Luke 2:8-21
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.”
We’re going to be in Luke chapter two, Luke two, as we continue this series looking at Christmas, Luke, true eight through 21, some of the most famous Bible verses when it comes to the Christmas season, we’ll read them together. And then we will pray Luke chapter two, reading verses eight through 21.
And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory important word here of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear, not for behold. I bring you good news of great joy.
That will be for all the people. For onto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. This will be assigned for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory that word again to God in the highest and on earth.
Peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angel went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child, all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them, Lord, we come this morning in the midst of quite a season, we ask you for clarity and the different characters that we see in this story.
We ask you for renewed eyes. There is probably no one in this room whom this story is a brand new story for them. So we ask you for brand new truth in this old, beautiful story that has changed so many of our lives. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for a chance to spend time listening and hearing about you in Jesus name.
Amen. My, my son’s, I’ve got 11 year old son, Atticus, eight year old son, Solomon. And they recently came up with different titles and I don’t know where they did it. Some they’re doing school something, and they, they came up with titles and I heard them talking and they said, ma Solomon was talking about how his name is the keeper of the dog, Solomon, the keeper of the dog.
And he does a great job taking care of the dog and the 11 year old self-titled himself, the ball of energy, also very appropriate name. And so being narcissistic myself, of course, I wondered. Did I get a name to which they responded? Oh yeah, you are dad. The teller of corny jokes.
There are four characters in this story, and we’re going to give them each a title, each person, each character in the story. We’ll give an extra title. As we see the glory of Jesus Christ coming to earth intersecting with humanity. The first we’re going to start with the shepherds and we’re going to get a call then the anonymous, the shepherds, the anonymous few things about the shepherds and that they are nameless in the story.
We know none of their names right in the Christmas story were given Mary and Joseph Elizabeth Simeon, Hannah Rudolph frosty, Elsa dad, the teller of corny jokes. No, we were given many stories or many names in this story, but when it comes to the shepherds, we have no. There’s genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, but there’s no genealogy of the shepherds.
They are nameless without character quality or back story. Secondly, they’re of unknown origin, right? Where the Shepherd’s rich, where the Shepherd’s poor, where they, what was their status? Where did they come from? Were they from Bethlehem or were they from Jerusalem coming to the fields? Kind of define pasture.
We don’t know. They don’t have known origin. We’re not sure where that they come from or what status that they are. Third thing there without prophecy, there’s over 300 old Testament prophecy that that is being told of the coming of this Christ. And part of the miracle of the scripture is to understand all the things for told in all the things fulfilled, but there’s not anything said about the shepherd.
They are not foretold in the prophecies at all. A while in this text, the angel and what the angel is saying is speaking fulfillment of prophecies, but not to whom he is saying they shepherds did not have a place in this story before this moment. And lastly, there without influence beyond this point, it’s not that we see what happened to the shepherds or that they went to their various communities and, and started an uprising of people who were interested in Christ.
All we know, all we know about these people is directly in the text we read without prophecy before without known influence. After in 1966, Paul McCartney wrote a song along with the Beatles called Eleanor Rigby. My favorite. Uh, beetle song reads more like a poem than even a song in this song. He wrote these words.
Speaking of Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? All the lonely people. Where do they all belong? In October McCartney wrote an article for the new Yorker about this song and gave some backstory.
He said, growing up, I knew a lot of old lady. Partly through what was called Bob a job week when Scouts did chores for a shilling, you get a shilling for cleaning out a shed or mowing along. I wanted to write a song that would sung, sum them up. Eleanor Rigby is based on an old lady. I got to know very well.
I don’t even know how I first met her, but I would go around to her house. Not just once or twice. I found out that she lived on her own. So I would go around there and just chat, which is sort of crazy. If you think about me being some young Liverpool guy, I don’t know what that means later. I would offer to go and get her shopping.
She gave me a list and I bring this stuff back and we’d sit in her kitchen. I would visit and just hearing her stories, enriched my soul and influenced the songs I would later. What’s McCartney saying McCartney is in the lyrics of his own song, recognizing Eleanor Rigby, a person that was mostly anonymous.
He sang all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? And in this story, he sang Eleanor Rigby belongs to me. Her story belongs to me. She has a place of belonging in my heart, the anonymous, the nameless shepherds, the influence lists shepherds those without backstory those without great story.
