Every year we celebrate Christmas. Each family has their own customs and routines. No doubt most of you are here this evening because it just wouldn’t be Christmas without coming to church on Christmas Eve. And that’s a good thing, certainly to be commended. Christmas Eve is a great time to be in the Lord’s house. After all, tomorrow is Christmas Day, the annual celebration of the birth of our only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
But what is it about Christmas? Why has the Advent season become such a frenzied time of shopping and preparation for Christmas? There is really no question that Christmas and its season brings out the worst in people as well as the best. We’ve seen the worst, exemplified in the crowds jostling to get the latest fad. People get into debt and other troubles all in the name of trying to live up to the expectations people have at Christmas. And yet it’s also true that at Christmas, people who won’t have a thing to do with each other the rest of the year can bury the hatchet and get along for the day.
There’s two things at work this time of year. There’s the spirit of our age, and there is the Spirit of Christmas. The spirit of our age wants Christmas to be about the stuff and the gatherings and anything but Jesus. That’s the spirit of the frenzied shopper. The Christmas Spirit is not just any old spirit, but the Holy Spirit changing hearts and lives as we hear again the word of God, as we rejoice again in the message of the angels: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) Come to Bethlehem and see!
Bethlehem. Not the biggest town, not the most important town. Maybe a thousand or two thousand people at the most. But this town was Joseph’s ancestral home, so he, his wife Mary, and the baby Jesus, in his mother’s womb, travelled from Nazareth down to Bethlehem for the sake of the census and registry. Caesar wanted to know how many people he had in his empire so he could generate the right amount of taxes to keep his Pax Romana and continue the expansion of the empire.
There weren’t a lot of hotel rooms available in a town that size, so it’s not too surprising that Joseph and Mary found themselves in a stable. Stables were often attached to or in close proximity to houses. Many Bible scholars think that this stable was probably of a relative of Joseph’s who knew that they simply needed a warm, dry place to bed up until the major crush had gone through, population-wise. At any rate, whatever the stable was, that’s where they were. And Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus and laid Him in the feed-trough because they didn’t have a proper bed.
When you think about it, this is about as lowly a start as the Lord of Heaven and Earth could have to His earthly life. Born to a lowly peasant couple in a stable in Nowheresville. What was God doing?
God was fulfilling His promises. That’s what God was doing. For this little town of Bethlehem was, as Luke reminds us, the city of David. It was the small town from which that great king David had arisen. And, as the apostle Matthew reminds us in chapter 1 of his gospel, Joseph was from the line of heirs to David’s crown, if Israel were in position to have a king. He was a peasant, but not just any peasant. He was a peasant who was in the line of the kings. Like Strider, the lowly ranger from the north in Lord of the Rings who was truly the greatest of the kings of men, there was more to this family than met the eye.
Still and all, the people of Bethlehem knew that most of the people in those parts were related to David, and as such, most of them could claim some rights to the throne. It still didn’t make a difference. Rome was in charge. The kingdom was a long time ago and didn’t look like it would be coming back any time soon. They had the temple in Jerusalem which Herod, the puppet-king of Rome, had built. That was good enough. At least they were allowed to carry on with their faith relatively undisturbed.
And the birth of Jesus would have gone entirely unnoticed that Bethlehem evening, except that God, being the proud Father of Jesus, wanted to make a birth announcement. “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:9-14 ESV)
God sent angels, not to Jerusalem or to the synagogue, not to the Sadducees or the Pharisees, not to the high and mighty, but to some weary shepherds, pulling the midnight shift with their sheep. Why shepherds? Why not? That, and the small detail that King David himself had been a shepherd, that God had promised through the prophets that He Himself would come and shepherd His people, that He would gather all His people together again.
The shepherds were the first on the scene because the Good Shepherd had just been born, the one who would shepherd His people Israel on the throne of the Most High for all eternity had just officially entered the picture. Come to Bethlehem and see!
The shepherds, filled with wonder by the message of the angels, ran to Bethlehem where they found everything just as the angels had said. What wonder! What joy! What delight! The shepherds left that place praising God. Come to Bethlehem and see Christ the Lord, the newborn King!
And yet the more sobering truth was that this baby had been born to die. No doubt that Mary and Joseph weren’t thinking of that at all. They knew people died, but at this point they didn’t know that Jesus, this little baby, would grow up to perform miracles and teach and preach and be crucified and die. They didn’t know, gazing at the baby boy in the manger, that this little one had as His sole mission in life to live perfectly and die for the sins of His people. Mary pondered what was happening in her heart. She would receive the report a few weeks later from old Simeon in the temple, that a sword would pierce her soul, but she didn’t know what that meant.
It’s easy at Christmas to celebrate the baby and forget what the baby is all about. It’s easy to think of Christmas Eve as being our chance to get celebrating Jesus out of the way in order to focus on family and presents. One of our Christmas hymns, What Child Is This, does an excellent job of balancing the wonder of the birth with the realization of why He came in the first place:
What child is this, that laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping, whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing! Haste, haste to bring Him laud, the Babe, the Son of Mary!
Why lies He in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christian, fear, for sinners here the silent Word is pleading!
Nails, spear, shall pierce Him through, the cross be borne, for me, for you.Hail! Hail the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary.
So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh; come, peasant, king to own Him. The King of kings salvation brings; let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise the song on high, the Virgin sings her lullabye; joy, joy for Christ is born, the Babe, the Son of Mary!
This baby Jesus didn’t stay a baby, you see. While it is easy to celebrate the birth of a baby, while it is easy to rejoice in a little child, we need to bear in mind always that this same Jesus in the manger is the Jesus who died on the cross for us. There is a direct line from Christmas to Good Friday, from Good Friday to Easter. This baby was, the Nicene Creed reminds us, “for us men and for our salvation... incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.” Neither the Apostles’ nor Nicene Creed mention the miracles or teachings of Jesus. They don’t mention all the wonders and signs and sayings. But they do mention that He was made flesh for us, that He died for us, and that He rose from the dead for us.
For at Christmas and at every season of the year we need to remember that we are all sinners. No question that the sins of coveting and greed are at the forefront this time of year, as our store flyers and television advertising readily attest to! No question that all of us here tonight are sinners, too, and have sinned against God, if not also against one another, even this very day. But all sins, great and small, hidden and open, are covered by Jesus. That’s the good news of great joy which is for all people. This baby boy of Bethlehem is born for you, that you might have life. This baby boy of Bethlehem is come that you might not perish in your sins but repent of them, and follow Him.
“Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King,” the old Christmas carol states. Indeed, Jesus is worthy of our adoration, of our worship, and of our praise. For He has come to save us from our sin. He has come to save us from our slavery to death and the devil. He has come for you and for me!
Come to Bethlehem and see that your sins are forgiven. It is finished! For that is what Jesus came to do when He was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. The forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation–that’s the true meaning of Christmas. Lives and hearts made new through Jesus Christ–that’s the Spirit of Christmas which never goes away.
May this be the great gift of Christmas which enlightens your life all the year through! In Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Last updated December 2007 by the webmaster.