The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 2, the familiar and beautiful story of the birth of Jesus Christ. You can find Luke, Chapter 2 on page 857 if you're using the Pew Edition Bible. Luke, Chapter 2. And as we come to God's Word this Christmas morning, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the precious gift of Jesus Christ. We thank you that he is the light in our darkness, the joy in our sorrows. We thank you for his humility, his gentleness. We thank you for this Christ child who grew up to be the Savior we need, the one who died in our place and raises us with himself to a new life. This Christmas, let us indeed come and worship our newborn King. We pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Luke chapter two, the first 20 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. 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 clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 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 great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all 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 clothes 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 he is pleased. 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. Praise God for the gospel of his son. Beloved, this is the fifth sermon that we're spending in the company of the shepherds. We've been spending this Advent season watching in the fields, hearing the words of the angels, and now this morning we get to accompany them to the manger in Bethlehem. This morning, our sermon is going to have four movements, or you could think of it as two sets of reactions. First, we're going to look at the shepherd's reaction. Second, we're going to look at Mary's reaction. Third, we're going to look at the shepherd's reaction, part two. And then fourth, we'll look at Mary's reaction, part two. So the shepherds and Mary are reacting to this good news of the gospel. So first, we look at the shepherd's first reaction. This is what we've been looking at the last four weeks. The angel came and told the shepherds the good news. The Savior, the one you've been waiting for. The King from David's line. The one who's going to reconcile God. And man, He has finally come. And He's just over there in Bethlehem. And this is how you know that what I say is true. You're going to find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Jesus lying in a manger was a prophetic sign. It's an Old Testament thing. When God spoke, he would provide some sort of sign to prove that what he said was true. And it was always something very unusual. You might think of some Old Testament examples, like when Gideon left a fleece outside all night, and when he woke up, the grass around the fleece was all covered in dew, but the fleece was completely dry, and then the next night he repeated the experiment. and the fleece was soaking wet and the grass was completely dry. That was a strange prophetic sign. Or you might think in the, I think it's in the book of Isaiah, that there's a sundial that moves backwards. These are unexpected, strange things that God did for his people to prove this is how you'll know that what I'm saying is true. So the angel says, this will be a sign for you. You'll find this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Because a baby in a feeding trough was just as unusual back then as it would be today. It was a sign of how God was going to act in this world. Remember, we've talked about this a few times already this month. But when Luke starts out chapter 2 of his book mentioning Augustus and Quirinius, it's not just a little historical tidbit. It's not one of those throwaway verses. You know, like when you were a kid, you probably memorized this passage. Those opening two verses were kind of the hard part, you know, like spitting out the words Caesar Augustus and then Quirinius, remembering those names. But Luke didn't put that in there to trip us up or to see how close we're paying attention. Luke is including those names to set up a contrast. Caesar Augustus we saw from historical documents, he claimed to be the son of God. That's what he called himself. He called himself the savior of the world. He claimed to bring peace on earth through the spread of his empire. So when Luke mentions Caesar Augustus and when he kind of plays with those ideas of peace on earth, the savior of the world, the son of God, Luke knows what he's doing. The story of Christmas, as Luke tells it, is political dynamite. Luke 2 is a direct attack on the system of Caesar, the systems that our world still run on. Caesar promised the world salvation, he promised the world peace, he promised security, but he gained all these things by squashing others, by ignoring the needs of others, by letting unimportant people, at least in his sight, fall through the cracks. It was a power game. It was a plunder others game. It was a look out for number one, no matter who else gets in the way game. No matter who we have to push aside, we're going to find our peace. And then Quirinius was just a puppet of Caesar in Palestine. These registrations that Quirinius held, they were tools of control. They were this reminder to the people who was in power. Caesar and Quirinius run the world the way we want to run our lives. We want control. We want to gain security by amassing wealth like they did. We want to gain peace, and we think peace is me getting whatever I want. We want to gain security and salvation. We think it comes by building up our reputation and having others think much of us, all at the expense of other people. But the angel says, in contrast to that, this will be a sign to you. A