Focal Passage: Luke 2:4-14
“Merry CHRISTmas!” Not “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays,” but Merry CHRISTmas!
Our current series of Bible in Life lessons is entitled Looking Forward to CHRISTmas, and today’s topic is Looking Forward to JOY. The focal passage, Luke 2:4-14, includes one of most read and quoted sentences in the Bible: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night (Luke 2:8, KJV). How many children, teens, and adults have read/recited that verse in various CHRISTmas plays, programs and services!
And how intriguing those 19 words are, providing the scene for the very first and truly “Best CHRISTmas Pageant Ever.”
Before those shepherds are introduced to us, however, we meet the three leading characters of this ‘pageant’ in verses 4-7: Joseph, Mary, and her firstborn Son.
Dawson
Joseph. I like to think of Mary’s husband Joseph as one of ‘the other three wise men.’ (Wise ZECHARIAH appeared just before the birth of Jesus (Luke. 1:5-23, 57-79). Wise SIMEON arrived just afterward (Luke 2:25-35). And JOSEPH was right in the middle of it all (Matthew 1:18-25 and today’s text). Considering how Joseph handled Mary’s pregnancy, the angel’s announcement to him, the traveling, the timing, and the testing he endured surrounding Jesus’ birth, we conclude he was a very wise man. We might sing, “Joseph, did YOU know?” Actually, he knew a lot.
Mary. David Jeremiah said of her, “She honored and obeyed the will of her Father, providing His only Son a home from which He would emerge to launch the work that would define all of human history. The Child toddled behind her in His infancy. Then, in time, she followed behind Him — all the way to the cross and the tomb.”
Her firstborn Son. Luke says He was wrapped snugly in cloth and laid in a feeding trough — because there was no room for them at the inn. Notice the “little,” but significant things:
• The Son, the magnificent ‘little Stranger.’ Jesus was earth’s alien from Heaven, the God/Man, unlike any before Him or since.
• The feeding trough, the misunderstood ‘little manger.’ It was more likely a hollowed out stone block than a wooden crib.
• The “no room” situation, the mighty ‘little’ danger. It may seem a small thing, but the consequences are eternally tragic when Jesus Christ is given no room — in hearts, in schedules, in lives.
Verses 8-14 describes what I call The First CHRISTmas worship service. It was not conducted in a temple or synagogue, church or cathedral, but in the great outdoors; the tidings of Christ’s birth echoed in the skies.
At least three elements marked that evening worship:
There was PRESENCE (verses 8-9). Suddenly among the shepherds and their sheep, there appeared the shining ones. In true worship, heaven comes down! There was PROCLAMATION (verses 10-12). The “sermon” came in two-word phrases: Fear not! Good news! Great JOY! All people! A Savior! The Lord! To You! There was PRAISE (verses 13-14). Like that night of nights, every worship service should joyfully cry out “glory to God” and “peace … to people He favors!” For the next ten days may we and our churches happily proclaim … it’s CHRISTmastime: “How great our joy; Joy, JOY, JOY!” B&R — Dawson is pastor emeritus at First Baptist Church, Columbia, and has served as transitional interim pastor at numerous churches across the state since his retirement from full-time ministry.
