An Extraordinary Ordinary Luke 2:1-20 December 25, 2016

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Joel Singleton
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1 An Extraordinary Ordinary Luke 2:1-20 December 25, 2016 Introduction: For those of you who don t already know, I m a huge Star Wars fan. For pretty much my whole life Star Wars has been without question my favorite movie, but during the summer of 1982, Star Wars was temporarily dethroned for a little film you might have heard of called, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. For those of you who for some unknown reason have never seen the movie it s about an alien creature that s accidentally left behind here on earth and is befriended by a ten-year-old boy named Elliott. There are plenty of reasons to love this movie, but I think the reason I loved it so much back when it came out was because I was a ten-year-old boy just like Elliott. And I must confess that I secretly wished something extraordinary like meeting a stranded alien creature would happen to me just like it happened to Elliott. Now besides revealing how much of a geek I was as a kid (did I say was?), this gives you a little insight into the kind of stories I like. I ve always enjoyed tales where ordinary people have some extraordinary thing happen to them. There s something that captures my imagination about normal, every-day people encountering the extraordinary. For Elliott in E.T., he is just living the typical life of a ten-year-old by when he unexpectedly discovers a space alien hiding out in his backyard tool shed. That s pretty cool to me. In our passage in Luke 2 this morning, we find another story of extraordinary events taking place to very ordinary people, except unlike E.T., this story is true. It s a story we all know well: it s the story of the birth of Jesus. And as we read once again the story of Christmas, I d like you to keep in mind this one theme that runs throughout this entire passage, and it is just this: Main idea - Our God uses ordinary means for extraordinary ends. So please open your Bibles with me to Luke 2 as we read about how God worked in extraordinary ways in the midst of the ordinary people and events of our world. Story: We ll begin by reading the first three verses. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. Now I know we re all familiar with these opening words because we ve heard children recite them at Christmas pageants or we remember Linus reciting this passage to help Charlie Brown understand what Christmas is all about and they bring us nice warm and fuzzy feelings whenever we hear them. But if we can try to put aside for a moment all the sentimental trappings we associate with them, then don t these first three verses of 1

2 the Christmas story strike you as somewhat boring? Nobody is going to make this their life verse are they? Luke starts off by giving us a bunch of details about a census the Romans took in order to better collect taxes. I don t know about you, but I don t relish reading about my own taxes much less about the ancient Roman tax system. This is not most thrilling introduction to the story of the birth of Jesus if you ask me. Yet this very mundane event of registering for a census sets the stage for the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. In Micah 5:2 it says, But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. So God in His sovereignty moved Caesar Augustus to take a census so that Joseph and Mary would have a reason to leave their hometown of Nazareth and end up in Bethlehem during the time Jesus was to be born. God uses something as ordinary as registering for taxes to accomplish His will. Let s move on to v. 4-7, And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. As a result of this census, Joseph needs to register in Bethlehem since his lineage was traced back to David. It was a Jewish custom to register in the home city of one s ancestor, so Joseph packs up his suitcase and he and Mary head out to make the 90 mile journey to Bethlehem. Now I m going to risk of making a few of you grumpy with me at this point by challenging a couple of myths about Joseph and Mary s stay in Bethlehem. Christmas plays usually dramatize this by having them arrive in Bethlehem at night, with Mary in labor pains. Joseph desperately goes to every Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn he can find looking for a room but he s out of luck because every place has their red neon no vacancy lit up. So in desperation they end up hunkering down in a stable where Jesus is born. Now that makes for some good drama, but it probably isn t very accurate. First, the language in v. 6 suggests that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem for some time before Jesus was born. Look back at verse 6, And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth The wording indicates that some time had passed already since they arrived. Joseph and Mary had mostly likely been in Bethlehem for a few days if not a couple of weeks before Mary gave birth. Second, the word we translate as inn is almost certainly better translated as guest room which is how it is normally translated in Greek. Later in the gospel Luke uses a different, more common word to describe a formal inn, but he does not use that word here. Also, Bethlehem is a small town not on any main road, so it would be very strange for a formal inn to be present there. So what Luke is describing here most likely refers to some kind of guest room in a private home or a public shelter (Bock 208). 2

