“The First Christmas Service”
Luke 2:1-20
12/25/08
Here in today’s text St. Luke gives us a
description of the first Christmas. And as with all the
Christmases since, there was at that first one both the giving and
receiving of gifts. In our house this joyful event began when my
parents announced to us kids that it was time to get up, go into the
family room (where the tree was), and open our presents. You
didn’t have to tell us twice. We ran “with
haste” to the scene, where we began unwrapping at once.
“Oohs,” “Aahs,” “Wows,” and
“Thank you’s” usually followed, and if there was a
gift that was especially dear to us, we’d begin playing with it
immediately. Not only that, but in the days that followed
we’d tell all our friends what we had gotten. I can
remember that during that first week of school following Christmas
vacation almost every kid came back either wearing some new clothes or
playing with some new toy that they had received and brought with them
to show off to their classmates.
Little did we know back then that we were following
the example of these shepherds, as they received the first and greatest
Christmas Gift of all - the Gift of a Savior, Christ the Lord. As
Luke describes the shepherds, they are a picture of the Christian
Church as she receives this same Gift in the divine service, making for
her every day that she gathers around the Word and the Sacraments a
kind of Christmas day. The shepherds were, in fact, the first
Christian congregation, along with Mary and Joseph, who through the
proclamation of the Word were brought to Christ to worship Him, and who
then went out and proclaimed that Word to others, glorifying and
praising God for all they had heard and seen.
As with the Christmases at our house, where the gift
opening frenzy began with our father’s announcement, so with
these shepherds the first Christmas also began with an announcement, an
announcement sent from God the Father placed into the mouths of His
heavenly messengers. The announcement was, “Fear not, for
behold, I bring you good news of a 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.” The shepherds were not
only told what their Gift was, but also where to find Him. The
angel continued, “And this will be a sign for you: you will
find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger.” The shepherds represent you and me. Just as
they wandered around in the darkness of night, minding their own
business with no thought of God, so at one time we walked in the
darkness of our unbelief, going about our daily affairs oblivious of
God and our condition before Him, ignorant of His Word, and subject to
His eternal wrath on account of our sins. But in His mercy He
sent us messengers too, whether they were pastors, parents, friends, or
family, in order to proclaim His Word to us. At first we were
given a frightening Word, a Word that revealed to us the sorry state we
were in and the punishment we deserved because of our sins.
Angels in the O.T. were often sent by God to pour out His wrath on
those cities with whom He was not pleased on account of their
wickedness. Upon seeing these heavenly beings, then, the
shepherds rightly feared them, most likely wondering what was now going
to happen to them. That’s what the proclamation of
God’s Law does to us; it causes us to fear God’s wrath,
which we justly deserve for our disobedience to His commandments.
But once the Law has done it’s job and worked fear in our hearts,
so that we confess our sins and acknowledge the fact that we walk in
darkness, the good news of the Gospel about Jesus is then proclaimed to
us. This is why the angels told the shepherds not to fear.
God had sent them a Savior, one who would take the wrath that we
deserve upon Himself on the cross, in order that we might no longer
live under God’s displeasure but instead under His good
will. For this reason the angels praised God, saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
towards men.” It’s this message of peace that
encouraged the shepherds and changed their fear into joy. God was
not intent on punishing them; instead, He wanted to give them gifts,
gifts of salvation, joy, peace, and good will, in the gift of His Son,
the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. And this is the same Gift
He gives to you today.
Once they heard this good news, the shepherds then
went “with haste” to the place where the angel had told
them this Gift would be, to the Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and
lying in a manger. There was only one of those around, so that it
wouldn’t be hard for them to find Him among all the other babies
lying about. Had they not listened to the angel and gone
someplace else, they never would have received their Gift.
That’s the way with many people today, unfortunately. They
go looking for the Savior in places where they think He ought to be,
but where He is not. A manger is a sorry place for any baby to
be, let alone the Son of God. It’s not fitting that He
should be found in such a lowly and humiliating, not to mention dirty,
place. It’s not where we’d expect to find God, and
yet it’s where God put Himself. Later on He would put
Himself on a cross, another dirty, messy, and bloody place.