After this, Jesus is intentional to say even those that might just seem like a blip on the screen. The nameless, the anonymous they belong in the Christmas story. First character is the shepherd. Second character is, is the one they hear about this is the Christ and we’re going to give Christ a title here.
We’re going to call the Christ the revolution. What do we learn about this Christ in this story? Will the angels come and speak from verse 10 to 14? And they’re speaking about this Christ the revolution, first thing they say, first thing the angel said is Jesus is good news. That will cause great joy.
This great warrior of light shows up on the mountain side, in the midst of a dark night, right? This is a dark night where you can barely see the sheep. And all of a sudden the high beams of this warrior of light appear before them. And they are terrified. Why are they’re terrified? Because they are saying human beings.
Every single one, none of us would be like, oh, the Lord is here. Right? We would all be terrified at this moment. And so the angel finally speaks this moment. The first proclamation of God coming to earth has now been born and says, do not be afraid. Why for I bring you good news. This good news is actually the one, the Greek word for gospel you and get let, so it’s basic.
The word is actually translating gospel Lising what’s happening is there’s gospel. Lising happening. This good news is the gospel Lising story. It is the that God has come here, but it is not just good news. It is not just some good news that came from there to here. It’s not just a beautiful painting that you can see in objectively say it is good news.
It is what it is. Good news that causes a response to those who hear it. I bring you good news of great joy. It is the good news that reaches right into the human soul. To produce, not just joy, but great joy where Jesus is. There is joy, even in mangers, even in lonely fields, even in seasons of obscurity, poverty or pain where Jesus resides so often in those lonely places of human suffering, even there there’s good news of great joy.
Why? Because he is for all the people. Second thing, Jesus verse 10. Good news of great joy. That will be for all the people, not just for the elite, not just for the Jewish nation, not just for the Roman citizens who would have more rights than others did. Jesus came for the young, old, rich, poor religious unreligious politician in con.
Jew Gentile slave free. Jesus was the message of hope for the faithful Simeon and for the thief on the cross. The message was for all the people, and here’s where we get this name, the revolution, it’s a borrowed name. I borrowed from a New York times article New York times article by Peter Weiner wrote an article where he wrote simply Christ.
I could find my notes. That Christ is the Christmas revolution is the article that he wrote in New York times says this because the Christmas story has been told for so long. It’s easy for Christians to forget how revolutionary Jesus birth was. The idea that God will become human dwell among us in circumstances, both humble and humility.
Shattered previous assumptions. He went on and say, it’s a dramatic overturning of ancient thought. And I wish I could read this whole article for you, but he quotes a secular humanist and French philosopher named Luke ferry who wrote this Christianity was to introduce the notion that humanity was fundamentally identical, that men were created in dignity equally, an unprecedented idea at the time.
And one in which our world owes its entire democratic inheritance Weiner goes on to write. We are part of a great drama that God has chosen to participate in, not the role of a conquering king, but as a suffering servant, not with the tent intention to condemn the world, but to redeem. He saw the inestimable bull worth of human life, regardless of social status, wealth and worldly, achievement intelligence, or national origin Christ coming in the way he came was a revolution that has ripples into our lives and cultures to this day.
He is for all the people. Verse 11, Jesus is the Messiah. Now, now for the people it’s not, it’s not a surprise that the Messiah would come. It’s a surprise on how he came, but the Messiah was longed for, by the nation of Israel. It was in the very bones of the people. Again, the prophecies pointing towards when the Messiah would come, it will be common cultural practice to speak of, think of imagined daydream dream at night about when the Messiah would come, what would it be like?
What would he be like? What would it mean for their people? Wondering why he takes so long as all four gospels begin with this, with this deity of Jesus Christ and Matthew and Luke, they begin with the genealogy, tracing him all the way back. Mark affirm says deity in the first three verses. And John speaks perhaps our greatest discourse on the DD of Christ and the first 10 verses and the opening of his book, all the gospel teachers are saying.
This one who’s coming. He is the Messiah, not just a prophet, like guys, Isaiah, not just a high priest, like milk his a deck, not just a king, like David Christ does come wearing the hats of prophet priest and king. But there had been those before the angel says he is the Messiah. The Lord, this is God himself.
