A Sermon preached on 24 December 2023 (Pentecost XV) at St. Augustine’s, WI
Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14
This is the fourth time I’ve read all or part of the nativity story from Luke’s Gospel today. The first time was in German at the Teestube homeless day centre before the meal we served them at lunchtime. The second time was in several languages at 1 pm the Hauptbahnhof as part of an ecumenical Christmas service, the third time was this afternoon at the family service, when it was more acted than read, and the fourth and final time was here, to you at our Midnight Mass. Homeless and lonely people have heard it, travellers have heard it, children and families have heard it, you’ve heard it, and at least this afternoon angels, shepherds, sheep, trees and various animals and birds heard it – or at least people dressed up as such. And these four readings are just a few of the countless readings of Luke’s nativity story in churches all over the world today and tomorrow!
That is right and proper: This is a message that is supposed to be spread throughout the world. As we just heard, angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:10) This message is so important that heavenly messengers, angels are sent to convey it. First the angel, Gabriel, who appeared to Mary to tell her that she would bear a son, and name him Jesus. Then the unnamed angel who appeared to the shepherds in the fields, and finally a multitude of the heavenly host.
What is the message? It is about a person, a seemingly helpless child born in the humblest and most unlikely of circumstances. Yet, the angels have come to announce that this baby is special, that this baby is holy, that this baby – as the angel Gabriel had already told Mary - will “be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” (Luke 1:32) and that this baby is – as the angel tells the shepherds - Savior, Messiah, and Lord. Those are big titles. This baby will save or deliver us, this baby is the anointed or chosen one, this baby is the true king and lord of all. This baby is the love of God poured into a person. This baby is God’s promise to the world. Yes, that is a message worth repeating and worth transmitting to everyone!
So why do the angels first appear, to “certain poor shepherds … in fields as they lay, keeping their sheep,” as the carol The First Noel puts it? I have seen arguments that this is a sign that God really is for everyone, especially the poor and the labourers, and not just the rich and powerful – though they get a look in later in Matthew’ Gospel with the 3 kings or magi. And I agree. The requirement to care for the poor, the stranger, the excluded is a consistent message throughout the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments.
But for Israel shepherds were special. For a while, Moses was a shepherd. King David was a shepherd - anointed king on God’s behalf by the prophet Samuel, in Bethlehem. The leaders of Israel were often referred to as shepherds of their people, sometimes as bad ones when they neglected their people (Ezekiel 34). In Ezekiel God says “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. And so, it makes a lot of sense to choose shepherds to reveal who Jesus will be, the Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the true shepherd-king, the servant king.
Fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy, Jesus is the child born for us, the son given to us who is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and who will bring not just peace, but peace with justice and with righteousness, and who will usher in God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven. We get a taste of this in the final verse, when the heavenly host praise God saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours” (Luke 2:14) or as some sources have it, “peace, goodwill among people.” And in case you are wondering who God favours, it is all of us. Then favour is just another word for grace, and therefore the angels’ announcement of an offering of peace on earth for all those to whom God has shown grace is an offering of peace for all of us.
And we need peace, not the peace that comes from military might and coercive force, but a peace based on justice and mercy. The people of Jesus’ time knew peace of course, but it was the Pax Romana, the Roman peace an absence of war, but imposed by force, violence, might and fear. It was the peace of an occupying power, and that never lasts. The power behind the peace that Jesus offers is power of self-giving love, shown not only in his humble birth as a human baby, but also in his sacrifice on the Cross! Jesus’ peace is the peace of shalom encompassing peace, wholeness, health, and well-being. Jesus brought and brings peace on earth and goodwill to all people by reconciling us to God and to one another with the power of love that casts out fear and hate.
The message of the nativity is a message of hope. That God cares. That we can be saved from the results of evil, sin and our own selfishness that express themselves in war, oppression, poverty, flight, and the rejection of the stranger. When we celebrate the Messiah’s birth, we look forward to the day when his reign of justice, mercy, and peace will come in all its fullness, and we work actively to bring it about because we truly believe it is possible. As Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church said in his Christmas message, the message of the angels is that we can “trust and believe in the invincibility of the good in spite of the titanic reality of evil, because God is good all the time. (We can) trust and believe in the enduring power of love, of truth, of the good, and of justice when the reality of the opposite seems so prodigious. (We can) trust and believe in the enduring power of love, justice, kindness, and compassion, all because God is love and the author of all that is true, noble, and just.”[1]
The message of the nativity is a simple one, beautifully summarised in Christina Rossetti’s poem and Christmas Carol: “Love came down at Christmas”.
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.
This is the sign the world needed and still needs. Love motivates us, love strengthens us, and love empowers us. And the third and final verse of Rossetti’s poem / carol tells us what to do with this gift of love, with this sign of God’s favour:
Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
Amen.
[1] https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/presiding-bishop-michael-currys-christmas-message-2023-a-sign-for-you/
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