Text: Matthew 1:18-25
(Series: Meet me at the Manger - Advent # 1)
(Chatham Citadel / Wallaceburg Corps - December 3rd, 2000)
We all know the story of the first Christmas, and we all, to some degree, enter into the spirit of the holidays. But every year, I wonder do we really appreciate what a momentous occasion the birth of Jesus Christ was? Do we really understand how miraculous it was?
I am not just talking about the miracle of the virgin birth, or that a star could lead kings to a specific spot, or that angels would shout for joy in the presence of shepherds. I am talking about the miracle of God directly entering into his own creation.
Yes, we have dated our calendars by the incident, and we have marked and celebrated it as one of our longest standing holidays. Yes, at no other time can we say Love, Joy and Peace reign anywhere close to the way they do during the Christmas season, and, yes, Christmas is very special in our hearts, but do we really appreciate how cosmically significant the birth of Jesus on earth is?
The event was grand enough to warrant a visit from foreign kings. It was relevant enough to all of humankind that common Shepherds were also invited to come and see. At no other time on earth, in the Biblical record, are angels seen so frequently, or in such great numbers as at this point in history.
Prophecies were proclaimed about the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ, but interpretation was not clear enough for those who studied them to recognize the events when they occurred. If those who studied the coming of the Messiah could have missed it, how easy could it be for us to miss it even today? Perhaps that is why angels had to be sent to proclaim to the participants, and to the witnesses, that God was about to intervene in human affairs.
As we begin our journey through advent, I would like to remind all of us of the importance of the event. Perhaps we will not witness the angel chorus proclaiming "Glory to God in the highest," but we do not have to miss the significance. For a few minutes, let us look at three or four particular instances when angels delivered their proclamation from God. In each case, directly, or indirectly, those instances were related to the coming of Jesus Christ, and in every case, the message was given, not only to inform the recipients, but also to invite them to be participants in the event.
We, too, though it is some 2000 years later, are invited to be participants in the advent, and so, as we look at the angels' message, let us not forget that we are more than hearers of the good news. We too are invited to come and see Jesus.
ZECHARIAH
Luke takes us further back in the story of the nativity than any other Gospel. All of the gospels recognize John the Baptist, and his important role, near the beginning of their story, but only Luke explains the events of his birth, and remarkably, the first dialogue in Luke, following some preamble and stage setting, is spoken by an angel.
The circumstances surrounding John's birth were certainly not as miraculous as those surrounding Jesus' were, but they were definitely out of the ordinary. So much so, that Zechariah himself lacked confidence in the message. As a sign, the angel Gabriel struck him dumb so that he could not speak until the baby was born and it was time to name him. (Perhaps some of us men would have been better off if that happened to us while our wives were pregnant!…)
But the angel's message was not merely to tell Zechariah and Elizabeth they were going to have a son. The announcement brought some much more important news as well. Zechariah's son, John would be the Elijah prophesied in the Old Testament (Malachi 4:5-6), and he would precede the Messiah, the Christ - the Saviour of the world. If Zechariah was struck dumb because he could not believe that he would have a son, imagine what his reaction to this news must have been!
Zechariah was amazed at the news the angel brought - in spite of the fact he had been praying for a son.
Just like Zechariah, we often engross ourselves in our Christian "religion" and hold firmly to its doctrines, even pray fervently for a wide variety of things, but when God says he will answer our prayers, or our faith is tested in some way, we let go so easily.
Zechariah was not only invited to share in the miraculous answer to his prayers, but in the most miraculous event in history. If that kind of message is brought every time an angel appears, it is perhaps not any wonder that they seem to always be saying "do not be afraid!"
JOSEPH AND MARY
Six months later, after that first appearance to Zechariah, the same angel Gabriel traveled to Nazareth, and to Mary, who would become the mother of Jesus. Again, we hear the words "Do not be afraid."
