Sermon preached Monday, December 24, 2018, Christmas Eve, at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Littlestown, PA.
Our scripture today told the story of Christmas from the time Mary and Joseph receive the news from the angels until Christ’s actual birth. Four narratives, telling four parts of the Christmas story. And in three of those narratives, the angels say the same thing.
“Do not be afraid,” the angel Gabriel tells Mary. “Do not be afraid…for you have found favor with God.” (Luke 1) An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph and says, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1) Finally, an angel appears to a group of shepherds in a field and declares, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.” (Luke 2) Words to a perplexed teenager, words to an anxious husband-to-be, words to terrified shepherds. Over and over again: “Do not be afraid.”
Interestingly enough, in the fourth reading, our designated Gospel reading for this morning, there are no angels, no announcements, no exhortations of “Do not be afraid.” In this fourth reading, Christ is finally born and there is no more fear. God comes into our world, takes on our flesh, and fear is no longer in the driver’s seat.
It’s not that there was nothing to be afraid of—of course there was! Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem because of a census required by the occupying Roman Empire. The threat of violence was never far away if Roman soldiers thought the people around them were getting a little too uppity or encouraging sedition.
More threats came from the local ruler, King Herod. When he discovers that Jesus exists and that he is to be a king, he takes it upon himself to kill all children in and around Bethlehem under two years of age to prevent anyone from usurping his throne. Mary, Joseph and their young son are forced to flee their home, travel to Egypt as refugees, and hide there. As Jesus grew older and began proclaiming God’s word to all people, many of the established religious leaders felt their position and power being threatened, leading them to plot Jesus’ demise.
There was and is still plenty in the world to cause fear and anxiety…but the birth of Jesus, the coming of God to dwell among us in our own flesh…this gives us peace and knowledge and strength that is far greater than fear.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with Peanuts, the comics and movies starring Charlie Brown. Many of you probably watched A Charlie Brown Christmas at some point in the past month or so. Anyway, the story of that Peanuts special is somewhat straightforward. Charlie Brown is struggling with the over-commercialization of Christmas and his inability to figure out what Christmas is all about. He arrives at the rehearsal for the Christmas play, and he is still struggling. He asks loudly if anyone can tell him what Christmas is all about. …and then comes Linus.
Linus, if you remember, always has a security blanket. He is teased for it. His friends and family try to trick him out of using it and try to take it away, but he needs it. It gives him comfort when he is afraid or unsure. This Linus is the one to tell Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about by reciting verses from the Gospel of Luke, lines that we heard tonight in our third reading. It’s simple and yet remarkable…but someone pointed out to me something even more interesting this year: Linus and his blanket are inseparable, but as he recites from Luke’s Gospel, he drops his blanket. He doesn’t need it because of the story he’s heard, the story that has been passed down to us, the story we heard tonight, the story that changes the whole world.
Linus picks his blanket right back up again when he’s done. He will be afraid again…just like we will. We will still be afraid of being taken advantage of, of our loved ones dying, of not being able to pay our bills. We will still be afraid getting hurt, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We will still be afraid, from time to time, that we may not be as good of a person as we want to be. We will still be afraid, we will still find ourselves struggling with anxiety, we will still need to be comforted…and that’s when the Christmas story does its best work.
The message tonight and tomorrow, the message of the incarnation is deceptively simple: God came to us to show us exactly how much we are loved. Another pastor put it this way:
“When God surveyed humanity and realized how dark and difficult our days could be, how confused we get about our identity and place, how many painful things we do to each other out of that confusion and insecurity, God decided to do something about it. And so after giving the law and sending the prophets, God got involved. Personally, intimately involved with God’s fallen creation.” (David Lose, http://www.davidlose.net/2015/12/christmas-eveday-c-keep-it-simple/)
God got involved, but not in a way that brought destruction or judgement or condemnation. No, God got involved and brought hope, light and a Savior willing to die on the cross to show the incredible extent to which God loves us. God did not give up on us, abandon us, or decide that a different creation might turn out a little bit better. Tonight, we celebrate the Good News that God is always finding ways to come to us, to find us, to meet us where we are in our world, just as God came as an infant born and laid in a manger.
Do not be afraid, for Christ is born. Son of God. Word of God. The Light of the World. The Good Shepherd. The Way, the Truth, and the Life. Wonderful Counselor. Almighty God. Prince of Peace. Lamb of God. Messiah. Emmanuel.
Christ has come. Love has come, and never will leave us.
Do not be afraid.
Amen.
Drinking from a Deep Well 