To You

The Presbyterian Church In Sudbury, MA

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“To You”

Rev. M. Sidney McCollum

December 24, 2004

Luke 2:1-14 (&15-20)

Intro.: I’m going to read the Christmas story from Luke, (chapter 2, verses 1-20), and I’d like to ask: what especially moves you about this story?

(1)In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (2)(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) (3)And everyone went to his own town to register.

(4)So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. (5)He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. (6)While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, (7)and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

(8)And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. (9)An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (10)But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (11)Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (12)This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

(13)Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

(14)“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

(15)When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

(16)So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (17)When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, (18)and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. (19)But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (20)The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

I. (Several Possibilities:)

1. Hearing its familiar cadences and story almost automatically puts me in “Christmas mode.” Warm feelings; thoughts of food, gifts, and family; family members gathering and stories being told... It has an almost instant warm family association

2. As soon as I focus on the story itself, I think of the immediate and practical experiences of the couple—Mary and Joseph—almost all of them difficult:

a. First, there’s the “unintended pregnancy” From the perspective of a believer, separated by a couple of thousand years, it’s easy to overlook the difficulty of this situation. We are filled with awe that God chose this young woman and blessed her in this way. And she’s a striking example of willing faithfulness—willing to risk that God would work it out.

But Joseph’s reaction should alert us to the possible problems. Joseph was a decent guy, so he was going to break off the relationship quietly. But the fact was that Mary was headed towards being a single mom. God spoke to Joseph in a dream, and he responded promptly and faithfully. But scripture doesn’t share with us what may have been wrenching encounters between Mary and her parents, other family members, friends and neighbors. What would you think if a high school girl came to you and explained that God had made her pregnant?

b. The next difficulty which comes to mind is the hardship of travel on Mary, who is due to give birth. It’s 67 miles as the crow flies from Nazareth to Bethlehem, so certainly farther by the roads they traveled—it’s at least a three-day trip. On the most comfortable donkey on the planet, that was an ordeal.

c. Finally, of course, the “No Vacancy” signs were out at the motels in Bethlehem, so Mary’s first experience of childbirth was in a barn with all its charm and smells.

My daughter-in-law Amy had her first baby four days ago. I was concerned for her, and she didn’t have to go through any of that stuff.

3. There’s another element of the Christmas story that’s harder to relate to, and that’s the appearance of the angels to the shepherds. As Luke relates it, it’s a bizarre story—a heavenly being appeared to the shepherds and told them of the birth, then the angelic host filled the sky and glorified God. The shepherds were initially terrified, but then responded by seeking the child and then telling others. You could say that they were the first evangelists. Luke reports that their experience was very important to Mary.

II. (Communion) I’m tempted to ask that you to pardon me for changing focus and emotional tone, but we are about to receive the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper focuses our attention not on the manger, but on the cross. The supper we are about to receive was instituted by Christ the night before he was crucified. Granted, the angel told the shepherds that the child who was born was to be the savior, but they certainly had no idea what that would involve.

But we know. We know that the events of this night set in motion Jesus’ life and ministry, and ultimately, his execution for our sin.

The unique symbolism of this service brings us full circle as far as Jesus’ earthly life is concerned. The God the Son came in human flesh into a world which had turned its back on God. He proclaimed the nearness of God’s Kingdom. He did so by teaching, healing, and triumphing over the demonic. But these things are only a prelude to Holy week, when the Savior suffered and died to redeem us from our sin, and to Easter, when his victory manifest.

All of this is to say that our worship this night is not about warm feelings of family and kinship. And it’s not very much about a young family and a baby. It’s about a savior who came on a mission to save us—to prepare a people to live under God’s reign.

III. “To you.” I began by asking what moved you about the story of Jesus’ birth. Let me suggest something which I doubt came to your mind. Notice the words of the angel to the shepherds (verses 10-12 if your Bible is open, and I’m using the NIV). Specifically, note the use of the personal pronoun “you.”

“Do not be afraid. I bring (to) you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

There’s not much question about the focus of those lines, is there? It would have been easy to for those lines to be general statements without the personal pronoun “you.” They would have the same familiar cadence. Listen…

“Do not be afraid. I bring good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign: a baby will be found wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

It would have been easy to for those lines to be general statements without the personal pronoun “you.” But the words of the angel emphasized the personal. The good news is to you and also “for all the people.” The birth is Mary’s, but the child is a savior to you. The sign is to you.

What do you make of all those “to you’s?” And why do you think this message was delivered to Shepherds?

Clearly, the message was not general information. It was meant to be personal to the shepherds. It was to gain a personal response.

Shepherds were pretty average people. But they made their living out in the wilderness, so the angel went to where they were. They made good stand-ins for average people in out-of-the-way places—like Sudbury, MA.

My sense of things is that, ironically, the Christmas season is not a time in which we easily reflect on the coming of the Savior. It’s a time when we hurry to the mall and come home with armloads of stuff. Then we hurry home to spit-shine the house because the company is coming. We socialize a lot. Then we clean up and rest up because we’ve go to go back to work.

Christmas is overcommercialized and overscheduled—we all know that. But the words of the angels to the shepherds—and through them to us—are a call to make the time to reflect on his coming, and our need of his coming, and then to prepare ourselves to be subjects of the kingdom of which he is king.

The final words of the angel to the shepherds were how to find the savior. “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” In other words, the angels had given the news to the shepherds, but the response was up to them: they had to make the effort to go find him. And that they did.

Jesus isn’t located in a manger any longer. He is the ascended Lord. But for us, the word to which we need to respond is his proclamation that the Kingdom of God is near, and we must examine our lives and change them to honor the values of God’s Kingdom and follow the risen one who is the king of that kingdom, and who one day will return.

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