Christmas Eve Meditation
Luke 2:1-20
Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan
We remember the story from Sunday school Christmas pageants, from happy gatherings around the Christmas tree when Grandma would pull out the family Bible, and from other warm settings tucked back into our memories. But for most of us, no matter how many Christmases we have heard the story, we want to hear it again, here in our worshipping community on Christmas Eve. With the familiar words of Luke 2:1-20, listen for the Word of God.
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
The emperor seems to be in charge. He sets the wheels in motion. Every year we listen as Luke begins the story with the Emperor. Caesar Augustus was the undisputed ruler of the entire Mediterranean world. When he called for a census, he could apparently make every person under his authority return to their birthplace. Imagine the power of such a leader – moving every person in his reign like chess pieces on an empire-sized chessboard. Luke sets up the story as if Emperor Augustus were the primary power player for the whole series of events. Everyone else seems like a chess piece. Mary and Joseph are hardly noteworthy. They merely obey the order to return to the husband’s birthplace to be registered for the census, just like everyone else in Judah getting pushed around by Rome. Everyone’s life is disrupted because Rome has the power to control them. With so many people on the move, every place is crowded, like Siesta Key during season on a sunny 78-degree day. Luke shows the scene clearly: Mary and Joseph, simple peasants, hardly noteworthy. And Caesar Augustus, apparently controlling everything.
But of course, God is in charge. Luke’s telling makes the situation abundantly clear. God sets all things in motion. As Luke continues telling the story our understanding expands. Augustus Caesar is oblivious to what is really going on because Luke tells us that completely unbeknownst to Augustus Caesar, angels announce God’s earthshaking news to a hillside of nobodies.
In some respects, the shepherds are the most interesting characters. They were often actually despised in their time. Shepherds were considered dishonest and lazy. People believed they just let the sheep roam wherever they wanted, most often onto other people’s grazing land particularly, so they didn’t have to provide for the sheep themselves. The word we might use to describe them is, “shady.” In the evening, these are the guys maybe passing a skin of wine around, talking about jobs they got fired from some time back and how stupid their bosses were. Shepherds were outcasts, society’s lowest, practically invisible from normal society. But suddenly, in the midst of their evening libations, across the sky, heaven is ripped open, and an angel appears saying “To you is born.” To you, shady shepherds of questionable character, is born God’s special agent, who will bring salvation to all people, including even creepy you! Rejoice.” And then all heaven breaks into the place and there is celestial singing and music. “Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to all, because that is God’s good pleasure.”
Even if we don’t believe the details, the meaning of such a scene is, of course, great news for us. Because for the millennia following that first angelic announcement, Christmas Eve after Christmas Eve, people of questionable character have gathered to hear the announcement again: to you is born a Savior. A savior, for suspicious shepherds and for us. Christ is born for us all. No one is excluded. The joy is for all people. And the truth is, if God wants to send the most important news in the world to the least deserving guys in the world, God can, because when we hear the story, we realize again, God is in charge.
And the savior is born. God sends not just the holy announcement. God sends the Savior, born for us all. Jesus’ birth is the point of the whole story, isn’t it? The savior is born. What a wonderful thought. The one who saves us all is born, but then some little question may come nosing its way in. What difference does it make if the savior is born? If life just seems too bleak, what difference does a 2000-year-old baby album make? The answer is that Luke’s story is not just a 2000-year-old baby story. When the savior is born, we sense God has come among us in human flesh. And we know that the Spirit of Jesus Christ will forever be present in the world, empowering holy actions which heal us.
Take for instance the young woman who grew up in Foster Care some years ago, then blossomed in college and a promising future spread before her. But she had no family, no one, which most of the year is okay, but not in late December. At Christmas, everyone needs family. So she took out a local ad, looking for a family to welcome her in for the holidays. And she got responses, not only from people eager to invite her into their family for Christmas, but from others who had no one. Lots of people with no one. So instead of just choosing a family for herself, she organized an event to match the “onlies” with Christmas families. In reaching out, she found a meaningful way to change other needy lives – those who had no one and those who needed to find someone to share family with. And in reaching out she found her own life changed.
That’s the kind of difference a savior makes. We reach out in our need and find the Spirit of Christ inspiring all of us to respond and connect, in ways that move us all toward wholeness. After all, we are all needy people, and unto us is born a savior.