Christ has Come — The Word Made Flesh — Greeted First by the Shepherds

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Lessons from the Shepherds on the Beginning of the Life of a Christian

On this Christmas Day we bring back into the present, the incarnation of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  He was first greeted by the lowly shepherds who heard the Word of God proclaimed to them by angels.  They heralded this birth an a majestic display of God’s glory in the deep of night, as the shepherds watched over their flocks on the cold Judean hillsides surrounding Bethlehem.  Martin Luther wrote about the beginning of the Christian life that these humble, lowly shepherds exemplified in his Kirchepostils, Church Postils, written during his exile in the Wartburg Castle between 1521 and 1522.  From them, we learn how God’s Word works on us, and then in and through us.  There is power in the Word of God, as it goes forth and does its mighty work.  It is this Word that produces fruit, and works signs and wonders.  The text of the following sermon from Dr. Luther , The Early Sermon for Christmas Day on the Gospel of Luke 2:[15-20] is taken from Luther’s Works, Vol. 52: Sermons II, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther’s Works, 52:iii-40 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999, c1974).

THE GOSPEL FOR THE EARLY CHRISTMAS SERVICE, LUKE 2[:15–20]

This Gospel can be understood quite easily from the interpretation of the preceding one; for it contains an example and carrying out of the teaching which is contained in the previous lesson in that the shepherds did and found what the angels had told them. So the content of the present lesson deals with the consequences and fruits of the word of God and the signs by which we recognize whether the word of God is in us and has been effective.

The first and chief item is faith. If these shepherds had not believed the angel, they would not have gone to Bethlehem nor would they have done any of the things which are related of them in the shepherds.  

Commemoration of Noah

Noah, the son of Lamech (Gen 5:30), was instructed by God to build an ark, in which his family would find security from the destructive waters of a devastating flood that God warned would come. Noah built the ark, and the rains descended. The entire earth was flooded destroying “every living thing that was on the face of the ground, both man and beast” (7:23). After the flood waters subsided, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. When Noah determined it was safe, and God confirmed it, he and his family and all the animals disembarked. Then Noah built an altar and offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for having saved his family from destruction. A rainbow in the sky was declared by God to be a sign of His promise that never again would a similar flood destroy the entire earth (8;20). Noah is remembered and honored for his obedience, believing that God would do what He said He would.   From LCMS Commemoration Biographies, Noah.

It is fitting that Noah is remembered in the first week of Advent.  John the Baptizer prepared the way for our Lord and was the voice crying in the wilderness.  It was Noah, however, and the eight (8) people in his boat that foreshadowed our baptism, and the baptism of Christ.  It is tied to the covenant with Abraham marked by circumcision.  All male children were circumcised on the eighth (8th) day of they are lives.  Christ, the firstborn to Mary and Joseph was presented at the Temple on the eighth (8th) day of His earthly life.  Baptism now circumcises our hearts and marks us as ones redeemed by the precious body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Baptismal fonts in the early church, and in many churches today have eight (8) sides to them, tying this sacrament all the way back to Noah and the flood.

The Courage of Christ

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This past Sunday we remembered the Reformation, triggered by Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg.  At certain times in history, God has intervened in tremendous ways to accomplish His purposes on earth.  In no way is this more clearly demonstrated to us than in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  For in Him, God became man.  He lived with us, walked with us, talked with us.  In some ways God became our friend in and through Christ.  But from what we have seen He was much more than a friend.  Christ is the LEADER — there was none other like Him before, and none have been like Him since.  He is COMPASSIONATE.  Always taking time to speak with those around Him;  healing the sick, the lame, and the blind.  He is SELFLESS SERVANT.  Always concerned with the well-being of His flock, our Lord takes the time to prepare a meal.  He feeds His children with the bread of life.  None go away hungry.  All are satisfied.  And the baskets that are collected are overflowing with the abundant blessings He bestows on His people.  Christ is the TEACHER of TRUTH.  Never missing a moment to teach, Jesus enters the synagogues to read and expound upon Scripture.  Each moment with His disciples is a moment in which He is constantly molding and shaping their faith.  Time and time again, people walk away from Jesus, marveling at His teaching.  No matter how hard they tried, His enemies could not argue with His doctrine.  He taught what was unpopular, and challenged his people’s notions of love, mercy, compassion, and ethics.  No one was spared, not even His family or His closest disciples.  Jesus is COURAGE.  In the face of fierce opposition from the ruling priests, the scribes, the pharisees, and the supporters of Herod, Christ took His Gospel, the Gospel of God, directly to all people — to Jews, pharisees, tax collectors, Samaritans, and to Gentiles.  He took the Gospel into the heart of Israel, the Temple, to cleanse us and to make us holy.  We sought ways to kill Him, to put out the fire of the Gospel.  Jesus did not stop preaching, teaching, and healing.  The devil sought to tempt him.  He sent demons to confront Christ.  Yet our Savior did not stop preaching, teaching, and healing.  Jesus continued to do that which He had been sent to do by the Father.  He forgave sins.  He became angry and drove the moneychangers out of the Temple.  He ate in the homes of tax collectors.  He spoke with women.  In public.  He touched lepers, and was touched by unclean women.  All of these things Jesus did until the very end.  Until He was arrested.  Betrayed.  Beaten.  Tried and convicted.  Beaten again.  And then nailed to a tree, to die the death of a common criminal.  And while all these things happened, Jesus continued to serve us.  Taking the time to arrange for a room to meet with His disciples one last time.  A meal was prepared and He fed His disciples in a way that would change our lives forever.  For it was their that Christ gifted to us forgiveness and life which He sealed with His death.

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” (Luther’s Works. Weimar Edition. Briefwechsel [Correspondence], vol. 3, pp. 81f.).  This statement speaks of COURAGE.  And yet, as Dr. Luther points out, we flinch, we blink, we fold, and like the disciples we turn tail and run.  Yet, at the appointed time, Christ remained obedient to the Will of the Father which meant His own death.  I imagine that Lucifer stood in the courts of Heaven at the time of Christ’s trial, and conviction, accusing Him of not being worthy to sit at the right hand of God.  See Jesus was just like us — those sinful creatures.  Despicable.  So much so that he was betrayed for the price of a slave.  The Son of God convicted as a common criminal.  Unable to make His own defense.  He shows His weakness, does the Savior, by speaking the truth to the end.  He cannot even convince the chosen people of God that He is the Son of God!  Seeking all the while, Lucifer does, to unseat Christ, and usurp the throne of God.  In the face of such audacity, Jesus did not flinch.  He did not blink.  He did not back down.  His weakness, is our strength.  His death, our life.  His faith He gives to us.  And in His death, are we made right before God.  Satan is cast down from Heaven and bound in chains.  This is a cosmic story, of which we get a glimpse as Chapter 14 of Mark unfolds for us.

It is the Courage of Christ that we need now in this world.