Christmas Eve
Lk
2:1-20
12/24/17
In 9 B.C. a stone inscription was made
in Priene, a city in Asia Minor – modern day Turkey. It says: “Since providence, which has ordered
all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order
by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit
humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that
he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance
excelled even our anticipations, surpassing all previous benefactors, and not
even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since
the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the
world that came by reason of him, which Asia resolved in Smyrna.”
In this inscription, the Emperor
Augustus is called a god. That’s really
not surprising, since it was a common practice in the eastern part of the Roman
empire – a practice that stretched all the way back to the time of Alexander
the Great. What is striking is that he
is called a “savior” who has ended war and brought blessings to all
mankind. His birth is described as the
beginning of “good tidings for the world” – a plural form of the word we know
in the New Testament as “Gospel.” His birth is described as the beginning of a
new era, and in fact the inscription declares that the date of Augustus’ birth
will be the first day of the new year.
Now on the one hand this is the city
of Priene and the provincial assembly
for the province of Asia flattering the emperor in order to obtain his good
will and benefits. But on the other hand
it contains an element of truth. From
133 B.C. to 31 B.C. the Roman world had been racked by civil war. Large, highly skilled armies had fought
against each other in unceasing carnage.
The movement of these armies was a constant hardship for the locals
because the soldiers forced people to supply and move the army.
All of this had come to an end in 31
B.C. when Augustus – then known as Octavian – defeated the forces of Mark
Antony and Queen Cleopatra at Actium.
Augustus became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Areas that had suffered greatly in the civil
wars now knew so great a peace that Roman legions were no longer even stationed
there.
Augustus had brought peace. But for him, it was all about power. One by one he eliminated all of the
competition. He allied with Mark Antony
to defeat Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 B.C. Then he turned against Mark
Antony and eliminated him. Augustus
claimed to be “restoring the Republic,” but in fact he was cleverly
reorganizing things so that he was the absolute ruler. And while he may have
brought peace within the Roman empire, he certainly didn’t end wars. Instead, he launched campaign after campaign
to enlarge the empire using his newly formed professional army.
It is against this background that
we need to hear the words in our text that were spoken about five years after
the Priene inscription was made. We
learn in our Gospel lesson that there were shepherds in the area around
Bethlehem who were out in
the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with
fear.
But the
angel had not come to terrify them.
Instead he said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great
joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you
will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And as if to punctuate the truth of his
statement suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
army of angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
You will
note that like the Priene inscription the angel announces good news that is for
all people. He too announces that a
Savior has been born. And he calls him
“Lord” – the very term that was used to describe the Roman Emperor.
On the
other hand, the angel is not speaking to cultural Greeks in Asia Minor. Instead, he addresses Jews who live in
Judea. And so this Savior whose birth he
announces has a clear heritage. The angel
declares that the Christ has been born in Bethlehem – the city of David. He brings the good news that Yahweh has sent
the Messiah – the king who descends from David.
This is the one who fulfills the
prophet Isaiah: “A shoot will come up from the stump
of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” This is the one upon him the Spirit will
rest. This is the one about whom the prophet said: “He will not judge by what
he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness
he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of
the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath
of his lips he will slay the wicked.”
Yet when we
look a little closer, there are several things here that are puzzling. The glory of Yahweh accompanies angels as
they announce this incredible good news. However, the news is announced to shepherds who are living outside with
sheep. This is not something being
announced in the midst of the rich, the powerful and the cultured like in the
forum of a Greco-Roman city. It’s
announced in a backwater of the Roman empire. And it’s announced to people who
are nobodies in their own culture.
That is
strange enough. But then listen to what
the angel says, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped
in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Now we have viewed so many crèche scenes
that we are no longer able to recognize how bizarre that is. The angel announces that the sign demonstrating
the truth of his words is that they will find a baby in an animal feeding trough.
To put it in the terms of our own world: “You will find a baby in a
dumpster.”
The claims
made about Jesus Christ the Lord, and Caesar Augustus the lord, are very
similar. And yet in our text tonight we
see that these two are completely different.
Augustus operates by power and force and might. He acts to service himself. The real beneficiaries of his actions are the
rich and powerful – after all, those are the kind of people who decided to put
up the inscription at Priene.
Jesus
Christ on the other hand shows in his birth that he works in humility and
weakness. He is the Christ – the Messiah
born in Bethlehem and yet he doesn’t even have a place in an inn. He is the Son
of God, incarnate by the work of the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary. Yet he is born in the midst of animals and
placed in a feeding trough.
In this we
receive the first glimpse into how he will carry out his saving work. For Jesus has not come to conquer by force
and power. Instead he has come to win
the victory over sin, death and the devil by suffering and sacrifice. He has come to give forgiveness and salvation
by dying on a cross – a cross of all things!
Like the manger, this too is something that we have seen so often that
we now fail to realize how bizarre and offensive it was. You can hear it in Paul’s words to the
Philippians: “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to death— even death on
a cross!”
The Son of
God did not enter into the world for his own benefit. He came to serve you. The angel announced to the
shepherds, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will
be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Literally, the Greek says, “There has been born for you today a Savior.”
The angel
announced this was the Savior for the shepherds. The beneficiaries of this
Savior were not the powerful and accomplished.
They were the weak and the lowly.
Or more specifically, they continue to be all people who recognize that they are weak and lowly. Jesus is the Savior today for you when you see the sin in your
life. He is the Savior for you when you
confess the angry thoughts and words; the covetous desires; the ungrateful
ambivalence about the daily bread God so richly provides. These are the reasons that he entered into
our world and died on the cross.
He died to
give you forgiveness – to give you the status of a saint before God. Yet this would not be good news of great joy
if that were it. Instead, in the
resurrection on the third day Jesus Christ defeated death. His saving work may have been one that
occurred in humility and weakness, but he did not remain there. Instead, he rose from the dead with a body
transformed so that it can never die again.
He ascended into heaven and has been exalted as the One who sits at the
right and of the Father. As the exalted
One, he has poured forth the Holy Spirit.
Through the Spirit he calls people to faith and sustains them as
believers.
Like Jesus’
own earthly ministry, this work of the Spirit through the Means of Grace looks
humble and lowly. It occurs through the word of God preached and shared. It occurs through water in Holy Baptism, and
bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Yet just as the baby in the manger and the man on the cross were
salvation present for us, so also are the Means of Grace today. They are the
Son of God present giving forgiveness.
They are his Spirit sustaining faith in the crucified and risen Lord.
It is the
Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.
And the presence of the Spirit within you points to the day when all the
humility and weakness will fall way. As we celebrate the first coming of Jesus
Christ at Christmas we hear in our text that the announcement of this arrival
was accompanied by a multitude of the heavenly host. The angelic army showed up
praising God.
That same
angelic army will appear suddenly again to accompany the almighty Lord at his
second coming on the Last Day. The Savior will appear to give us a share in his
resurrection. We will join the angels in
singing glory to God in the highest, because of his gift of peace on earth that
will have no end.
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