Advent Joy
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Luke 2:8-14
In continuing to ponder the significance of the Advent Candle Themes, today we focus on joy. What do we know about joy? It’s a positive emotion that we experience when something good happens. We like joy don’t we?
But what would joy have to do with Advent? It was dark times when Jesus was born. God’s 400 year silence was long and the people were restless under Roman rule. But, how true is the statement, absence makes the heart grow fonder? What would a 400 year absence from God’s prophetic work do for when God began to work and move again? I think joy is a fitting thought for the season.
Today, we are going to focus in on the shepherds. Other than the Joy Candle, the pink candle that is lit today is known as the shepherds candle. Other than the parents, and perhaps anyone within earshot of the newborn baby boy, the shepherds were the first to hear the news about the birth of the Savior!
Our thought this morning will be to ponder those shepherds. Why them? What significance do they hold for the Messiah that they would be remembered and recorded in this accounting of Jesus’ birth.
Secondly, we need to ponder the message of the Angel, and the song of the heavenly chorus, for in those words are great joy for all people!
And thirdly, we must ponder the response of the shepherds who went and saw that which they were told about and then shared what they had seen!
Embedded within this small passage are foreshadowing of the whole gospel story. And that gospel story ought to be our story. Praise Jesus that He came, born so that He could die on our behalf!
Why Shepherds?
Why Shepherds?
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
Have you ever wondered why the angel went to shepherds? They sure look cute as little children in our nativity plays, but what do we really know about them at the time in which this story would have taken place?
It is clear from the text that the shepherds were spending the night with their sheep. One commentary states: “Shepherds were out in the fields with their flocks usually during the months of March to November.”
Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 108.
There is nothing in scripture to indicate the exact day of Jesus’ birth, and so choosing December 25 was done for other reasons that we won’t get into this morning. But this does indicate that the Shepherds didn’t exactly live in highly populated and/or public areas. They stayed with their sheep at night to protect them from predators.
Unfortunately, this distance from “mainstream” society can lead to speculation and rumor, and it would seem that shepherds generally lived up to the reputation and stereotypes of the day. Shepherds were unclean according to the standards of the Law and lived as outcasts of society. They were seen as dishonest and as sinners.
I want that to sink in for a moment. On the night in which Jesus was born seemingly immediately after His birth, the angels went to the sinner and the outcast of society to let them know of the birth of the Messiah!
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
It seems like every person to encounter an angel has the same response… fear. And yet the message fo the messenger is consistent: “Do not be afraid.” We’ll get into the message itself next, but for now, this kind of reinforces the “unrighteous” stereotype of the Shepherds. They were afraid in the presence of a holy angel. Think about what it would have been like for them that night. Minding their own business (as in literally at work, putting in the night shift), and suddenly glory shines around a mysterious angelic figure. It makes perfect sense that they would have been frightened. The dark dispelled, the mysterious revealed and all of a sudden.
But this is not an instance of fear and terror, this would be an instance of great joy!
Angel’s Message
Angel’s Message
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
The angelic message is the first telling of the gospel and indeed it is a message of joy! It’s a super simple message that affects all people everywhere! This is the long awaited moment! This is what the people had been praying for! Their deliverance had come in human form and is now born over in the nearby village of Bethlehem. The angel declares that a Savior has been form, Christ the Lord.
A quick note here, as much as we may think of and treat “Christ” as Jesus’ last name, it is in fact a title meaning “Messiah.” This Savior… this Messiah is born just a short walk away! And if you go now, you will find the child wrapped in cloths and placed in a manger.
We talked about this the other week when we looked at Zechariah being struck mute as though it were a prophetic sign that the things said to him would come to pass. Here the angel gives the shepherds a sign of what to watch out for. And despite how comfortable we have grown with portraying Jesus laying in a manger, perhaps we have lost sign of the absurdity of it. No one in their right mind would have a baby in the barn, and no one would ever put their child in the feeding trough. It’s messy, unsanitary and completely out of the ordinary! Therefore, when the shepherds later go, what they find is not something you would see on a regular basis. Rather, it’s the confirmation of the angelic message… this child is the Messiah, the Lord, the Savior of the world!
