“It All Began In A Manger” -- Luke 2:1-20
*During Christmas vacation of my senior year in high school, I picked up a book I just couldn’t put down. It was called “The Hobbit”, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was fascinated by the hairy little people called Hobbits who had 6 toes and ate 6 times a day and who had round little bellies and lived in a place called the Shire, between River Brandywine and the Far Downs. I loved the wizard named Gandalf, and the slimy little creature named Gollum. In the front of the book there was a neat little map that showed the whole make-believe land where the story took place. Of course, the whole thing was made up; it was all part of the genius of Tolkien, and I loved every page.
This morning, as we gather here on Christmas day, we hear another amazing story from an author who, by even his harshest critics, was a first rate historian. His name was Luke, and when he begins writing about the birth of Jesus Christ, immediately you realize something wonderful: This story is no fairy tale! No Bilbo Baggins here, no Frodo, no make-believe land. Immediately Luke ties the birth of Jesus to a real event and real people: “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his own town to register.”
For the longest time critics claimed that Luke made up the story of the census. It was all make-believe, they said, to bolster Luke’s fairy tale about Jesus. And then a few decades ago a mass of evidence was found that proved Luke’s claim. Sure enough, starting with this census, every 14 years for nearly 2 centuries the Romans had everyone in their empire go to their family’s home town to register themselves and pay a tax. This kind of information might seem boring to us today. Who cares about an ancient tax anyway? But it shows that Christianity-our faith and our hope in a baby born in a manger-are all rooted in history!
The birth of Jesus is not a fairy tale. He really was born. He really died to forgive our sins. He really rose from the dead, and He’s really coming back! It’s all real! It’s a story we can trust and put our hope in.
Let’s look at the details of this awesome story written by the first class Historian, the physician Luke. Because both Mary and Joseph were descendants of King David, they went to the city of David, Bethlehem, to register. Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married. The Gospel of Matthew tells us they hadn’t slept together yet, but Mary was already pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then almost matter of factly the Bible says “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.” Why is Luke so dry when he describes the birth of the Savior of the world? Why doesn’t he jump up and down and shout, “Hallelujah? Praise God! The Son of God was born!” Because he wants us to know that Jesus was a human being, born like any other child had been born in the history of the world. It was a tough journey for Mary from Nazareth. She was sore. She was tired. She gave birth in a stable. No spinal for her! It was painful and bloody, and smelly, and she gave birth to a baby boy. That’s how Jesus was born. Ever heard the expression, “Close the door, were you born in a barn?” Jesus could answer, “Why, yes I was! I was born in a barn and wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger. I am as human as any other person walking this earth.” It’s important to understand that Jesus was a man, because God demanded a human sacrifice, not some disembodied spirit, for the sins of the world. Mary gave birth to a human being. Luke reminds us that it all began in a manger; it all began with a baby.
Then Luke lets the angels tell the other side of the story, the second half of the salvation message, the story of how this baby was also God, and suddenly the lid starts to come off and the celebration begins and just builds and builds. It’s like a crescendo in a piece of music - it just gets louder and more joyful: mp “There were shepherds living out in the fields near Bethlehem, watching their flocks at night, mf and an angel of the Lord appeared, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they terrified!” The shepherds stood in the presence of the divine. They thought they had reason to be afraid! f “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. 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.” ff fortissimo! “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!” Hallelujah! Praise God! The Son of God, God in the flesh, is born! REJOICE!! LET IT ALL HANG OUT!
Fear not! Good News! That’s how you could sum up the message of the angels. Don’t be afraid! I’ve come from God to tell you that He loves you and that the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem is also the divine Savior of the world, the Messiah you’ve been waiting so long for! Yes, God demanded a human sacrifice, and He also demanded perfection of that sacrifice. But the Great News for you is that Jesus is both! He’s man and He’s God, and because of that, He brings salvation to all who believe in Him. One day He will die just as He was born - without respect, with only a few believers standing by, a commoner shunned by the world. But His death and His resurrection will be your salvation and your eternal life! So Fear not! Good News!
Fear Not! Good News! Oh, how we need to hear that today! How many fears do we bring with us this morning? Fears for our health, our finances, our loved ones, our marriage, our nation, our world. Why don’t we have that same joy that the Shepherds felt after they got the news and saw the baby, and went home praising God? After all, we’re Christians. We believe in the story of Christmas. Jesus lives in our hearts through faith. Then why we do we fear? Let me ask you this morning: What do you see? Right now, what do you see? Do you see angels filling this sanctuary? Do you see them hovering over you? Because, they’re here! They’re here for you, just like the angels were there for the Shepherds.
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1:14, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” That’s us - by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, who shed His perfect blood for you, you will inherit salvation. And because of that, God’s angels minister to you - right now. Don’t fear! I think we do fear so many things in our lives because we forget - we forget God’s awesome promises to be with us, to help us, to send angels to minister to us. We forget because so often we don’t take the time to stand in His presence and see His awesome glory and feel His love, like the shepherds did.
We stand in God’s presence when we worship, when we study and meditate on God’s Word, when we pray, when we join with other Christians in small group Bible studies, when we hang out with strong Christian friends who encourage us in the faith, when we watch TV and listen to radio and read things that educate us and inspire us in our faith. But, I know at least for myself, too often I end up listening to more bad news than good. We read things that give us no hope. We watch shows that teach us that this life is all there is - and the only good things are money, sex, and power. On this Christmas day we can regain that attitude of courage and confidence and praise when we take the time to stand in God’s presence, just like the shepherds. In Acts chapter 5, the disciples Peter and John were arrested for preaching the Gospel and put in jail. The next day, when they were brought before the religious leaders, they spoke boldly about Jesus. Verse 13 says, “When the religious leaders saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” That attitude of courage and confidence and praise in life come from spending time with Jesus, something all of us can do.
Fear Not! Good News! We can sum up the other response of the shepherds in four more words: Having Seen, Made Known! “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…” They just couldn’t keep quiet, the news was so good! *This coming Saturday night, New Year’s Eve, my wife and I will be at the Grand Finale Restaurant in Cincinnati,
Ohio. It’ll be the 3-year anniversary of our engagement. On New Year’s Eve 2002, in the same restaurant, at the same table where we’re going to sit, I asked Donna to marry me. After she said yes, I stood up and said to everybody in the restaurant, “Hey, everybody - guess what? We just got engaged!” I couldn’t contain myself - I had to tell somebody!
That’s how the shepherds felt after they saw Jesus in the manger. That’s how the disciples felt after they saw the resurrected Jesus 33 years later! They couldn’t keep quiet, no matter what happened to them! They knew the Easter Story was real - everything the women had told them was true, because they had seen Jesus for themselves! That’s how Christians for 2,000 have felt, and that’s how we feel when we take the time to stop and stand in the presence of Christ and hear the angels in their double forte voices singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rest!” It all began in a manger-and it didn’t stop there. The story of Jesus is more than a fairy tale-it’s all real. You can trust Him with your life, on this earth, and your eternal life in Heaven. Merry Christmas! Amen.
