Rev. William J. Shields St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois Christmas Eve December 24, 2014 Gospel Lesson Luke 2:1-20 1 The Prince Of Peace 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 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, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 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. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! 15 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. 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, it s Christmas Eve again. The presents are wrapped, the college kids are home (with their laundry), and the lutefisk is soaking in the lye. Unfortunately, we didn t get the snow that was in the forecast for tonight. That would have been nice. Speaking of snow, just last night, up in Minnesota, my Aunt Lena went out to do some last minute Christmas shopping. And while she was in the store, it started snowing there. In fact, when Lena came out of the store and got into her car, it was
2 snowing so hard that she was afraid she wouldn t be able to make it home! But just then, a snowplow came by and Lena remembered something that her husband, my Uncle Ole, had told her. He had told her, Lena, if you ever find yourself in a bad snowstorm, just wait for a snowplow to come by and then follow it. So that s what she did. Lena pulled out behind the plow and started following it. It was slow going, but she felt safe. And she knew that Ole would be so proud of her. But after about ten minutes of following, the snowplow suddenly pulled over. Lena came to a stop behind it. The driver hopped out and walked back to Lena s car. Lena rolled down her window and the driver said to her, Ma am, have you been following me? Lena said, Yes I have. And then she told him about what Ole had told her to do if she was ever caught in a snowstorm. The driver smiled and said, Well, you re welcome to keep following me if you want to. But I just wanted to let you know that I m done here at the Walmart parking lot and I m getting ready to go over to the Kmart. Poor Lena. All she was looking for was someone that she could follow, someone who could guide her through that terrible storm and lead her to her home. And isn t that what we re all really looking for? On this Christmas Eve 2014, I look at the world that we re living in and it seems to be lost in a terrible storm. There are wars going on, right now, in Iraq and Afghanistan and Ukraine and in half a dozen places in Africa. There are groups threatening terrorist attacks all over the globe. There are people struggling with horrible diseases, like AIDS and Ebola. There are people living in extreme poverty, struggling just to find enough food to survive. And I can t help but think about the hundreds of thousands of Christians who are being persecuted on this Christmas Eve. Many of them are being tortured and killed. In our own country, we have racial strife right now, like we haven t seen in many years. There are protests on city streets and policemen are being targeted. And the current political divide in America seems to be greater than at any time in my adult life. Add to that the economic pressures that many Americans are facing, and the family and relationship problems that many are dealing with, and it truly does seem that our world and our nation are in a time of great turmoil. And we are desperately in need of someone who can give us some vision, and some hope, and most importantly, some peace. Well I ve got some good news for you tonight. I know where we can find some peace. We can find it in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem, a little over two thousand years ago. The baby who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in that manger was no ordinary baby. He was a baby with many titles. And one of the greatest titles that the Bible gave him was recorded 700 years before he was born, in the book of the prophet Isaiah. That title is the title of my Sermon tonight The Prince Of Peace. No matter what is going on in the world tonight, no matter what is going on in your life tonight, you can have peace in your heart because Jesus was born into this world. So let s go back to that night for just a few minutes. And let s look at what happened in that manger in Bethlehem. Then we ll talk about how the birth of Jesus can make a difference in your life, right here tonight. Let me begin by saying that turmoil in our world is nothing new. In fact, my first point is that I. On The Night Jesus Was Born, There Was A Lot Of Turmoil In The World
3 Jesus was born during a time that historians call the Pax Romana The Peace of Rome. But it was a peace that was enforced by the point of a spear. Israel was living under the thumb of the great Roman Empire, ruled by Emperor Caesar Augustus. Thousands of Roman soldiers were stationed in Israel and the Jewish people resented the occupation. That resentment was always bubbling near the surface and there were dozens of underground revolutionary groups plotting terrorist attacks against the Romans. Rome had placed a King on the throne to help keep order. This King s name was Herod, but he called himself Herod the Great. Herod was a friend of Rome, so if he heard any rumors of revolutionary activity, he would respond with great brutality. The rumors might not even be true, but Herod s motto was, Kill first and ask questions later. And Herod loved to build things. He had a brilliant architectural mind and he oversaw several incredible building projects during his 33 year reign. Probably the greatest was the amazing Temple in Jerusalem. Of course, all of these projects cost money. And that meant heavy taxation. And not only did Herod s projects need to be funded, but the Roman occupying forces needed to be paid for as well. And the government back in Rome also wanted to see some profit from their conquests. The Jews were taxed