Isaiah 9:2-7

Psalm 96

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-20

Mt. Zion UMC, Stokesdale, NC

25 December 2006

 

Knowledge of the Shepherds

 

          Early this morning, I found myself lying in bed unable to sleep.  I’ve had many Christmas mornings like that.  Usually, I would lay awake as a child anticipating the gifts that would be awaiting me under the tree.  This morning, I had lain awake anticipating not the gifts under the tree (we’d already opened them last night), but the gift that awaited me here in this sanctuary.  For some reason, the gift of Jesus Christ born on Christmas Day seems more real to me than ever before.  So often, in my experience, remembering Jesus’ birth only really happens on Christmas Eve and by the time Christmas Day arrives, Jesus is set aside so that gifts can be opened.  By the time December 26th roles around, Christmas is essentially over and society is fixated on the coming New Year.  This morning it’s different.  This morning I was anticipating gathering here with you, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, as the Body of Christ. 

          What strikes me about this morning’s Gospel reading is the shepherds’ response to the angelic message.  They simply went as directed.  They gathered around this baby lying in a manger.  Then after sharing the story of the angelic vision, they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” [Luke 2:20].  It’s something so simple.  There was nothing complicated about this first Christmas for the shepherds.  There was no worry about the right gift or the perfect meal or which house to meet at. 

          I wonder about what the shepherds were anticipating.  Sure, they knew what the angel told them, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” [Luke 2:11-12].  That’s it… but it was cause for “glorifying and praising God.” 

          So here we are today, nearly 2,000 years later, gathered around an alter-table.  We know more of the story than the shepherds.  We know that that manger would turn into a cross.  And that cross would yield to a heavenly feast.  Yet, just as the shepherds knew, we know our savior lives.  And we too can return, glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen, as it has been told to us.

 

SDG