Jet-skiing The Galilee
The Announcement to the Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20
A Sermon On the Birth of Christ by Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
What do you think about the reported sightings of UFO's claimed to be visits of extraterrestrials?
People ask me once in awhile if the Bible says anything about such claims. Usually, I say "Not that I recognize," and leave it at that.
I do find myself intrigued though, at some accounts of sightings I have read about.
Last week I read such an account that was particularly interesting. The reason I say it was interesting is that I may have an explanation. The sighting took place in a vacant lot. The witnesses were farmhands working the night shift. They were all outside when it happened.
They reported that everything was dark and it was late, when, suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light. The men were terrified as this "object" came near them. It's brilliance lit up the area for a few moments like it was midday, then, as suddenly as it started, it was over.
Do you believe stories like that? Every one of the men gave the same detailed account. They said that in the center of the light was a form like a man, and it spoke them.
Do I have time to read the article to you? It won't take long. I'll read it in full.
(Read Luke 2:8-20)
I suppose you've already heard that story. It is a remarkable account, isn't it?
In this message, I want to look at two aspects of this sighting. I'll phrase each as a question: First, Why did God choose Shepherds to be the first to hear the news of Jesus' birth? Second, What happened to the "peace on earth" that the angels announced?
I. Why Shepherds?
Verse 8 says,
"And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night."
The birth of the Son of God on earth was the greatest event in human history! Yet, God chose to announce the event not to kings, not to world leaders, but to a rag tag group of sheep herders working a night shift on a hillside just outside Bethlehem.
Shepherds were lonely men. They spent weeks away from the cities, camping out in the fields with their sheep. They had to keep moving to keep the animals on fresh pasture. There was no time for lasting relationships. They were rough, uneducated men, accustomed to hard life. Most were illiterate and unrefined.
People in the cities looked down on the shepherding life. The shepherds could not keep the ceremonies and traditions of the scribes and elders of Israel. The Talmud said they were not allowed to serve in the courts as witnesses because of the rough lives most of them lived. It also stated, "No help should be given to heathen and shepherds."
These facts speak of the lowly position of shepherds in the society where Jesus was born. They also illustrate a part of the nature of God all of us need to understand. He honors humility. He hates pride and arrogance.
The Apostle Peter said it this way:
"God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
I chuckled at an article one of you gave me last Christmas, cut out of BRIO Magazine. The article, written for young people, was called JET-SKIING ON THE GALILEE. It said,
"Let's face it, Jesus could have made a more impressive entrance onto planet Earth. He could've surfed in on a flaming meteorite. Or skied down a laser lightning bolt. He might have blown himself out of a volcano during rush hour in downtown Jerusalem, or flown in across the blistering desert on a liquid hurricane...
"Just think, he could have ridden through the streets on a Bengal tiger or a galloping black stallion; He could have soared in on a giant eagle...
"If He really wanted people to sit up and take notice, Jesus could have hang-glided into the temple square or jet-skied across the Sea of Galilee or driven into town in a sky blue '69 Lincoln convertible. (Sure, that's no big deal now, but these toys were pretty rare back then.)
"Jesus could have arrived in style. But there was no meteorite (hot or cold), no wet hurricane - not even a moist tornado. The streets were devoid of tigers, stallions, and low-flying eagles; just a few camels, donkeys and a chicken or two...
"Instead, Jesus showed up in a barn. He was naked and bloody, a crying, drooling, red-faced, puffy-cheeked, helpless newborn baby. They cut his umbilical cord, wrapped him in cloth and stuck him in an animal feed box. In fact, his arrival was so unimpressive that it took singing angels to get some sheepherders to drop by so Joseph could hand out... uh, whatever they handed out back then... [It was] God in diapers." (1)
The owners of the sheep that night were at home in bed. Most of them probably slept the whole night through. God didn't even wake them up. They had no idea such an important event had taken place.
To most it would make more sense had the angels gone into the city to awaken the rich that night for their announcement. Then some money could have been put behind the spread of the good news.
Or perhaps they could have gone to the intellectuals and the educated. Then they could have worked through all the problems of faith before Jesus launched His career. Surely God could have devised a better strategy.
But wise men and rich men slept on that night, not knowing the happenings at the inn of Bethlehem and out on the hillside with the sheep.
The whole account of the birth of Jesus carries this same message. The shepherds. The stable because there wasn't a room available in the hotel. (I've seen some cute little mangers in Christmas plays that I wouldn't mind laying a child in for awhile. But isn't ironic that God in human flesh was laid in a feed box?)
The Apostle Paul would later speak of this lowly birth of the Carpenter's son this way:
"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God." (I Corinthians 1:27-29)
The message announced to the shepherds back then is the same message announced to us today about the nature of God. He is friend to the poor and lowly, to the humble and rejected. The rich, the mighty, the intellectuals are welcome to come to Him, but they seldom do. It hurts too much for most of them to stoop that far.
There is perhaps another message here in the announcement to the shepherds as to why God chose such a lowly birth for His Son.
Hebrews 4:15 says,
"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."
There was a European king who worried his court security guards because he often disappeared from the palace and walked in disguise among his people. When they asked him not to do so for the sake of his safety, he replied, "I cannot rule my people unless I know how they live."
God walked in the humblest circumstances in the form of His Son. No one today can say He doesn't understand how it is. He is the capable ruler of all people, not just royalty. Can't pay your rent? Can't make your bills? Out of a job? He understands. He lived in a barn part of his life!
There is a third possibility here as to why God chose to announce the birth of His Son to shepherds. Several commentators suggest that these men may have been the shepherds in charge of the temple flock, that is, that flock of sheep raised especially for animal sacrifices at the temple.
Occasionally, out of all the flocks in the vicinity, there would be a little lamb born without any deformities or blemishes. Upon recognition of that, the little creature would be taken directly to the temple shepherds and either donated or sold to them. These men would have charge of it until the time for it to forfeit its life on behalf of the sins of the people.
Could we find a more fitting picture? Here is the announcement of another lamb, born without spot or blemish, destined to forfeit his life for the sins of the people. Thirty years later, John would announce, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Never forget that Jesus was born to die. He didn't stay in the manger, a cute, cuddly little baby among shepherds and wise men and animals. His life was a laser-guided missile, aimed at destroying the domination of the devil in men's lives.
To Christians, His death has even more significance than His birth. For hundreds of years after this, Christians celebrated His death, not His birth. He died for the sins of man.
A ten year old girl went with a group of family and friends to see the Christmas light displays at various locations throughout the city. At one church building, they stopped and got out to look more closely at a beautifully done nativity scene. "Isn't that beautiful?" said the little girl's grandmother. "Look at all the animals, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus." "Yes, Grandma," replied the granddaughter. "It is really nice. But there is only one thing that bothers me. Isn't baby Jesus ever going to grow up... he's the same size he was last year."
To leave Jesus in the manger is to miss the reason He came to this earth. He came to die.
Let's move now to the second question I've posed for this passage.
II. Where is the "Peace on Earth?"