Number four. The text says that Jesus is the glory of the father. Jesus is the glory of the father. And I love the statement of glory that we see a couple of different times in this text. And as he speaks of the glory, he says this in verse 14, glory to God in the highest. Throughout the gospel of John. We see Jesus’s concern of the glory of the father.
Number five, Jesus is peace to all those who trust him. The angels declaration is on earth. Peace on those to whom his favor rests. What does that mean to whom his favor rests? Hebrews 11. We learned that without faith. It’s impossible to please. God, it’s impossible to have his favor. Favor is learning to live a life of faith or perhaps more simply spoken favor is living a life of trust.
Ephesians two 14 simply says this. He himself is our peace. He is the royalty of priests, peace, the prince of peace and the peace who had now come to live with those who trust him, third character. We see, and this has been the most fun for me to spend time with this week are the angels. I’ve got to tell you something.
I don’t think about angels a whole lot. I, I, of course talk about and think about, and read Bible verses to some degree, but the angels in the story were always just kind of like in my mind, that ball of light that’s talking this week, I spent some time thinking, not just what it would be like to be so blown away as a shepherd, what would it be like to be one of the angels?
What would it be like to be the angel that gives that proclamation or one of the hosts of angels? We don’t know how many that filled the sky few things about angels that we learn as scriptures. They’ve got 196 mentions in the. That’s a lot smaller than Peter. Peter comes into like 100, 996 mentions.
These heavenly beings are given in scripture. The majority of the books of the Bible have angels talked about in them old Testament, new Testament, almost about the same amount of mentions in old Testament and new Testament. Literature angels are created by Christ. We learn in John one, one through three, and Colossians one that Christ is actually the agent of creating these heavenly beings.
These angels are not God. They’re not all present. Not all powerful, not all. Knowing in Daniel 10 in Jude one, they have limitations that God does not have. They are eternal beings, but they are not deity. They are volitional beings who make choices, who have desires and emotions. We learn this in June 38 first, Peter.
And they’re also described as wise, intelligent and discerning in second, Samuel 14, these are not religious robots. These are not drones sent to earth with a little mess, R2D2 message. These are intelligent willful connected warriors of God. They are beings that deeply know him. The greatest. Chris, Emily have a favorite Christmas movie.
Anybody? No one has a favorite Christmas movie. Yeah. Okay. What’s a faint. What’s one of your favorites. It’s a wonderful life. That little predictable. Yeah, no, no, you have to say it. Got it. Okay. What else? Any other favorites Al? Thank you. Who said Alf? Can you stand on the pew? Don’t tell Tim, go ahead. Right.
This is the intelligent person right there. Okay. All right. Elvis, the number one, Christmas music movie of all time. And it is because it’s just awesome. I love it. There’s a scene where buddy, the elf buddy, the elf grew up in the north pole and he came all the way down to New York city, which he found to be slightly different than the, than the north pole.
And he came down there and he was like a fish out of water. Cause he thought he was an elf, very confusing, real identity. That’s a deep movie. But anyway, he comes and he finds out that Santa is coming to the place where he works and he goes, crazy. Santa is coming. He’s so excited because Santa is coming.
He misses Santa. He grew up with Santa. He knows Santa. And the next day Santa shows up. It’s not Santa it’s fake. By identity theft, Santa. Right? So Elvis sitting there and he is so bothered. And another thing is all these ignorant children are sitting there saying, it’s Santa it’s Santa, he’s got the beard.
He’s got enough of the description that Santa and Alpha’s sitting there going, this is not Santa. And so there becomes this dialogue back and forth with Santa because, because the Alf knows this is fake. Santa elf knows and says, you sit on a throne of lies. Not only that Santa doesn’t pass the sniff test, what does he say?
You don’t smell like Santa. You smell like what? Beef and cheese, even cheese. So eventually he grabs fake SANAS fake beard, holds it up. Like I like a great trophy to see, see I’ve exposed. I know who Stan is, and this is not him. And it’s the greatest fight scene you’ve ever seen. Lego’s and think it’s just the best movie.
It’s a wonderful life. Come on, elf.
I sort of think when it comes to these angels, they had a moment like that. Elf says, I know him, the angels who came to proclaim Jesus on that field. Weren’t surprised they weren’t surprised he came this way. Why. Cause they know him. Mary is shocked when she heard the news. Joseph can’t believe it.