Still on the fields, the angel is joined by a chorus of the heavenly host and a song of praise is sung!
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
I wonder what it would have been like to hear the angelic choir. Clearly the memory etched itself in the minds of the shepherds, and in Mary’s mind (see verse 19) so that when Luke was interviewing to write his account, he is able to give this detailed description of what was said and to give us at least some idea of what it would have been like that night.
Responding
Responding
When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
Can we assume that the angels witnessed Jesus being born? Did they see Mary wrap Jesus in swaddling cloths and place Him in a manger? Whether they saw for themselves or were simply delivering a divine message to the shepherds that night, their witness caused the shepherds to respond. Of all the people the angels could have visited that night, we only knoow about the shepherds. And we only know about the shepherds because they went and saw for themselves the things they were told by the angels. And by seeing the baby for themselves and sharing with Mary all that had been told them about the child, they bore witness to the birth of the Messiah. They shared the good news that would be for great joy to all people. And they didn’t stop at Mary. They told anyone and everyone who would listen to them as they worked their way back to their sheep. And the people were simply in awe and wonder.
400 years of silence and now something was happening. What was it that kept enough people up at night that the shepherds could tell them all about what they saw? Was it the Spirit of God placing in those people the idea that if they stayed up just one more hour, they would hear something incredible? It could be. Or there could be any number of other ways that the Lord spoke to the people that night. Clearly, according to Matthew’s gospel, a star appeared in the sky which drew the attention of another group of men a long ways off. But that will be a story for another day.
The Prince of Peace, the King of kings and Lord of lords, deserving of all honor and glory, is born as a baby to a humble couple who are visiting their hometown because of governmental mandates and paperwork. The small town was so crowded that the child was born in a stable and placed in the feeding trough. The most deserving of all paise born in the most humble of circumstances. This is just one more confirmation of how Jesus came to save the sinner, not the righteous… the poor find Him, while the rich miss Him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In bringing things to a close this morning, I find the shepherds to be extraordinary characters in the Christmas narrative. While we may have romanticized their involvement, and we have pictures of cute little lambs accompanying them, the truth is that they represent exactly who Jesus came to save. It was no accident that the angel told them all about the birth of Jesus Christ in the nearby town of Bethlehem. Their reputations were poor. Their hygiene was not great. And yet, they were there and they were willing to listen. I have to ask myself whether the angels told anyone else that night and the only conclusion that I can definitively come up with is that if the Angels told anyone else, they didn’t come. Mary didn’t remember any other involvement to share with Luke so that he could write this gospel any other way. The shepherds came to see the face of salvation. And they brought with them the message the angel delivered to them.
The angels also prove to be interesting characters. While the angel who visits Zechariah and Mary is identified as Gabriel, we are given no such information for the one that visits the Shepherds. Whether this is Gabriel or another angel doesn’t really matter to the grand picture of the gospel. The fact is that this terrifying encounter with a divine being left the shepherds in utter awe. Unlike Zechariah who questioned the angel and was made mute until his son John was born and named, and unlike Mary whose response is beautiful and displays faith and truth in God’s plans, despite not fully understanding them, this time around, the shepherds are left speechless in the presence of the angel. It isn’t until after the angel is joined by a heavenly choir and after their departure that they discuss among themselves what they should do now. It is here that I would remind each of us that the word “angel” in scripture is synonymous with “messenger.” You don’t have to have a divine glow with wings and a halo to bring the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. You can be someone else’s angel this Christmas just by sharing about Jesus, born in that stable and placed in a manger so long ago!
Back to the shepherds, after seeing what they had been told, they felt compelled to go back. And when they left, they shared the message of the gospel… the arrival of the Savior of the World with everyone they came across! God was at work again and He came to seek and save the lost… to seek and save the dregs of society such as lowly shepherds. And He came to redeem those shepherds so that they too became messengers (dare I say Angels) to others who needed to hear about God’s salvation!
