Holy Christmas Day
When the Angels Went Away Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In today’s Gospel, When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Dear Christian friends: The angel’s sermon concerning the birth of our Lord stirred something in the shepherds. The shepherds heard the Word of the Lord, delivered to them by their heaven-sent messenger, and the preached Word exerted its power upon them. The shepherds moved. “*Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us*.” If I were preaching today’s Gospel to my fellow pastors, I would probably bale a good deal of hay, so to speak, concerning the shepherd’s response to the angel’s preaching. I would suggest to my fellow pastors that today’s Gospel declares to us the intended goal of all preaching everywhere; that we pastors should preach in a manner that moves people. Please do not misunderstand what I mean by moving people: · I do NOT speaking about your emotions. Preaching is not for the purpose of making you cry or feel giddy or anything in between. I am not allowed to feel concerned whether the preaching of the divine Word might make you feel personally angry or individually identified or directly accused. · I am also NOT saying that preaching must necessarily move you in terms of your Christian “*knowledge and depth of insight*” (Philippians 1:9, NIV). On the one hand, if you learn something new from the sermon, that is great! On the other hand, if you simply hear again the same faithful message that you have heard every Sunday and feast day for the past forty years, well, that might be even better. What do I mean by saying that pastors should preach in such a manner as to move people? I mean this: “*Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us*.” The angel’s sermon concerning our Lord’s birth demonstrates that all Christian preaching must finally move you toward that place where your Lord Jesus is. Here is something for you to ponder in your heart, Mary: How much space is there between “*the baby lying in a manger*” and the Blessed Sacrament of our Lord’s Body and Blood, of which we shall soon eat and drink? Here on our altar, we see essentially the same things the shepherds saw: 1. All they saw was “*the baby lying in a manger*.” All we see is bread and wine. None of these things look divine. Neither a newborn infant child nor tiny morsels of food appear to hold any strength or power for us. 2. Unseen to human eye, veiled in flesh, the Lord of heaven and earth confined Himself to a very small, cooing package, which Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The same limitless God likewise joins Himself to the confines of bread and wine. 3. “Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven” (Nicene Creed). Those words—“for us and for our salvation”—those words faithfully describe both the Child and the Meal. 4. To both the Child and to the Meal, God has attached His sure and certain promise for you, a promise against which not even heaven and earth can prevail! You heard in today’s Gospel the promise that is attached to the Child born of Mary: “*To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord*.” The divine promise attached to the Holy Communion is merely a variation upon the same theme: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” 5. Your heard what happened in today’s Gospel: The angel’s preaching concerning the Child moved the shepherds. “*Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us*.” Is it too much for us to think and to expect that Christian preaching today should exert the same power; that every sermon should move hearts and hands and feet toward that place where the Lord Jesus now is: “This is My body, My blood.” Come! Let us go to the Holy Communion to see and to receive what the Lord has made known to us! That is how I would today’s Gospel to my fellow pastors. I would tell them that we pastors should preach in a manner that moves people toward that place where Jesus is. Perhaps it would not be too terrible if I were to say essentially the same thing to you that I would say to my fellow pastors. Today’s Gospel allows us to think that all Christians ought to speak in such a way as to move people toward that place where Jesus is. After all, what happened “*when the angels went away from them into heaven*”? · Yes, the shepherds said to one another, “*Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us*.” There in the presence of on True God, those shepherds received the very same forgiveness of sins and unending life that you also receive here, in the presence of the same God. It is very hard to be in the presence of Jesus and NOT receive the benefit of the gifts He brings! · Look at that: after receiving the gifts of their Lord, “*the shepherds made known the saying that had been told them concerning this Child*.” Stated another way, the shepherds went home after church and told other people about the Sunday sermon! Why would the shepherds do such a thing? I think those shepherds wanted to move people: not stirring their emotions, not offering a lengthy theological treatise, but simply speaking what they had heard. Perhaps they hope the angelic message from heaven might empower other hearts and hands and feet to go to that place where Jesus is. I wonder what might happen if we all working at overcoming our fear of offending people or of making them angry by telling them what we have heard. In today’s Gospel, the shepherds seem to have met mixed success. “*All who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them*.” Some scratched their heads and stared the shepherds, in the same way that a herd of cows will stare at a new gate or a stranger walking through the field. Others likely heard the shepherds and immediately set to work sharpening their swords, not willing to bend the knee. Still others shrugged and went on as if nothing happened. One or two might have been moved by the power of the preached Word. Perhaps we could dare to think that those few might have joined the Shepherd’s confession of faith, also saying amongst themselves, “*Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us*.” Merry Christmas, Christians! It is a happy day! The Christ has been born and the Holy Sacrament has been laid upon the altar. Both of these are for you. Our God is exceedingly good and overflowing in grace: in the preaching of the Church He gives to every Christian an angelic messenger from heaven and in the Sacrament of the Altar He offers to every Christian a Bethlehem and a manger where the Christ is laid. There is no better way to celebrate the Feast of Christmas than this, that we would say to one another as we approach the altar, “*Let us… see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about*.”
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