Luke 2
Christ Born of Mary
The Birth and Childhood of Jesus
(1) 1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Glory in the Highest
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And behold,an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."
13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"[3]
15So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." 16And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17Now when they had seen Him, they made widely[4] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. --NKJV
Prince William made People Magazine’s list of the most beautiful people alive in 2001. When he was born at 9.03pm on June 21, 1982, at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, in London, a press release announced to the world that that the new prince weighed 7lb 1 1/2oz.
He was introduced to the world with a herald shouting: "Hear ye, hear ye...the Princess of Wales has given birth to a son". As Charles and Diana were leaving the hospital, cameramen shouted: "Diana, let us see your baby!”
In June 2000, Prince William made world news when he celebrated his 18th birthday, and in June 2003 he made world news again when he celebrated His 21st birthday. The British Royal Mail in anticipation of the excitement over the Prince’s 21st birthday printed 20 million stamps with his likeness.
Of course, there are many differences we see between the arrival of Prince William and Jesus Christ into the world. The one thing they do share in common is that they were both born royalty. Certainly Jesus came into this world as God Incarnate, but through his line of Mary he was a descendent of King David. Here the similarities between the two end.
While the world knows the birthday of Prince William, we don’t actually know the birthday of Jesus. Prior to the celebration of Christmas, December 25th in the Roman world was a pagan holiday known as the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun.
This feast, occurring after winter solstice, honored the Persian sun god, Mithras, who was widely worshipped throughout the empire. Another pagan celebration coincided with the Mithraic holiday, a feast honoring Saturnalia, the god of sowing and husbandry.
Since this feast was so popular in the empire, Constantine chose to reupholster it in Christian trappings to make Christianity more palatable to his subjects. Even when Christmas was first introduced as a holiday it seems that most celebrants observed it for cultural reasons.
Most commentators agree that it is unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25th because the shepherds would not be out watching their flocks in the dead of winter. It can quite cold in Israel during winter. This past February Israel was hit with a heavy snowfall.
It was reported that more than 25 centimeters fell, isolating Jerusalem from the rest of the country and shutting down road traffic. I am not saying that it snowed on December 25th the year Christ was born, but it certainly could have.
Shepherds released their sheep in the fields from April to October, but during the cold and rainy winter months they led their flocks back home and stabled them. It is thus likely Christ was born sometime between April and October.
Another difference I see in the birth of Christ and that of Prince William is that great attention was given to the birth of Prince William, but little was given to Christ. I imagine that when the pregnant Princess Diana arrived at St. Mary’s hospital, I am sure there was a great media buzz.
Members of the international press corps must have hung around on or near the hospital premises waiting with baited breath for the arrival of the new prince. Since William was to be the first member of the royal family born outside Buckingham Palace, I imagine hospital administrators there took great care to ensure the princess would have the best comfort and care.
When a pregnant teenage girl named Mary, however, arrived into Bethlehem, she was greeted with indifference. We read that there was no room at the inn. She did not even have a bed to give birth on. Mary had to lie on the ground and deliver the King of Kings in a stable. After Princess Diana gave birth she was probably greeted with the smell of flowers. Mary and the newborn Jesus, however, took in the smell of hay and animal dung.
Another difference between the birth of Prince William and Jesus Christ is the reception they had at their births. Earlier I mentioned the response, Prince Charles and the Princess Diana had when they left St. Mary’s Hospital. The international press corps, with their cameras fixed on the family, shouted: "Diana, let us see your baby!”
When Prince William was born, the royal family got congratulatory messages from leaders and dignitaries around the world. But who was it on earth who first greeted the arrival of Christ? This is what we are going to look at this morning.
We see in this passage that it was to shepherds that the arrival of Christ was first announced. This is particularly interesting when you consider how shepherds were viewed in that day. Shepherds, you see, where considered the bottom rungs of Jewish society.
One of the reasons for this was due to the fact that their profession kept them from participating in Jewish religious life. Because they continually had to watch the sheep they were unable to go to the temple to make sacrifices, perform rituals of spiritual cleansing, or participate in the feasts. By not being able to participate in the religious life of their culture, they were seen as heathens.
Another thing that made them suspicious to the society of their time was the fact that they were constantly on the move. They were viewed with the same suspicion that many would have with drifters. Jewish writings concerning shepherds stated: Traveling shepherds who live in temporary settlements with their families "do not have lives," and are thus considered like grave dwellers in their exposure to the elements. (Eruvin 55b)
Concerning their families, the Talmud claimed that shepherds were prone to adultery because of their nomadic lifestyle. Because they were assumed to be unfaithful, they were assumed to have neither wives nor children of their own. (Eruvin 55b of Talmud)
If a crime occurred, shepherds were often the first to be accused. In addition, according to the Talmud treatise, they were not allowed to testify in court.
And to cap it off, the Avodah-Zarah of the Talmud stipulated that no help could ever be given to shepherds or heathens. Shepherds was thus rejected and isolated in the society of their day. Nevertheless, their profession was essential to their society.
When Prince William was christened at Buckingham palace, royalty and those prominent in society were invited to attend; however, when Christ was born we see that those who were considered at the bottom rung of society were invited to visit Him.
Why were the shepherds told first? There were possibly several reasons for this. One reason I believe they were told first is because they were spiritually destitute and rejected by society. They represented the very people that Jesus would come to minister to.
Christ spent much time ministering to those considered outcasts by the religious leaders—Samaritans, lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors.
