosses all borders and personal boundaries.  It is a love that is for you and me, and also for atheists and doubters.  It is a love that is everywhere we look and it can never be stopped.  The love of Jesus for us is one that will never be stopped!  Jesus has given you all the things you have because of His love for you.  There is nothing good that cannot be traced to Jesus.

This is Christmas.  It is a time to celebrate.  Now I know that there are many other things like hope and patience that Jesus wants you to have and I could talk about these things for hours.  But I want you to begin with this peace and love that Jesus has for you.  If you have this peace and love, then work on keeping it.  If you don’t, then reach out and ask Jesus for it.  He will gladly give it to anyone and everyone, especially you.  Just look at these poor, poor lowly shepherds.  They seemed to have nothing and yet they had it all.  Think about yourself as being one of these shepherds as you turn to Spotify or YouTube and play one of my favorite carols,  “Do You Hear What I Hear?”  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.