Shepherds are terrified. The nation of Israel will grapple the rest of the gospels with, is this the Messiah? Is it not the Messiah, but not the angels? I don’t think they’re surprised Jesus came like this at all. They’re not surprised because this is exactly the character and compassion of the one that they know the incarnation of Jesus becoming flesh.
Of course it would happen like this. Of course, not two miles away in Jerusalem where it’s expected by. But in this small, mostly forgotten town called the town of thieves. Of course now with friends and family on baby showers in hometown. But, but while on a journey that they had to make to fulfill a decree by a godless Caesar, of course not in a hospital or medical facility, of course not in somebody’s home or not even in a rented room, a stable is just the kind of place the angels thought he would come.
A feeding trough that has saliva and half chewed, food of livestock. That’s the king. They know a lyric from a song we sang earlier from throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt. Of course the angels were not surprised. They were not surprised it was not with Kings and Queens priests and religious rulers.
Of course not with people showered, dressed up and a giant feast to follow. Of course, in the night, of course, to some unsuspecting anonymous people, the Christmas story seems extraordinary because of the events and the details and it is, but you see the Christmas story is so extraordinary because of him and that him is the one they have always known.
It is he who always has been the. Always is the same. Always will be the same as the writer of Hebrew says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And while the angels were high fiving and so excited to do this, I think part of the joy was like, they don’t know him like we do. This is going to blow their minds, but not the angels.
This is exactly the Christ whom they know the final character. And the one we’re going to get our application from this morning is Mary Mary in verse 19 says simply all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to him, them, but Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her. This word treasured up as from two words, sin and thereto, sin, meaning close thereto, meaning guard.
She’s preserving the words translated as keep safe, ponder, keep our treasurer, keep in mind, keep close. It is a valuing word to keep and guard close. These trues and realities that she is seeing very simply. We learned from Mary to treasure the truth of Luke two to treasure and guard the importance of every human life and how we talk about the unborn and how we speak to our family members and how we, how we talk about the people we disagree with and how you think about the immigrant, the dome, different socioeconomic, the different belief structure or tradition.
And how we deal with our enemy. This is exactly the truth. Jesus came to proclaim and now embodies that every human life matters. Secondly, through Mary, we learn to treasure and guard this gospel, right, as, as, as the shepherds come and they tell him this Yueng Goulet, so that they’ve heard from the angel, Mary treasures, this and ponders this, she enjoys this.
She values this, the gospel, the good news. The gospel is fully good news of great joy that Jesus concerns himself and loves and cares and involves and self sacrifices to love and lead his people that gospel that needs to be said to ourselves, every. To one another to those in need third, the word treasure.
I’m sorry. The word ponder here is from the two words, sun and BOLO sun means together and Balo means to throw. And as Mary treasured up these things and pondered them, it sang to throw them together to throw these thoughts together. She sitting there seeing hearing of angels, seeing shepherds, feeding trough.
Joseph, who’s all kinds of confused at this moment, but this Jesus who she is is, is the one who she gave birth to. And the one who will save her soul, she’s throwing these thoughts together. I think that’s a great place for us to be at Christmas. A lot of these Christmas thoughts are everywhere right now.
And I think that’s awesome. You can hear nativity scripts in your head, right? You can go through secular stores and hear the good news of Jesus in song at Christmas. There’s a lot of Christmas truth. And what I would say is, is let’s not just acknowledge it, not just put some bumper stickers about reason for season.
That’s great, but whatever, but like that we would actually mull it over. We toss it around. We think about it. We’d ponder these things, throw these thoughts together. What would have been like to be there? What does Christmas mean? Not just for me last year. What does it mean for me this year? What’s my calling.
What’s the sense of mission I received. How is Christ on mission for my heart, through these trues at Christmas, at this time to enjoy him be with him, toss around thoughts of him, think about his wonder. And lastly, we’re going to just conclude where I’m going to let you apply that thought. It’s my favorite Christmas song.
I’m going to have played over us. Very simply. It’s the very theme of this glory that glories in the highest glorious and the lowest that the reality of Christmas that we get to toss around our minds is that he is glory everywhere. And so just as we conclude this, be at the end, we’re dismissed very simply enjoy and spend a few minutes pondering, tossing around.
Christmas this year, the same old truths tossed around to understand in a fresh new way, we can go ahead and play that song. Thank you.