Rev. Deacon Allen Batchelder
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
December 24, 2013 – Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
Isaiah 62:6-12, Psalm 97, Titus 3:4-7, Luke 2:1-20
From the Prophet Isaiah:
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”
From the Letter of St. Paul to Titus:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!
Augustus Caesar sent out a decree to the entire world that a census should be taken. Caesar was ruling, but God was in charge, for God used Caesar’s edict to move Mary and Joseph eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfill His Word. Rome took a census every fourteen years for both military and tax purposes, and each Jewish male had to return to the city of his fathers to record his name, occupation, property, and family.
When Mary said “Be it unto me according to Thy Word” (Luke 1:38), it meant that from then on, her life would be a part of the fulfillment of divine prophecy. God had promised that the Savior would be a human, not an angel (Gen. 3:15; Heb. 2:16), and a Jew, not a Gentile (Gen. 12:1-3; Num. 24:17). He would be from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), and the family of David (2 Sam. 7:1-17), born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14) in Bethlehem, the city of David (Micah 5:2).
Mary and Joseph were already husband and wife but since they did not consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born, she is called his “espoused wife” (Matt. 1:18-25). The journey must have been very trying for her, but she rejoiced in doing the will of God, and she was no doubt glad to get away from the gossip of her pregnancy in Nazareth.
This was God’s way. He used the ordinary to do the extraordinary. Bread and Wine become the body and blood of Christ – the very medicine of immortality. Simple water becomes a flood of righteousness, washing away every spot and stain of sin. The simple doing the extraordinary. The everyday touching the eternal.
Mothers in that day wrapped their infants in long bands of cloth to give the limbs strength and protection. Jesus was laid in a manger. The words “manger” or “stall” can either mean a feeding trough or an enclosure for animals. You see ancient stone troughs even today as you travel in the Holy Land, and it is probable that such a trough cradled the Infant Jesus. Many scholars believe that our Lord was born in a cave where animals were sheltered and not in a wooden shed such as you see in modern manger scenes.
Bethlehem means “house of bread,” the ideal birthplace for the Bread of Life (John 6:35). In this extraordinary infant, we see the very image of God – the living word of creation made flesh. The eternal Son of the Father humbled, made low, for us; always for us.
What a blessed union of the everyday and the once and for all. A paradox of cosmic proportions – God and man joined in this one small person. Unfathomable power and authority placed in the care of these two humble travelers of little means by our standards. Indescribable glory and majesty shrouded in the swaddling clothes of a newborn. It was God’s plan for eternal salvation hidden in the peace and calm of a dark night in a small town, long ago.
The first announcement of the Messiah’s birth was given by an angel to some anonymous shepherds. Why shepherds? Why not to priests and scribes? By visiting the shepherds, the angel revealed the grace of God toward mankind. Shepherds were really outcasts in Israel. Their work not only made them ceremonially unclean, but it kept them away from the temple for weeks at a time so that they could not be made clean.
The shepherds knew what to look for: a newborn Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And they found Him! They worshiped Him and marveled at God’s grace and goodness and the miracle he had wrought for them.
These shepherds are good examples for us to imitate today. They received by faith the message of God sent them and then responded with immediate obedience. After finding the Baby, they reported the good news to others, “glorifying and praising God.” Then they humbly returned to their duties, new men going back to the same old job.
The Messiah came to be both the Good Shepherd (John 10) and the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world (John 1:29). Perhaps these shepherds were caring for the flocks that would provide sacrifices for the temple services. It was fitting that the good news about God’s Shepherd and Lamb be given first to humble shepherds.
And who brought the Good News? First one angel appeared, probably Gabriel, and brought the glad announcement; and then a chorus of angels joined him and gave an anthem of praise.
“Fear not! I announce to you good news, a great joy which shall be to all people.”
What was the good news?
This Messiah was one who came to die. If we look into the manger and gush over the image of a sweet and pure child, but see no cross, we miss the whole point. If we forget that this precious child came to shed His precious blood for our sin, then why are we celebrating Him anyway? For this is the perfect and spotless Lamb of God, appointed for sacrifice, to take away the sins of the whole world.
This doesn’t happen every day. But it did happen on Good Friday. The Christ that laid in the manger is the same Christ nailed to the cross. The Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes is the same Christ wrapped in grave linens. The one whose birth was peaceful and humble and ordinary was destined for a death that was violent and humiliating, and …ordinary. Romans crucified people all the time. Such a death was part of life for ancient Jews.
But then the usual gave way to the unusual once again, and Christ conquered death. And this is His greatest miracle. This is what no one expected, even though He said so.
On this Christmas Eve, we do all the usual things, read the usual readings, sing all the usual hymns, light the candles, like we always do. We’ll go home to our regular places at the regular times, and do our holiday traditions in the usual way, with the usual foods, and the usual folks. But through it all, and behind it all, and in it all is our God – present and working his extraordinary salvation. There is nothing common about His grace in Jesus Christ.
May your everyday Christmas be filled with those unique blessings brought by the Lamb of God, the babe of Bethlehem, true God, true man, the firstborn of the dead, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He sent us His Son, and that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish, but have eternal life.
Let us pray:
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!