Another reason why the shepherds were chosen was because Christ identified Himself with shepherds.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”(John 10:11) It is interesting that Christ calls Himself the good shepherd when you consider what people of that day thought of shepherds. People looked down upon shepherds, but they also would look down upon Christ. As it is written in Isaiah:
3He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.—Isaiah 53:3
One good quality that Christ recognized in shepherds was their willingness to defend their flocks against predators. A shepherd would even risk his life for the sake of his sheep. It was this quality that Christ would identify with in shepherds.
We see three things happening in this story concerning the shepherds.
I. They were given the message of Christ!
They were out tending their flocks one night under the starry host when suddenly an angel appeared to them! How did they respond? Initially, they were afraid. It wasn’t just an angel of the Lord that appeared to them, but also the presence of God!
In the Old Testament we read of Isaiah and the fear he felt when God appeared to him. The presence of God has that effect on people. It is in the presence of God that we begin to realize all of our imperfections. The shepherds suddenly saw their depravity in light of a holy God and they were terrified!
God, however, honored their humility and honesty. This is why the angel did not appear to Pharisees.
After the angel calmed them down, the shepherds were then presented with a sound and light show out of this world. Suddenly the sky was filled with a multitude of the heavenly host. It must have been an amazing sight.
I don’t think even George Lucas or Steven Spielberg could create special effects as incredible as the shepherds saw that evening of Christ’s birth.
The shepherds then hear the promise of peace in the song of the angels.
The way the text is presented in the New King James Version and other translations is not quite how it should be translated. In the New King James it is presented as:
14"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!
The implication of how this verse is translated is that peace and goodwill would be given to all on earth.
The New American Standard Bible, however, presents a translation more accurate:
Luke 2
14 "Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (NASB)
God’s peace and goodwill is therefore reserved for those who please Him. We cannot, however, please God because we are sinful. The good news, however, is that we can come to God through Jesus Christ.
Romans 5
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Once we have accepted Christ, we must live a life of obedience.
Romans 8
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
It is only in a life fully surrendered to Christ that we can experience the peace that He has for us.
II. They sought the Truth for themselves!
After hearing of the birth of Christ and the testimony of the angels, they decided to act. They didn’t just campout at their experience.
They didn’t stand around and talk about the light and sound show they had just witnessed. They didn’t merely talk about the good news they had just heard. No! They chose to seek out the Truth for themselves and make Christ an experience in their own lives!
As I studied this account of the shepherds, it occurred to me that they must have left their sheep to go see the baby Jesus.
The shepherds would have had to leave their flock because the passage says they “made haste.” It seems that they would have had to leave their flock to make haste.
Shepherds never left their flocks, but this occurrence touched their lives so profoundly that they left their livelihood to see the newborn Messiah. Many people do not want to inconvenience themselves to go to church.
The shepherds, however, left everything they had to see what the angel had told them about for themselves.
They were true seeks. You know, God honors seekers.
Luke 11
9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Illustration: A shining example of a seeker that God blessed was John Wesley. Wesley had grown up in a fine Christian home and answered the call to ministry.
It was 1735 and John Wesley was going to America on a missionary endeavor in Georgia. It was his experience during the voyage to America on board the Simmonds that was to have a profound affect on his life. While crossing the Atlantic there was a ferocious storm, during which Wesley began to fear for his life. He claimed later he was "much ashamed of my unwillingness to die."
During the storm, however, he noticed the behavior of 26 German Moravians who were among his fellow passengers. Even during the worst of the storm, they serenely continued in prayer and praise to God, quite unlike their "crying, trembling neighbors," Wesley later testified. They seemed to have something he didn’t have. They had a deeper assurance and experience with God that he wanted. There was a storm raging around them, but they had peace in the storm. Their bodies may have been in peril, but they knew their souls were in a refuge that no storm could touch.
When Wesley returned to London in 1738, he began to attend Moravian meetings there. It was at a place located on Aldersgate Street in London on Wednesday May 24, 1738 that John Wesley’s heart was "strangely warmed.” This experience with God changed his life. You know the rest of the story.
God used Wesley to send a great revival to England. He went throughout England preaching in open air to the unchurched masses. Wesley rose every morning at five and often rode horseback up to fifteen to twenty miles a day.
Wesley ended up traveling up to 250,000 miles and preached a total of 42,000 sermons. He preached up to the month before he died at the age of 88.
All of this happened because Wesley saw something different about the Moravians in that storm at Sea. Because Wesley decided to become a seeker, countless numbers of people have been blessed by his ministry.
III. They met Jesus and left changed by the experience
As I mentioned before, the shepherds were spiritually destitute because of their inability to participate in the religious life of their people. In addition, they were ostracized by the spiritual leaders and the rest of their countrymen.
Their lives had likely been filled with isolation and hopelessness. Suddenly they had a reason to rejoice. Suddenly they had a reason to hope. The passage says that they were “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen.”
I don’t know what happened to the shepherds after this experience. On that night of Jesus’ birth, Roman nobility and Herod’s court reclined in their opulent palaces; the Pharisees discussed the Talmud, convincing themselves they were the most righteous of their people; and the common people of Bethlehem and Judea went about their business.
It was on this night that a group of men considered by many to be the most lowly and vile of their society had the honor of visiting the King of the Universe on the night of His arrival on earth.
There are many out there today like the shepherds of that first Christmas.
They may look together on the outside, but on the inside they are broken, isolated, and feel forsaken. In the business of the Christmas season, we need to remember that they need Jesus too. The message of peace and hope is just as much for them as it is for us.
That is why an angel came to tell a group of lonely shepherds the good news on the night of Jesus’ birth.