Again, not where we’d expect to find God - in fact, the last
place we’d expect to find Him. That’s why the cross
is such a stumbling block to people. Who wants a bloody, dying
God? He should be sitting on a throne of gold wearing a crown of
jewels, not on this throne of wood wearing a crown of thorns. And
yet, if we don’t go looking for Jesus where we’re told He
is, we’ll never find Him. Though He is everywhere by virtue
of the fact that He is God, He’s not everywhere for you.
Today the manger where He locates Himself for you is
His Church. The first Church gathered in a stable, where the
first altar was a manger. This is where the shepherds were told
to go, and this is where they went. Again, the Church, like the
stable and the manger, may not appear to be very glorious. Oh,
yes, there are some very beautiful church buildings around, but
don’t get the idea that because a building is beautiful, or
because the music, the services, the sermons, or even the people in a
congregation are more beautiful, glorious, and polished, that Christ is
more present there than He is in a simple congregation like ours.
He is wherever two or three are gathered together in His Name. He
is where His Word is being proclaimed and where Baptism, the
Lord’s Supper, and Holy Absolution are going on, even if this
were going on in someone’s basement, a prison, a hospital, or a
cardboard box. The fact that Jesus puts Himself in a lowly manger
teaches us that He puts Himself where we are. Before God we are
no kings and queens. We are not rich, but poor in spirit before
Him. Jesus comes to us in our poverty, taking that poverty upon
Himself, so that in its place He might give us His eternal riches.
So, the shepherds went to Church; they went to the
place where the Lord was, giving out His gifts. And that’s
what the divine service is all about: being on the receiving end
of the Lord’s gifts. The shepherds had nothing to give
Him. A couple of years later we hear of the Magi bringing Him
gifts. But our gifts to Him come only after we have first
received His gifts to us. And so, in the divine service we
receive the same gifts that the shepherds were given - salvation, joy,
peace, and goodwill from God our Savior, and then we respond to those
gifts with our gifts of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving - the
“Oohs” and “Aahs” of a child upon receiving his
Christmas presents. Our gifts to the Lord may not be the
expensive gifts that the Magi brought. The greatest gift we can
give our Savior, however, can’t be bought with money. It is
the faith of our hearts and the confession of our lips. By faith
we believe God’s Word and by confession we speak that Word.
But we find that even these gifts that we give our Lord have first been
given to us. It’s like a child who buys his parents
Christmas presents with money that they have first given to him.
Similarly, we Christians can only give to God what He has first given
to us. The glory and praise the shepherds gave to God for all
they had heard and seen was worked in them by God through all they had
heard and seen.
And the glorying and praising God didn’t stop
once they left the stable. They continued to glorify and praise
Him as they returned to their vocation as shepherds and in the process
told others about this Christmas Gift from God. Luke writes that
after they saw the Lord, they made known the saying that had been told
them concerning Him, with the result that all who heard it wondered at
what the shepherds told them. What the shepherds heard from the
angels they passed on to others after they had seen it for
themselves. You can do the same thing. You leave the divine
service having seen the salvation which God has prepared before the
face of all people - a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
His people Israel, and you take this good news with you wherever you
go. You don’t have to be a pastor in order to tell others
about Jesus, nor are you a pastor when you do so. You simply
share the Gift of God with those with whom you live and work as
you’re given opportunity. Like a child who’s excited
about the Christmas gifts he’s received and wants to show them
off to his friends, we too have a Gift to show off to others -
He’s Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. And the more we
are on the receiving end of that Gift ourselves, the more we will be
able to give that Gift to others.
As we, like the shepherds, go from here into our
various callings in life, the message we carry to the world is the same
that the angels announced on that first Christmas, the same message
that we have heard for ourselves: Fear not, for the Lord brings
you good news of great joy that’s for all people. For unto
us was born on this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ
the Lord. He was given in order to purchase you from your sins,
from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver or gold,
but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death
on the cross. Those who believe and are baptized into Him will
enjoy peace with God and live under His goodwill for Christ’s
sake now and forever. Take this good news again for yourself to
heart today, receive this Christmas Gift once again as He comes to you
in His Holy Supper, and leave here glorifying and praising God for all
He’s done for you, showing off your Present to others, that they
too might enjoy this Gift now at Christmastime and every day of the
year, until together we celebrate an eternal Christmas in heaven with
the Christmas Gift Himself face to face. Amen.