We love the quietness and intimacy of many parts of the Christmas story. The arrangements are made by angel messengers, who appear very privately, to Mary, face to face, and to Joseph in a dream. Mary ponders the wonder of it all, deep in her heart. A peasant couple quietly slips into Bethlehem, unnoticed by anybody. They give birth to their first child in a place for animals.
But then something happens that blows the quietness. Those poor shepherds are just minding their own business in the middle of the night. Some are sleeping. Probably one is struggling to stay awake and bored to tears. And suddenly angels appear and there is this magnificent sound and light show in the sky, and the mood is totally different. Whenever an angel appears, things are totally different.
Our text for this morning is Luke 2:8-15. You can find it on page 58 of the New Testament section of your pew Bible. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.
8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."
Angels have been very popular in recent years, with all sorts of the cutesy little angels drawn in cards and molded into figurines. But the cute little angels have nothing to do with the Bible. What happens most of the time when someone sees an angel in the Bible? Do they bend down to pet it on the head, “Oh, aren’t you the cutest little thing?”
How did the shepherds feel about seeing just one angel? Look in verse 9 of our text. “They were terrified.” Over and over people are terrified when they see angels. They are very different from what we are used to seeing. Something of the glory of God himself shines around them. And I can’t explain how that works. But we know it can be scary. And when angels are sent to deliver a message from God, usually they have to start out by telling people not to be afraid, before they can have any hope that people will be in any shape to hear the message.
I’ve had a little scenario rattling around in my mind this week. I can’t imagine that it is true, but maybe it helps to understand angels. My imaginary scenario runs like this:
As the day of Jesus’ birth approached, I can imagine the angels in heaven being very excited. This project had been in the works for centuries as God prepared the world for the birth of his Son. It was just an incredibly gracious and loving thing for God to do, to stoop down and become one of us. The angels were dying to see what humans would think about this.
And as they went over the details of the birth, I can imagine they were quite touched by the details of God’s humility in the birth of Jesus. But I picture one of the angels reading the plan, and then saying, “Is that all? There should be a big splash for an event like this! A worldwide celebration! This is time to party! It just isn’t right that such a great event should happen with so little notice. We angels have been waiting for so long to make this announcement. This is our day, too. There’s enough of us to hit every large city and every medium sized town and a whole lot of villages, too. That’s what angels do.”
So, they went to God’s throne room, to point out to God that he had overlooked an important part of the plan. And God says, “Come on, how many times have I had to remind you angels? Humans are frail and they get upset easily. You’ll scare them all! And I want people to think deeply about what I’ve done. The spectacle you are talking about might get a lot of them on the bandwagon, but they wouldn’t really think about what I’m doing. No angels for this one.”
And the angels beg, “Come on, we just have to tell someone! This is too wonderful. We’ll go crazy!”
And finally, God says, “All right. But only in one place, not all over the earth. In the middle of the night when most of them will be sleeping. And you only get to tell shepherds. Most people won’t listen to shepherds, anyway.”
Do you think that’s the way it happened? I don’t think so. I think God was really excited about this, too, and he obviously wants us to know. And I don’t think God ever misses any important details. But the Bible mentions the angels rejoicing several times and I think my scenario catches something important about them.
But, however it happened, the angels remind us that the birth of Jesus just has to be celebrated. It’s not right to keep it inside. It’s not right to keep it quiet.
And the world is telling us more forcefully year by year, keep it quiet! Keep the celebrations to yourself.
There’s been a lot of discussion on whether Mike Huckabee was out of line to actually mention the name of Jesus Christ in public this past week.
I appreciated the comments of my favorite news analyst, David Brooks on the Jim Lehrer News Hour. He said he isn’t a Christian himself, (I assume he’s Jewish) but most people have figured it out by now that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and he had no problem with Christians speaking their principles in public. Why not??
And some of us have bigger obstacles inside ourselves. I’m the son of an engineer. Arams work to use words very carefully, so they often come out slowly and cautiously. And don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment.
Arams have strong control over the emotions. I remember when I was a boy that we had a lawn mower that was running crazy, fast, slow, fast, slow, up and down. And my father said that the governor needed adjustment. And once he had it right, the engine ran perfectly steady. That’s an Aram, almost perfectly steady. In a crisis, when people can panic and make things worse, you want an Aram to be there. A couple of Christmases ago our son, Justin, was driving home from visiting in-laws in Minnesota. The interstate was crowded and the pavement was slick. There was one fender bender and people started slamming on their brakes and jerking their steering wheels and spinning out of control. Justin kept his head, and used his steering wheel sparingly, and went through it safe and sound. You want an Aram with you when people need to keep calm.
But when something is exciting and needs celebrating, we Arams need to be stretched. If you need a cheerleader, try Marty Linderborg. She’s good at that.
Well, this is a day to override our hesitations, to let go of our emotions, get off the fence, and throw our hearts into the celebration. This is a day to celebrate! God did a miracle of grace for us! We have good news. Jesus, our savior is born.
So I invite you to join me in joyful celebration. Join the angels as they cheer what God has done.
Glory to God in the highest!
He has done great things!
His love is astounding
He has done a wonderful thing!
We have good news for the whole earth!
There’s hope!
God has come near!
Glory to God in the highest!
AMEN