child shivers in the cold, lying in a manger. That's the sign that God gives us. It's a sign that the world's systems will not win. Caesar's power, Quirinius' power, they're not lasting. Political parties, systems of control, grasps at power and wealth that we make as countries and that we make as individuals, they are not the last word. Because think of these two. I mean, Caesar, he's just a historical figure. I mean, he shows up in a couple Shakespeare plays. We know his name, but he doesn't really have any power anymore. Quirinius, I mean, other than this verse, who knows who Quirinius is? He's just a footnote in a history textbook. Within a hundred years of Luke 2 happening, Caesar's successors in Rome, the emperors that followed him, they not only had heard of this child born in a manger, they were trying to squash his followers. There was great persecution. Within 300 years of Luke 2 being written, the emperor himself became a Christian and the Roman Empire simply became a tool for spreading the gospel. And now 2,000 years after Luke 2 was written, The Church of Jesus Christ continues to increase, but not the way the Roman Empire increased. By the way, where is it today? The Church of Jesus Christ increases by reflecting the humility and compassion of Jesus. If you look through history, the church always crashes and burns when we try to latch on to the systems of the world. When we try to latch on to political movements or parties, we always end up compromising ourselves. Just look at the Crusades in history, the damage the church did then by jumping onto a political movement. Look at the state of the American church through the eyes of all the foreign countries who are desperately sending missionaries to us because we need them. Stop running after the Caesar way. Instead, follow the shepherds, the humble, dirty, stinky, outsider shepherds. Follow them to the manger. When you're driving home today, if you go anywhere in St. John, you're going to see little creches in front of buildings. When you see that manger in there, when you see a picture of the manger on a Christmas card, on an ornament, It's a sign to you this day. Not a sign to say, oh, look, how cute. Isn't that nice how they decorated their business or their church or their home? Oh, that's so sweet. It's a sign to you, just as it was to the shepherds. See what it's pointing to, the explosive truth that the baby lying in the manger is the true king of the world. a call to stop grasping at power, stop trying to find security at the cost of others, stop trying to find your hope in yourself. Instead, hear the explosive truth that Christ has come for you. And then follow the shepherds and run to the manger and see this thing that has happened, that the Lord has made himself known to us. Run to the manger and as you run there, admit how fallen you are, how broken you are, how hurting you are. Run to the manger and see that even though all that's true, God has come for you. He's chased you down. He humbled himself to find you. He has entered into your struggles. Too often there are pieces of ourselves that we try to hide. The parts of us that feel guilty or ashamed or confused or lost. But the story in Luke 2 reminds us that those pieces of you are precisely where God has come to meet you. He wasn't ashamed to be born in a stable. He wasn't ashamed to be laid in a manger. He wasn't ashamed to have the first people gathering around him be these dirty shepherds. Don't be afraid. These are tidings of great joy. His love is greater than your heart or mind can comprehend. He's come to be your companion. The world continues to shout and scream and overwhelm us with claims of power and promises of peace. Peace when there is no peace. Run to the manger and see the true promise hidden there. The promise that blossomed into the Savior we need. See this sign and know that God's word is true. Moving on to Mary's reaction. Verse 19 says, Mary treasured up these things, pondering them in her heart. That word pondered, in Greek it means to put something in context or to connect the dots from one thing to another, to understand where something fits. I mean, who knows what Mary thought when these dirty ragamuffin shepherds burst into her delivery room. It must have been a bit alarming. But as she listened to them, as she heard their story, as she heard about the angels and the signs, she started connecting the dots to things that the angel had told her in chapter one, to the things she had heard and seen herself already, to the scriptures she had heard growing up. She pondered these things. The word treasured, the other thing that Mary does, it has to do with emotions. It has to do with your heart. Mary had an emotional response to this news. She relished it. She experienced it. She celebrated it. She knew that Christ was born for her as well. This Christmas, join Mary. Ponder these things. Connect the dots. The scriptures you've read, the carols you've sung, the sermons you've heard, the sacraments you've been graced with, connect the dots from your own broken heart to the giving, humble heart of Christ. Preach to yourself. Remind yourself of the preciousness, the value, the wonder, the power of this gospel. and treasure the fact that this isn't some historical tale. This isn't some emotional climax to the Charlie Brown Christmas special. This isn't a religious fantasy. This is not just true in some abstract sense. Treasure the fact that these things written about in Luke 2 are true today, even for you. Moving on to the shepherd's reaction, part two. They didn't just run and see for themselves. What they saw led them to do exactly what the angels