Well it’s getting close isn’t it? Only fifteen more days and Christmas will be here. And you know if you were to poll the western world you’d probably find that Christmas is the most popular time of the year, for Christians and non-Christians alike. Much of what makes this time of the year special is the music. The sacred, “O Come all Ye Faithful”, “Angels From the Realms of Glory”, “Silent Night” to the secular “Frosty the Snowman” “Jingle Bells” “White Christmas” and my personal favorite, “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”
Much of how we feel about the Yuletide season is wrapped in songs. That is part of the reason some stores start playing Christmas music in late August. But have you ever looked at the songs of Christmas in the Bible? That first Christmas was full of singing and songs. Songs and music were a vital part of the Jewish culture into which Jesus was born. From the very announcement of the conception of the Christ child until his circumcision and blessing the songs of praise were lifted into the heavens. So what songs are you singing this Christmas?
Luke 1:46-55 records Mary’s Song. You remember the story. It’s in the same chapter that Bruce started reading this morning. Perhaps you’ll recall how the Angel Gabriel visited this young virgin from Nazareth. We don’t stop to think about this but Mary wasn’t a young virgin of 23 or 24 instead she was a young teenager. You see historically in that particular culture the marrying age for females was like 13 or 14 years old. And this particular teenager was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph.
And into her relatively uncomplicated life comes some dude with wings who says “Hey Mary, guess what? You’re going to have a baby. As a matter of fact you are going to have a son, and you’ll call his name Jesus and he will be great, the son of the highest, the Lord God will give him the throne of David, and His kingdom will know no end.”
Now at this point I’m sure that Mary interrupted Gabriel and said, “Hey Gabe, there’s just one small problem, my biological knowledge may be limited but isn’t it true that this great and wondrous act can’t be accomplished alone. Am I right here?” And Gabriel would have said, “Right” to which Mary’s response would have been “Then it ain’t gonna happen cause I’m still a virgin.” “Oh” says Gabriel “Did I forget to mention, the child’s father will be the Holy Spirit.”
Can’t you just imagine the smile starting to creep over Mary’s face, “Right, get out of here.” But Gabriel’s response is found in Verse 37, which perchance is one of my favourite Bible passages because it says For nothing is impossible with God.”
You like that? Tell you what if that don’t light your fire then your kindling’s wet. But you gotta put yourself in Mary’s shoes just for a minute. You’re a young teen, the child of a religious family, engaged to a respectable member of the community and now some one is telling you that you are going to become pregnant. And the Father is going to be the Holy Spirit.
But who is going to believe her story? Her parents? Joseph? Her friends? “Hey Mom and Dad, guess what? I’m going to have a baby, but it’s cool because the Dad’s God!” Now I’m sure that each of you as parents would believe your teen aged daughter if she told you that. Am I right, should I ask for a show of hands?
2000 years ago it was common knowledge within the Jewish community that the Messiah was going to be born of a virgin. Now teen-age pregnancy is not a new problem, however the story of the Holy Spirit being the Father isn’t used nearly as much now as it was then. Here’s a little aside from a secular report entitled “The Role of Responsibility and Knowledge in Reducing Teenage out of Wedlock Childbearing” “Teenage girls are more likely to experience out of wedlock births if they are going steady and if they and their parents don’t hold to values that stress responsibility. After examining various factors relating to teenage pregnancy, researches found the following connections:
Ÿ Going steady increase the chances of teenagers experiencing childbirth by 121 percent. Of the variables examined on the chances of out of wedlock teenage childbearing.
Ÿ When adolescents and their parents hold to values that stress responsibility, the teenagers chances of experiencing out of wedlock pregnancies fall significantly.
Ÿ Knowledge about birth control and knowledge gained from sex education courses apparently have no effect on the chances of teenage pregnancy.
That was free. Now with all of these things said note the first words of Mary’s song, Luke records in chapter 1:46-47 Mary responded, Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior!
I wonder if that’s the song we would have sung, or would we have said, “Why couldn’t you wait until I was married?” or “Why couldn’t you have told everyone, so I wouldn’t have to bear the shame and humiliation?” Instead of those questions Mary sings, "How I rejoice in God my Savior.” Mary’s entire attitude was one of praise and trust, in effect she was saying, “I may not understand it, I may not particularly enjoy it, and if I was in charge I very well may have done it differently, but I will trust that God knows what He’s doing and I will glorify Him.”
There is a vast difference between resigned acceptance, “well I don’t like it but I’ll do it.” and praiseful acceptance where you are willing to take God at his word and believe in his promises. If God has allowed it to happen than God has a purpose in it, and that purpose is much bigger then we can usually imagine. Mary goes on to sing, Luke 1:49 For he, the Mighty One, is holy, and he has done great things for me.
A lesser soul could not have said that. Despised, ridiculed, gossiped about, even Joseph had doubts about her integrity. And yet Mary was able to see beyond the present circumstances to the future promises. Sometimes we get dragged down by those circumstances.
In 1974 my home Church burnt to the ground, not all of the 100 people that made up that Church could see beyond the fire to the future. And yet today the Saint John Wesleyan Church is averaging Close to 300 in it’s morning worship. You say that’s not an incredible increase, no but it has also seen 10 of it’s young people go into full time ministry, and has mothered two churches one that’s averaging almost 200 and one that’s averaging 700. Had the church stayed in that historic building on a back street in Saint John it would probably still be averaging 100.
Within God there were four qualities that struck Mary and that she sang about. In vs. 49 she sang of His Holiness, in Vs 50 His mercy, in Vs 51-52 his strength and in Vs 53-55 His faithfulness. Are you singing a song of trust this Christmas? What is occupying the prime spot in your mind? Finances? Are you worrying about where the money for gifts will come from, or how you’re going to pay off the plastic in January? Are you worrying about your exams, the travel ahead of you for the holidays, your job? How about singing a song of trust.