3 It s probably closer to the truth to imagine that Joseph had some relatives in Bethlehem whom he hoped to stay with, but due their guest room being occupied by other relatives in town for the census, Joseph and Mary had to sleep either in the animal stable next to the house or in one of the near-by caves that residents of Bethlehem often used for stables. So I m afraid that the unsympathetic innkeeper who turns Joseph and Mary away in many a Christmas play probably does not exist. It is in one of these stables or caves that Mary gives birth to Jesus. After Jesus is born, Mary wraps him in some cloths to keep him warm and places him in a manger which is basically a box made out of wood or stone used to hold food for animals. Nothing terribly glamorous or exciting about that is there? It s about as glamorous as being born in a garage. Stables and mangers were everyday elements of people s lives in the ancient world. Yet here in the most ordinary of places, in the midst of the sounds and smells of a stable, we find the most extraordinary event in the history of the world taking place - Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the One who spoke the very universe into being, is born a tiny helpless infant to a common teenage girl. In that dirty manger, the ordinary and the extraordinary intersected in a way that staggers the imagination. The Almighty God whose presence dwelled in the Holy of Holies had become a newborn baby, lying at the bottom of a smelly animal feed box wrapped in dirty strips of cloth. Let s look back in your Bibles at v and see what happens next. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a 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 suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom his is pleased. Let s talk about shepherds for a moment. Shepherds were on the lower end of the bluecollar work force back in the day. It wasn t the worst job in the world to have, but you did exactly envy them either. These shepherds were your average ordinary footballwatchin, beer-drinkin, flannel shirt-wearin hard-workin Joes who got stuck working the graveyard shift. So these ordinary guys are working another ordinary boring evening when something quite extraordinary happens. An angel appears and the glory of the Lord shines all around them. You know how it is when you ve been sitting in a dark room and then without warning somebody turns on all the lights? Same idea, except the shepherds aren t in a living room; they re out in the middle of a field where there isn t suppose to be any light other than what the moon and their campfire can provide. Needless to say, these guys are scared out of their wits! So the angel tells them not to be afraid, which I quite frankly find to be the most humorous part of the Christmas story since what else do you expect these poor shepherds to be after an angel in all his glory 3

4 suddenly shows up in the middle of the night. Anyhow, the angel tells them that the Messiah has been born to them and they can find him wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. That alone would have been plenty to snap them out of any grogginess they had, but they hadn t seen nothin yet! Before their eyes had properly adjusted to the light front this single angel standing before them, suddenly a huge army of angels appeared around them and spoke in a grand cacophony of voices, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on with whom he is pleased. Whoa! Well, if that doesn t get your attention, then I don t know what will. Look at how they respond to all this in v When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. The shepherds are pretty blown away by all this so they head off into town and start poking their heads into all the local area stables until they find the one with a manger that has a baby in it instead of animal feed. After seeing the baby, they tell everyone they can find about what happened and what the angel had told them. Needless to say everybody is amazed by they story and the shepherds are flabbergasted that they of all people are one of the first to lay eyes upon the promised Messiah. But the shepherds can t leave their sheep alone for too long, so they all head back out to their field, giving God praise for the extraordinary evening that they ve just participated in. So what are we to learn from all of this? As I said at the beginning, there s one theme I see running throughout this passage, which is that our God uses ordinary means for extraordinary ends. We ve seen God use ordinary things like a census, a stable, and a manger as well as ordinary people such as a young teenage couple of Joseph and Mary and a bunch of blue-collar shepherds for some extraordinary purposes. So then, what should be our response? How are we to respond to God s extraordinary use of the ordinary in this passage? I think we can find our answers from those in this passage who experienced it themselves. Each of the three sets of characters in this story - the angels, the shepherds, and Mary - response to God s extraordinary work of the birth of Christ in ways we would do well to imitate in our own lives this Christmas. The first response we can consider is that of the angels. In light of these extraordinary events, the angels respond with praise. 1. The angels respond with praise We re told that when the whole host of angels appeared, they praised God saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men withn whom he is 4

5 pleased." The birth of Jesus is a pivotal moment in salvation history. God is setting in motion the plans he had made before the foundation of the world: to send his Son into the world to save us from our sins. This baby Jesus, born into the humblest of circumstances, is none other than God-incarnate, the Word made flesh, the promised Messiah. Nothing short of a choir composed of thousands of angels is necessary to give God praise for this amazing gift of grace! So our first response to the extraordinary work God has done for us in Christ should be praise. Jesus is God s expression of his deep love for us. Once we understand that, then our hearts are opened to love him in return. And when we love him, then the natural outpouring of our heart is to respond with praise. See, we praise what we love. The more we love something, be it a person, a sports team, or a work of art, the more we praise it. Praise is the natural fruit that grows out of the soil of love. For example, I love my wife Karen. There is not a single person on the face of this earth that I love more than her. And because I love her, I find it easy to praise her in what I say. You don t have to coax me to say nice things about her; I want to tell you how wonderful she is as a wife and what a great mother she is to our children. I can t help but speak well of her and praise her because I love her. To praise Karen is the most natural thing in the world for me to do as her husband. If that s true of my wife, how much more so should it be true when it comes to our awesome God! God wants for us to love Him so deeply that we can t but help to speak his praises. I remember after I first became a Christian in Savannah, GA, I began to attend Savannah Christian Church. One of the first things that struck me about the service was that everybody there was singing, really singing with passion in their voice. This was quite unusual for me as I was accustomed to the Lutheran services I had attended all my life where people, if they actually did sing at all, just mumbled the words. But here I was in a place where people wanted to sing praises to God, where worship was not some reluctant duty but a heartfelt overflow of praise to the God who had personally delivered them from sin. As a result, I can never stand up here and demand you to sing with more passion to God on Sunday morning because the worship God wants isn t about the volume of our voices. Praise begins in the heart, from falling in love with Jesus. If we love Jesus, then our outward passion in worship will be in direct correlation with the love we have for Him in our hearts. If it s not first in our hearts, then it can never truly be on our lips. My desire is for us to be a church that praises God with passion, but the only way for that to be true is for us to be more deeply in love with our God. If we do the outward acts but our hearts are not in it, then our worship may look passionate to the eye, but God knows our hearts. God wants us to give him praise out of hearts that love him for who he is and all he has done for us in Jesus. So to be more passionate worshipers of God, we must be more passionately in love with him. So we ve seen that the angels respond with praise to this extraordinary event. While the shepherds also praised God for what had transpired, we re told they proclaimed the good news they heard from the angels. So our second point is that 5