so heavily that many of them could not come up with the funds needed to pay their taxes. And if they couldn t pay, their children were often taken, and sold into slavery as payment for their debt. Most of the Jewish people were peasants who lived in abject poverty. Their lives were much shorter than ours and much more difficult. And their religious leaders weren t much comfort to them. Many people in that day were devout believers in the God of the Old Testament the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But many of their religious leaders had completely lost their faith. They were corrupt and worldly. They dictated religious laws to the people that they didn t keep themselves. And they got rich by ripping people off at the Temple. And it was into that harsh, cruel world, that Jesus was born on the first Christmas night. His mother Mary was a peasant girl from Nazareth. She had been impregnated by the Holy Spirit and an angel had told her that the child she was carrying was the Son of God. Her very understanding husband was Joseph, a young carpenter. He was chosen by God to be the earthly father who would raise Jesus. Mary and Joseph had just made a difficult 100 mile journey from the northern town of Nazareth to the southern town of Bethlehem, with Mary ready to give birth at any time. They had to make the trip because Caesar Augustus wanted to register everyone in the Empire, so that he could tax them again. And some brilliant bureaucrat had decided that it would be easier to count everyone, and collect the taxes, if they all traveled to the town where the male head of the household had been born. Joseph had been born in Bethlehem, so off to Bethlehem they went. When they got there, Joseph hoped to find a place to stay with one of his relatives an uncle or a cousin or something. But the town was full of visitors, and no one had any room in their homes. They were eventually offered a space in a stable. And that s where Jesus was born, surrounded by animals, with a feeding trough as his cradle. There were no politicians there. There were no rich noblemen. There were no religious leaders. There were no soldiers. There were no important people there at all.
4 The first announcement that the Son of God had entered this world was made to a bunch of shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks of sheep in the hills on the outskirts of town. An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and they were terrified. The angel said, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. And then the angel delivered the news that every righteous, God-fearing Jew, had been waiting for centuries to hear: 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. The Savior was born, the one who one day go to the Cross and die for the sins of the world and offer us the gift of eternal life. God was offering mankind an incredible gift. Suddenly a chorus of angels appeared and sang out, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! And that s the correct translation. The birth of Jesus did not offer peace to everyone. Those who ignored Jesus or rejected him never knew the peace that God was offering on that night. But those who believed in him found a powerful inner peace in the midst of those dark, difficult, and violent times. And here is the second point of my sermon. II. That Same Peace Is Available To You Tonight No matter what is going on in the world around us tonight, no matter what storms you are facing in your own life, you can have peace in your heart. I learned that firsthand during the Christmas season of 1976, the first Christmas after my Dad died of cancer. My dad died in July, and the next several months were some really hard months. In fact, it would be several years before I would really work through all of the stuff that happened that summer. But I remember an important moment that took place just before Christmas that year. I was going to a Lutheran High School at that time, and they required all freshmen and sophomores to be in the school choir. I don t think I would have been in choir if it hadn t been required. I was more into sports and girls at the time. But it was mandatory, so I was in it. And all my buddies were in it with me. And that s how I found myself standing on a riser at the front of a Lutheran Church in Jackson, Wisconsin, on the Sunday night before Christmas. One of the songs we sang that night was an awesome arrangement of O Little Town Of Bethlehem. And for some reason, that hymn just overwhelmed me that night. I don t know exactly why, but God was just speaking to me through the words and the music in a very powerful way. And the tears just started to run down my face. The guys next to me couldn t see me. They were all looking straight ahead. And I was able to duck behind this really tall girl in my class, so that no one out front could see me. And during the five minutes or so that it took us to sing that song, God just filled me with his peace. It s hard to explain it. But I just knew that night that my Dad was in heaven. And I knew that I was going to see him again. And I knew that it was all possible because Jesus came into the world on that first Christmas. You know how certain songs connect you to certain moments in your life? Well, every time I hear O Little Town Of Bethlehem, I go back to that night in 1976. And the peace that I felt on that night comes back to me. May you have that peace in your heart
5 tonight, on this Christmas Eve, 2014. And say a prayer for our Christian friends in Sudan and South Sudan and South Africa, who are celebrating the birth of Christ tonight in the midst of persecution, and civil war, and extreme poverty. There are some terrible storms swirling around in the world tonight. But if you will keep your eyes on Jesus, and follow him, he will lead you home. Because he is the Savior of the world. He is The Prince Of Peace. Amen and Amen.