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| Some of the roughness of the shepherds is conveyed in this painting. |
Sermon for Lessons and Carols—4th Sunday of Advent, December 18, 2011
“The First Christmas Rush—They Came With Haste”
"And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger."
If I have it once this season, I’ve heard it a thousand times. And 500 of those thousand times, I was the one saying it: "We are so busy! We have something going on every night. And we still don’t have something or other done."
The holiday season is a mad rush. It used to begin with Black Friday. Now if you hit the stores at 4 am that morning, you are 4 to 8 to 12 hours late.
In my own family, we have been involved in four concerts, two play performances, class Christmas parties, the Christmas ball, along with all of life’s usual activities.
There might be a need for calling for a reform, a change of pace, a restructuring of Christmas celebrations, but 2 things:
1. I am too busy to think through how to reform the season.
2. If we cut something out, we usually come up with something else to fill in its place.
The whole Advent story is one filled with surprises, turn-of-events, and haste.
It starts with an elderly couple—Zecharias and Elizabeth suddenly having to cope with two new issues—Zecharias cannot speak and they need things for taking care of a baby.
We are told in Luke 1:39 that Mary arose and went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
How she conveyed the news of her situation is unclear, but no doubt difficult.
At least one person misunderstood—a vital person—her betrothed Joseph, her fiancé.
He found himself confronted with major dilemma, then an angel of the Lord reveals the story to him and now he had to move quickly to officially marry Mary.
The trip to Bethlehem, the problems finding an inn, the resort to a stable or cave—again all these matters—stated so briefly—are filled with stresses. (If they had arrived a day earlier, could they have found a room at the inn?)
My family never knows which is worse for us: When I get us a reservation while traveling or when I don’t. Twice we arrived in West Yellowstone in the summer with no place to stay. In some ways, they identify with the "no room at the inn" problem.
Probably most of the best places to stay were taken by Roman officials; most of the rest taken by vendors.
Along with the room shortage, there were other problems in this busy, chaotic world of this village under Roman rule: Crowds, confusion, government bureaucracy, shortages, tension, and, no doubt. sin and anger,
And in the midst of all this: Mary gives birth to Jesus.
When and where did Mary and Joseph make the connection between Micah’s prophecy and what they experienced?
Did they even want visitors?
Joseph and Mary are not the only people of the house and linage of David. Every brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin was somewhere there in that town.
We are all too used to Joseph and Mary as porcelin figures. They expressions are mild and godly; their faces ageless and untouched by events.
The real Mary would have been exhausted, and Joseph was likely quite busy and stressed over matters.
Now these shepherds arrive.
Shepherds: Even when you are living in a cattle stall, having shepherds show up is a social step down.
They held the lowest job on the social, economic, and career scale.
What do you want to be when you grow up? No one would answer, "A shepherd."
Shepherds were not even allowed to give testimony in court. Probably lots of jokes:
How can you tell when a shepherd is lying? His lips are moving.
How can you tell the difference between a shepherd and a sheep? The sheep smells better.
This stuff is not in the text. But it was in the culture.These shepherds receive one of the most amazing, powerful, earth shaking revelations in all of history:
An angel proclaims the birth of Jesus Christ. In short, they hear the Gospel and the Christmas story as one (as it truly is). Some strict language students of the Bible warn us: The song may say, "'Hark the herald angels SING,’ but the Bible does not say they sang. It only says that 'they were praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.’”
Was it a recitation or a concert?
Whatever it was, it was the warm-up act. The opening band.
The real show was in the village of Bethlehem.
They came with haste.
Keep in mind, they were still on the clock.
You loose your job as a shepherd, and where do you go from there?
Being in proximity with the herd is 99 percent of what shepherds do.
Did some shepherds go and some stay?
Did an angel volunteer to watch the sheep while they were gone?Did they just react and only later realized that they forgot what sheep were?
The slowest, most monotonous job in the world suddenly became wild and crazy.
- An angel speaking.
- A host of angels speaking.
- A mad rush into town.
- A evangelistic crusade: verse 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
- A praise and worship service after they returned: Verse 20.
But in between all the wild rush: What was probably just a few minutes…They found Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in a manger. A brief, quiet pause. Joseph is tired. Mary is totally exhausted. And here is this baby.
(I wonder if Joseph had to politely give them some social ques indicating that it was time to leave. "Thanks for coming. I guess you better get back to your sheep.")
When Nick was born, a cousin came to see him and he brought along dinosaurs. He was happy to have a new cousin, but it would be a long while before Nick played dinosaurs. When you go see a new baby, there is not a lot to do. You look, you ooh and aaaw. The tiny features are so amazing. Even when you have seen such many times. A baby sleeping is incredibly comforting to see.The scene here is such a mix: the stable, this couple, hubbbud of the village, the very ordinariness of this baby.
And yet it was all conditioned with the message:
"For there is born unto you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord."
In the few minutes that they spent gazing at this child: All of past history was there present--going back to Genesis 3:15:
" And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
All of the prophecies of Scripture: The whole story now captured in this scene.They see all of history brought to a peak.
Friends would later ask, "You saw an angel?"
"You saw the whole sky filled with angels?"
The shepherds would answer, "No, something bigger, something much greater: A babe lying in a manger!
I saw every prophecy, every symbol, type, story, every covenant of the OT brought to a great fulfillment: A Savior born in Bethlehem."
The shepherds say not only all the past, but all the future.
To use Louise Cowan’s term—an eschatological expansion of time.
The lesson to be learned: Take time.
Maybe in the mornings, maybe in the evenings, maybe on the day after Christmas.
Hopefully right now: Enjoy, relax, meditate, think, marvel.
In the mad rush of the season, Take time.
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