6 2. The shepherds respond through proclamation Once the shepherds arrive at the manger, we are told in v. 17 that they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. This means at the very least they related to Mary and Joseph what the angel had said. But it seems clear they went around and told anybody willing to listen about the good news of the birth of Jesus. I bet by the next morning Mary and Joseph had half the town of Bethlehem stopping by to see this child the shepherds were making a big fuss over. Personally, I think it s really cool that the very first evangelists in the New Testament were a group of unnamed shepherds. God didn t choose a great priest or king; he chose some blue-collar average Joes working third shift to become the first people to tell their family and friends the good news about Jesus. God used simple ordinary people to proclaim the extraordinary news about Jesus. What God initiated with those shepherds 2000 years ago is the same thing he does today. God uses ordinary men and women who have been transformed by the lifechanging love of Jesus to be his evangelists in their community. Like the shepherds, God would have us be so gripped by the love of Jesus that proclaiming the gospel would not be a duty but rather a passionate desire where we cannot help but tell others about this Jesus whom we so deeply love. So yes, be like the shepherds and go tell others about Jesus. Be Salt and Light! God uses ordinary folks like you and me to proclaim the gospel. But understand that just like praise, it s not a matter of the will but a matter of the heart. Guilt is a terrible motivation for evangelism. The only God-pleasing motivation for evangelism is because you love Jesus so much that the rocks would cry out were you to be silent! If you want to tell others the gospel, then begin first by preaching it to yourself until you are so in awed by the mercy and grace shown to you in Christ s death and resurrection that you can t help but speak it. So then we ve seen the response to these extraordinary events first as praise from the angels and second as proclamation by the shepherds. Now we turn to the third and final response we find in this passage. We see that 3. Mary responds by pondering Luke tells us in v. 18 that those who hear the shepherds testimony wondered or as the NIV translates it, were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. To be amazed is not necessarily the same as believing. Throughout the gospels we find that many people are amazed at the miraculous deeds of Jesus, but don t believe in him. Jesus does some miracles and people say, Wow, that was really neat, and then promptly forget about him. But Mary has a different response. Look again at v. 19, But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. The word used here for ponder means to contemplate, to think through carefully, to mull over in the mind. Mary 6

7 didn t just give these events a passing mental glace. She thought about them. She tried to understand what this all meant. She mentally chewed on them for a while. Mary took the time to do some theological reflection which is pretty impressive for a 13-year-old girl. Mary s ponderings are a call for us to do the same. The extraordinary works of God through Jesus Christ his Son are things we as Christians are to ponder, to carefully reflect and meditate upon. Living in the culture we do, this kind of deep reflective thinking is a lost art. Our world wants our information quick and easy, from the sound-bite gluttony of the news media to the polarizing dichotomy of us good / them bad in our political landscape to the short, quick frenzy of messages on Facebook and Twitter. We want our information the same way we want our food: fast, cheap, and on the run. But Mary presents an alternative. She models for us the Christian thinker. She shows us our need to slow down, turn off the TV, put down the ipod, and step away from our Facebook and Twitter messages and just think. Ponder and reflect on who God is and what he has done. A deep faith is never gained by shallow thinking. A deep spiritual life is gained by engaging God with your mind as you ponder carefully his Word and his world with thoughtful diligence and intellectual honesty. Let me challenge you this morning to take some time today to ponder the meaning of Christmas. Pull away from the presents and food and the football game and in the quietness of your own heart reflect upon what it means that Jesus, the baby lying there in the manger, is God in the flesh come to dwell among us and save us from our sins. Ponder the miracle of Christmas. And do this not only for Christmas, but as a regular part of your life. In your times of personal devotions, give careful consideration to God s Word and reflect on what God has done. Be a Christian who thinks and ponders and meditates on God s Word and allow God to use that to transform your heart and mind into a deeper love and understanding of him. Conclusion: I hope as you celebrate Christmas today, you find yourself drawn in by the amazing and extraordinary love of God shown to us in Jesus. We ve seen how God in his grace used the ordinary things of life to perform an extraordinary work. My prayer is that as a result of this you are drawn deeper into praise and worship of God, that your lips are eager to proclaim the good news of the gospel to those who have yet to hear, and that your minds are filled with the silent pondering of this great mystery of Immanuel, God with us, in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let s pray. This sermon was addressed originally to the people at Grace Fellowship Church of Waterloo, IA by Pastor Rob Borkowitz. Copyright

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