Do you ever feel like life and important decisions of the world happen out there, somewhere else? In some high-ranking board room, there is some government announcement or policy, even zoning changes of people’s houses or taxation decisions take place above and beyond us and we just have to compile?
We have seen it this year with the government took over a catholic hospital in Canberra, interest rates and bills increased and you really can’t content them. Political discussion breaks down between two leaders and more destruction follows affecting many other people.
Once my brother-in-law was arguing about his rates with his local council and causing quite a stir on their local community page. He asked me how much I pay for my rates and I was like, I have no idea. It comes in and I press the pay button as I just assume I have to pay it; like I don’t really have a choice, I have no idea what happens if I don’t pay.
We are not in a position of power, we can’t do much about it. If there was a food chain or a pecking order of things, do you feel like you are not really close to the top, but probably somewhere down the bottom?
In the famous Christmas story, it is also made up of no-bodies just like us, those on the outside who feel left out. The story actually includes those who are involved in scandal and those who are looked down on by society.
Mary and Joseph
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree across the whole Roman world. This decree comes from Augustus, the great Lord and Savior of the Roman world. He brought about the Pax Romana, the great worldwide pace across the empire. He is so important he got to mess up our calendar by inserting a month, August, in his name. He was sovereign over his people and their calendars. And in this decree, we come across two people caught up in this decision, Mary and Joseph.
This did not put them in good social standing. Socially people would have talked about them behind their backs, it would have been disgraceful and shocking in their town as people spoke about and watched this couple continue in their wedding plans. And then Caesar says you have to go back to your ancestor's place, and because Mary was still going to wed Joseph she goes to his side of the family back to Bethlehem. Now, this journey was about 110 km from Nazareth to Bethlehem, which I assume was not a great physically comforting thing for Mary who was very pregnant by now.
So when this unscrupulous coupe comes into town, it is busting at the seams, and they can’t get a guest room. Air BnB is booked out, and the best they can do is get a room near the animals. Someone may have taken pity on them and did what they could for this very pregnant woman, controversial or not. And while they were there, Mary did give birth, she delivered a baby boy, her firstborn and he was placed in a manger. This boy, born out of wedlock to an unknown father, in a town far from his home would shake not just the Roman Empire but the whole history of the world. No one knew this yet, but our counting of the years will be based on this event.
Shepherds and Angles
The scene changes in our story and takes us to shepherds in fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. And angels from heaven come with a message
This is huge and strange. This is huge because the long-awaited Messiah is said to have come, to have been born. This is epic, throughout history there as been hints that this messiah would come and here we have a message from God saying, today is the day. This night, things are going to be different. This night a Savior for all the people has arrived.
But this is strange because shepherds were not the big wigs and important people of this world. While the rest of the world was busy getting counted, these guys were out in the fields moving around, mostly unnoticed by the government. "They are, quite literally, not worth counting" (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 1 Pastoral Perspective)
In the Jewish legal cases, shepherds were disqualified as being witnesses for they were not trusted. They would be away from home for a long time, they lived out in the open and were dirty and probably smelled like sheep. One third-century rabbi said “There is no more despised occupation in the world than that of a shepherd” (cited in PNTC James R Edwards)
And yet they get to be the first witnesses to Jesus’ birth.
Did the angels take a wrong turn that first Christmas night? Had they intended to announce the king of peace to movers and shakers, the important people? The angels knew exactly what they were doing, of course. The new king born this night has brought peace to all men and women, but especially to the poor. (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Homiletical Perspective)
Shepherds and Jesus
The shepherds, who were disqualified from serving as witnesses in legal cases in Judaism, are qualified to be the first witnesses of the gospel, not because of any innate abilities, but because of “the word that had been told them” (v. 17). It is not witnesses who invoke the word, but the Word that calls, creates, and empowers witnesses (The Gospel according to Luke The Birth of Jesus (2:1–20))
They are given a message from God’s messengers and so they go and visit Mary and Joseph and see baby Jesus in a manager just as they were told. After that, they can’t help but tell others. They went out and spread the word and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. They themselves would give glory and praise to God for the things they had seen.
On this Christmas night, God did not come into the world of the rich and powerful. It was not from the household of Ceaser, but to a young no-name unwed couple who couldn’t find a guest room. God then called shepherds who lived on the margins of society to be His witnesses, to spread the heavenly message about God who came from heaven to earth.
This baby, as the angels said, would be Lord and Savior and would bring peace. But not in any way people have known. Augustus had the title of Lord and Savior and His peace was brought in through much bloodshed. This baby born with the animals would bring about peace between people and God and would spill His own blood for it. He came to free the world, but not through conquest but by a cross.
The true decree of good news did not come from Caesar but from God’s messengers about a baby born in the City of David sleeping in a feeding trough. May we give glory and praise to God for this message, for this Good News to all people. God arrived, unexpectedly, to people who were unsought. If the Son of God can arrive in such circumstances, so can truth, so can joy, so can peace and love.
We may feel on the out, we may feel overlooked, but we can take comfort in knowing that these are the types of people that God includes in His story. We can be like the shepherds, who were given Good News about Jesus who is Savior, Lord and Messiah. Upon hearing this news they then acted and spread this message with joy, telling others and praising God.
This Christmas, let us remember that God does not forget us, and wrote Himself into the story of the world, to save the world and to bring it peace. This is Good News.
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