Sermon Tone Analysis

In 1899 a Scottish Presbyterian pastor named Alexander B. Grosart published a poem entitled “The Divine Child”:

O Prodigious Wonder!

To be sounded by the thunder –

To be sounded by the thunder –

Our God on Earth a Child;

But as the Light, not lightning;

Attracting, not a’frightening

Earth and Heaven reconciled.

O infinitude of grace!

That our dreadest fears chase –

Our God on Earth a Child;

Mystery of mystery,

Coming not to live but to die –

God’s own pure Undefiled.

Light, not lightning.

What a perfect description of the birth of Jesus Christ.

jn

700 years before the birth of Jesus Yahweh spoke through the prophet Isaiah about Israel’s unfaithfulness,

3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

()

But the story would not end there.

Light, not lightning.

Truth, not shouting.

The freedom of Grace, not the burden of Law.

And the apostle John wrote in his Gospel,

How did God accomplish this?

How did the Light come?

Through incarnation.

Last week we looked at Christmas in Eternity, the fact that Christmas did not begin 2000 years ago in the Near East, but in eternity “past,” with meaning stretching into eternity “future.”

This morning let’s look at the moment itself.

Would you turn to with me?

Preparation & Birth

Preparation

We read this as opens:

God had promised that His Son would be born in Bethlehem, but Joseph and Mary were from Nazareth.

How do they get to Bethlehem?

Through a work of God known as coherence.

A miracle is where God reverses natural laws and processes.

Parting the Red Sea was a miracle; so was raising the dead.

Providence is when God works through natural laws and processes.

The conception of Isaac was an act of providence, where God enabled the normal act of conception to take place.

And coherence is where God works through human beings as they make decisions and carry out actions.

It was God’s intention to work through Daniel in Assyria.

How did Daniel get there?

Nebuchadnezzar made the decision to invade Judah and capture its young people to serve in his kingdom.

In our passage, the Father wants His Son born in Bethlehem.

He could have told Joseph in a dream to go to Bethlehem for the birth, but instead decreed that Caesar Augustus would call for a census of the Roman empire, and furthermore that Quirinius would require Judeans, at least, to travel to their ancestral homes.

I’m fascinated by the way that Luke constructs his narrative.

He writes with his typical care and precision, and at the same builds a compelling story.

Good old doctor Luke writes with his typical care and precision, and at the same builds a compelling story.

He moves from the most powerful man in the western world – Augustus Caesar – to the governor of the Imperial province of Syria, Quirinius, to Joseph and Mary, and finally to the most seemingly insignificant person in the world, a nameless newborn baby boy (He was named Jesus at His circumcision, ).

powerful man in the region, the Roman governor, Quirinius, to a man with no significance at all, Joseph, and eventually to the child Himself, who remains unnamed in this passage.

Luke also moves from the heart of the empire, the city of Rome, to the Imperial province, Syria, to the insignificant province of Judea.

Judea was probably the smallest imperial province in the Roman empire; in fact, at the time it was overseen by Quirinius in Syria.

No governor was appointed directly over Judea until Coponius in 6 A.D. And then the focus is turned to the little village of Bethlehem, which had a population of about 300, and ultimately to one manger in that village.

God had promised that His Son would be born in Bethlehem, but Joseph and Mary were from Nazareth.

How do they get to Bethlehem?

and then down to the little village of Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, which had a population of about 300.

perhaps the most insignificant – Joseph, and his wife, Mary.

He moves from the heart of the empire – Roman

The story zeroes in like a laser on a trivial village where a nameless newborn lies, almost hidden, in a manger.

The most important statement in this entire passage is one of the briefest: And she gave birth to her firstborn Son.

What happened then?

Angels singing?

Flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, a heavenly fireworks show to herald the birth of Jesus Christ?

No.

She wrapped Him in clothes and laid Him in a manger.

I think we can presume that she wiped Him off and nursed Him first, but the information is very basic.

We don’t know whether Jesus was born during the daytime or at night – the angels visited the shepherds at night, but Jesus had already been born.

But either way, after the baby was born, everything settled down.

As Alexander Grosart wrote in his poem, “Our God on Earth a Child,” but you would never know to look at the scene.

Joseph is there, trying to take it all in.

Mary is there, exhausted and sore.

And the baby is there, bundled up, sleeping.

But not too far away, there was a remarkable, Old Testament-style angelic visitation taking place …

Announcement & Praise

The scene shifts from stable to pasture.

The shepherds have settled in for the night.

The flock is quiet now.

The shepherds are resting, watching against predators and thieves.

And then an angel is standing there before them, right in front of them, and the glory of God is shining with brilliant, pure, intense Light.

They were terribly frightened, frightened with great fear, as the Greek text says.

Their fear was absolutely rational.

First of all, they’re minding their own business, and suddenly they are surrounded by a light brighter than the sun.

Beyond this, it isn’t just light, but the glory of God, and that means that they are also suddenly aware of their own sinfulness.

But that just reinforces the angel’s words: Do not be afraid, because I bring you GOOD news of GREAT joy which will be for ALL the people.

And what is that good news?

A Savior has been born for you.

That Savior is Christ, or Messiah – the Anointed One of God, the One God has been promising all along, ever since Adam sinned and all mankind died in him.

That Savior is also Lord.

Lord, or kurios, is how the Jews translated Yahweh when they translated the Old Testament into Greek.

This Savior, the Anointed One of God, is God in human flesh.

There is no better Savior.

There is no one more Anointed.

There is no one more powerful and able to save.

He is the Savior God has promised, the Savior God gave us, the Savior we need.

for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

This is, indeed, GOOD news of GREAT joy because it is for ALL the people.

Not the special ones.

Not the holy ones.

Not the powerful ones.