did. This is what the shepherds had happen to them. The angel came and shared the news, so the shepherds did what the angel did. They went and spread the news too. The angel choir sang glory to God, so the shepherds ran out, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Remember, the Greek word angel simply means messenger. And in that sense, the shepherds themselves became angels, messengers of God. This news is too good to keep to yourself. This news demands a reaction. This news demands to be shared. This news demands you to respond with praise. But for you to understand this news and have that reaction, you have to understand how much you need this news yourself. Many of you probably know Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a Christian martyred by the Nazis during World War II. He wrote a letter on December 17, 1943, only a few years before he was martyred. He was in a German prison and this is what he wrote. He wrote, from the Christian point of view, there is no problem about celebrating Christmas in a jail cell. In fact, many people in this prison will probably be more sincere and more genuine in their celebration of Christmas than in many other places. The misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness, and guilt found in a prison are exactly what Christmas is meant to address. For in Christmas we learn that God will approach where men turn away. That Christ was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn. These are things a prisoner can understand better than other people. For him, these are really glad tidings. If we understand the message of Christmas, we will react like Bonhoeffer did. Well, no, this is not just a time for warm fuzzies, and I mean, I like Hallmark movies as much as the next person. This is not just a time for family and friends, even though I'm looking forward to a celebration of Christmas with family and friends. This is not just a time for presents and decorations, even though presents and decorations are wonderful. Those are all good things, but they're not ultimate things. This is a day to celebrate. the glad tidings of freedom for prisoners, justice for widows and orphans, welcome for strangers, a home for the lonely. This is a day to celebrate full and free forgiveness for all your sins. That's the sort of news that leads us to praise. That's why we've come to church this morning. That's the sort of news that leads us to boldly and constantly care about telling others this news. The shepherds couldn't keep this to themselves and neither can we if we really understand. A church that understands the gospel is a church of shepherds, a church of messengers, a church that goes and tells, a church that glorifies and praises with their whole hearts. Finally, we need to look at Mary's reaction, part two. We're told that Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart. And if you read the book of Luke, you see that she went on doing that her entire life. As you read the rest of Luke's gospel, Mary's always there, kind of on the fringes, watching her son, listening to him, continuing to ponder and treasure these things. Until one day, decades later, When she saw her son die on the cross, she was one of the few people that stayed with him there. The words of the prophet Simeon, spoken later in chapter 2, came true. A sword pierced her heart as she watched her son die for the sins of the world. And three days later, she went back to pay her respects to her son. She went to help embalm his body with some of her friends, some of the other women who were following Jesus. And it's interesting the way Luke tells the story. I mean, Luke starts the gospel with an angel appearing to Mary. Luke ends the gospel with an angel appearing to Mary. Luke starts the gospel with an angel telling the shepherds to go and see this thing. Luke ends the gospel with Mary standing by the empty tomb of her son. She's one of the women who went there that Easter morning. And there, she heard an angel again saying something very similar to what the angel said to the shepherds. The angel said, come, see the place where they laid him. Just like the angel said to the shepherds, go and see the place where they are laying him, a manger. But when the angel said it to Mary, He said, come and see this empty tomb. Come and see the hope that you need. And Mary responded the same way the shepherds did. She ran and told others. She ran and told the disciples. In the book of Acts, Mary continues working for the church. She was there in that upper room on Pentecost when the tongues of fire came. They rested on her and the other disciples. As the church began to bring the good news to every family on earth, she was part of that. So this Christmas, let's join with Mary and the shepherds. Let's remember the humble Christ in the manger. Let's look forward to His humble death and then His glorious resurrection. Let's see this great thing that has happened for us, this salvation. And then let's run and share the joy of the Gospel. God loves us. God is with us. He so loves us that He gave His Son to be our brother, our friend, our light in the darkness, our hope in sorrow. Saint Leo the Great closed his Christmas Day sermon sometime in the 440s with these words. He said, Christmas means the ancient slavery is ended. The prison of hell is opened. The devil is confounded. Demons take to flight. The power of death is broken. Paradise is unlocked. The curse is taken away. Sin is removed from us. Error is driven out from us. Truth has been brought back to us. And kindness is diffused for all the earth. Christ has come. See this thing that has happened and go and tell. Amen.