The next song is the song of the Angels. Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to all whom God favors.” If you’re familiar with the story, Christ has been born and laid in a manger and in Luke 2:8 That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. To us there is little significance in the shepherds. And yet in the time of Christ they were the despised ones. The religious elite snubbed them and considered them second-class citizens. You see, no matter how much they loved God the demands of the flock were too much for them to obey all the ceremonial aspects of the law, such as hand washing. And so to these who found it so difficult to keep the law came the announcement of the one who would save them by grace.
Perhaps they were special shepherds, we’re told that just outside of Bethlehem there was a very special flock of sheep, a flock of perfect sheep without spot or blemish that were used in the daily sacrifice at the temple. Because these sacrificial lambs were so important to the religious life of the Jews, they were given the very best of everything. And so maybe it was to those who nurtured the sacrificial lambs that the Angels came bringing the good news of the great sacrifice and that was Jesus. But really the sheep don’t matter, it was to the shepherds that the Angels came and in vs. 10-11-12 they were told the story of the baby who was born in a manger.
Luke 2:13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God: In those early days historians tell us that it was customary that when a male child was born that local musicians would gather at the home and greet the new son with simple music. Unless of course you were the son of a poor couple far from home and you were born in a barn. But in it’s place the heavenly Father provided a choir of Angels to serenade his son. And you all know the song they sang that night.
1) Glory to God in the Highest God who had created the earth in six days, who placed the heavens with a wave of his hand, who molded the earth like a great ball, who scooped the oceans with his fingers and blew life into man. God had created man as his companion and then lost him to sin but refused to let him go. And every time man rejected him God sought to restore him. God never quit. Throughout the Old Testament we read of Noah, Abraham, Jonah, Jeremiah, Nathan, Samuel, Elizah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea and Jephaniah and a score of others. All sent to restore man to his proper place and yet man wouldn’t listen.
And now the ultimate sacrifice, God, creator and ruler of the universe is willing to let go of all of that and to place himself into a human body, frail, fragile with all of it’s problems to seek once more after his wayward sheep. Not coming as a king full of power, but coming as a child weak and powerless. Not coming clothed in the riches of the world but instead to be born in a stable with only a manger for his crib. Not the child of an Emperor but to be raised by two common people. And the angels had watched God through all of this, going from being the creator to placing himself lower then they were, to actually become on of the creation.
And we wonder why their opening verse was Glory to God in the highest. They knew more then man would ever know for they had seen God for what he was and could see what he was doing, for us.
2) And Peace on Earth. Peace what an elusive state. Ever since Cain declared war on Abel the world has been torn by strife. And even if the guns were silenced, and even if countries all over Africa and the Middle East saw hostilities stopped. Even if all the terrorists in the world laid down their arms the conflict would continue. Without Jesus Christ in our lives, world peace will never reign.
War could cease and yet strife would continue in our hearts and in our homes. Peace is a state of mind that is entirely dependent on Jesus Christ. Our very nature denies us the very peace we seek. It is only his nature that allows that peace to exist.
3) Goodwill among people, Good will toward men has to be a God given gift. Men will cheat and steal, they will hurt you and make you mad, and as a matter of fact mankind will do everything but instill good will toward them. And the only thing that is will make you love the fella next to you is the New Birth that Jesus offers. If God cared enough to die for mankind, then his presence in your life ought to make you love them. If you can’t get along with your wife, kids, neighbours, boss and in-laws then I would question just how much control Jesus actually has in your life. If Mary sang trusting God, then the Angels sang glorifying God.
If we follow Luke chapter two through to the conclusion then we discover that Mary and Joseph did all that was required by the law concerning their son. At eight days he was circumcised, and at forty days he was taken to the temple for the ritual blessing. The law was laid down in the book of Leviticus chapter 12; the parents were to bring a lamb as an offering to god. If the family was poor and couldn’t afford a lamb then they could bring a pair of doves or two pigeons. Probably Joseph and Mary fit into this category. And it was at the temple that Simeon the Priest picked up the Christ child and sang his song. It was Simeon who looked down the long tunnel of time to see what was in store for this new born Child, and in his song he called Christ a light to reveal God to the nations,
and later he said and he is the glory of your people Israel! Simeon saw Christ not as the stereotyped Jewish Messiah who would come conquering Israel’s enemies and restoring her to her former greatness. Instead Simeon saw Christ ultimately ministering to those who were considered pagans, the heathen, you and me, all of those who weren’t Jewish. It was Simeon who saw Mary’s soul pierced with a sword in reference to the crucifixion. It was Simeon who took God at his word, who said “Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me, I have seen the savior.”
A lot of people wait for God’s promises without really expecting them to happen. It was Simeon who saw what the Angels were proclaiming, that God the creator, master over everything had become man in the form of Jesus the Christ. Simeon’s vision wasn’t limited to this six-week-old child, no he saw him as a boy, a teen, a young man and an Adult. He saw him teaching, touching, feeding and healing. He saw him cursed, reviled and humiliated. He saw him lifted up at the transfiguration and saw him lifted up at the crucifixion. He saw him called God and saw him called the devil. He saw him conquer the storms of temptation, the storms or illness and the storms of Galilee. He saw him feed the 5000, the 4000 and the 12. He saw him walk through the wilderness of the desert and over the water of the Sea of Galilee. He saw him live, die and live again.
In this six-week-old child Simeon saw all the love of God and all the future of mankind wrapped in swaddling clothes. It was here in this child that Simeon saw all of the promises of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, wrapped in the fulfilment of the twenty seven books of the New Testament.
Mary sang a song of trust. The Angels sang a song of Glory, Simeon sang a song of promises, what song will you sing this Christmas?
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