This time, however, Mary has more to fear than the astonishing appearance of Gabriel. To be pregnant out of wedlock in those first-century days could easily have meant death for her. Yet, Mary was certain of her own uprightness before God. Apart from asking how such a thing could be possible - a much more rational and practical question coming from Mary, than it was from Zechariah - Mary is willing to serve God in whatever way she can. Mary knew what she was not guilty of. She had her own integrity to stand on, no matter how it might look to other people, she knew the truth and she seems to accept the matter with relative ease.
Mary's fiancé, Joseph, however, did not take it so lightly. I think we can all appreciate it is easier for a woman to know that there is no possible way she could have been impregnated in the normal way than for a man to know his wife has not been violated. It would take a more extreme step of faith for Joseph to believe than for Mary.
Joseph was a compassionate man, however, and he did not want to bring any harm, or disgrace, to the woman he had chosen to marry. So, he thought it best not to make a fuss over the matter. Instead, he would let her out of her nuptial commitment quietly and gracefully.
That was the rational thing to do, but this was an irrational situation. Joseph needed some divine intervention to boost his faith in Mary, and the story she was telling him. An angel visited him, too. And again the words "do not be afraid" are spoken. But this time in direct relation to the ridicule Joseph and Mary would face from those who simply could not, or would not understand.
Do we need an angel to visit us before we can believe the account lain out before us? Zechariah, Mary and Joseph all had that kind of support to their faith, but there are many that did not.
There is no account of John the Baptist ever having been visited supernaturally in any way we have not, and yet he proclaimed the coming of the Messiah boldly.
Some of us, like Mary and Joseph, are thrown into faith. The young couple did not seem to have any choice but to participate in the birth of Christ. Many of us have grown up in a Christian home and sometimes have the challenge of seeing the grit and grime of living faith - the day to day challenges - without having had the incredible conversion experience of those who have not know Christ until later in life. But whether we are thrust into faith, or come to it in some other way, a miracle is no less a miracle. The fact of God coming to earth is just as thrilling either way.
THE SHEPHERDS
The shepherds did not have the same kind of experience. They were not direct participants, but rather privileged witnesses to the event of Christ's birth. Imagine a quiet night in the fields minding the sheep, when all glory breaks out in the sky above you. Again we hear the words, "do not be afraid" and this time, it is definitely to calm some very shaken shepherd nerves.
Perhaps most of us can relate most closely to those herdsmen on the hillside. We are not the parents of the prophet John, or of the Saviour - we too are common people who live our lives in the daily grind of making a living. The message the angels spoke to those shepherds was one for us too: "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior is born to you; he is Christ the Lord." And when the great company arrived - the back-up choir - they sang "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
There was no recorded conversation between the shepherds and those angels. Perhaps there were others who heard the same message that night. It was the shortest encounter of all those recorded in the nativity, but the message is the most far reaching. The Shepherds could not sit still after hearing it. Immediately they had to pick up their things and go - to find the Christ child.
YOU
This Christmas you will hear the message once again. Not the gruesome events of the crucifixion, or the challenging words of Jesus in his ministry; not the difficult task of following under persecution in Acts or toiling to grow a fledgling church in the epistles. Or any of the other times in the Bible when following faith is shown to be the difficult task that it is. The message we hear at Christmas is that of love. Of the love of a gracious God who went to the extreme of entering into his own creation so that it might be saved from its own corruption.
You too are invited to be a participant this Christmas in that message of love, and in the nativity. How will you answer the invitation? Will you be struck dumb like Zechariah? Will you try to quietly pass it off as a surviving urban legend as Joseph almost did? Will you accept the truth quietly and with confidence as Mary, or will you run to meet Jesus as the Shepherds did?
We know what that little baby became. We know what he means to us personally. Are you prepared to meet the savior in that lowly stable in that manger? The angelic announcement of his coming to earth has been proclaimed… will you come to meet him?
Sing with me again as we just as the words say; Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the new born King.
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