We all know what a special evening this is—especially for our boys and girls as they await a visit from Santa Claus.
I understand that some children let Santa know what they want for Christmas by e-mail. In fact, I have some actual e-mails that some boys and girls have sent to the North Pole.
“I’m sorry, [Santa]” says Jon, age 7, “but I don’t have a chimney. I’ll leave the cat flap unlocked for you, but please watch out for the litter box!” Good advice.
Here’s another e-mail: Writes Christian, age 8, “Mommy and Daddy say I have not been very good these past few days. How bad can I be before I lose my presents?” Good question.
“I’m sorry for putting all that Ex-lax in your milk last year,” writes Bruce, age 7, “but I wasn’t sure if you were real. My dad was really mad.”
Kayla, age 8 writes, “Pleeease! Don’t bring me any new clothes.” Some of us know what she means.
Finally, Rosanne, age 11, writes this to Santa, “Do you know Jesus is the real reason for Christmas? Not to be mean,” she continues, “but he is.” (1)
Well, of course, Rosanne is right. Jesus is the reason for the season.
Years ago, there was a cartoon in the “Family Circus” comic strip. A little girl is depicted standing on a chair and looking down into an open drawer. Behind her is a lovely crèche scene. It’s obviously Christmas. But in the caption the little girl calls out, “We forgot to put the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve, Mommy. He’s still in the drawer.” (2)
I hope Jesus is not still in the drawer at your house. How difficult it is, sometimes, to keep our priorities in the proper order. But that’s why we’re here this evening. And I know all our boys and girls are going to receive something good from Santa this year—not because they have been good necessarily—though most of them have been—but because they are loved. And that is the reason for Christmas—God sent His most important gift into the world not because we were good, but because God loves His children, all his children.
I wish that I could have been present that first Christmas with my camera, don’t you? It’s the most beautiful story ever told. Can you imagine the pictures we could have taken? We could have filled our Facebook pages for sure. Let’s begin with the first words in our lesson for the day:
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.”
Ah, yes, Caesar Augustus—that’s our first snapshot. Can’t you see him in his royal robes? Augustus assumed he was the most powerful man in the whole empire. Look at him strut. Roman coins bore a graven image of Caesar Augustus. A caption on the coin read: divi filius, “son of god.” Hmmm . . . that’s interesting. It was believed by Romans that Augustus, the first of the Roman emperors, was divine—conceived by a serpent as Augustus’ mother lay asleep in the temple of Apollo. (3)
Augustus had thousands of Romans bow down at his name, tremble at his power; but he didn’t have a clue that in a few short years his reign would come to an end. Meanwhile that very night a babe would be born who would reign forever—King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Augustus had not a clue that this babe who would be born in the small town of Bethlehem in Judea was the true divi filius, Son of God.
He didn’t realize it, but Augustus Caesar, who thought he was so cunning and so powerful, was simply a pawn in the story of the first Christmas. How so? Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Everyone was ordered to the town of their birth to register. Thousands of people were uprooted from their homes traveling many miles mostly on foot—trying to find shelter in a town where they may not have resided in decades.
But the joke was on Augustus. The prophet Micah hundreds of years before, had prophesied in writing (Micah 5:2) that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. But that could only be accomplished if Mary and Joseph had a good reason to travel from their home in Nazareth the 90 miles to Bethlehem. It was a long and arduous journey and Mary was “great with child.” (KJV) The reason that motivated them to make that journey turned out to be the census decreed by Caesar Augustus. Even Mary and Joseph probably did not realize that they were fulfilling an ancient prophecy by going to Bethlehem. Someone far greater than Caesar Augustus was controlling their destiny.
Augustus accomplished many fine things as the first Roman emperor, among them the Pax Romana, a largely peaceful period of two centuries in which Rome imposed order on a world long torn with conflict. He built roads and vastly expanded the empire. In fact, what he really accomplished, though he was not aware of it, was to make this vast area of the world much more accessible to Christian evangelism. It was not that many centuries later that the notoriously pagan Roman Empire was known as the Holy Roman Empire. We owe a debt to Caesar Augustus, who thought he was all-powerful, but was really an unwitting instrument of God. That’s our first snapshot—Caesar Augustus.
Our second snapshot is quite a contrast to the emperor’s magnificent palace. It is the humble stable in which the holy babe lay. It has always fascinated Christians that when God came down to earth, He did so in such humble surroundings.
Philip Yancey in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, tells of a visit Queen Elizabeth II made to the United States. He says that reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: for example, “her four thousand pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion” . . . For some reason she carried along “forty pints of plasma” [I guess in case she was in an accident]. Most unusual of all, the list included “white kid leather toilet seat covers. She [also] brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country,” says Yancey, “can easily cost twenty million dollars.”
Yancey adds, “In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses . . . ‘How silently, how silently,’” concludes Philip Yancey, ‘the wondrous gift is given.’” (4)
A seminary professor, Malcolm Tolbert, wrote an article asking and answering the question why Jesus was born in a stable. “Had Jesus been born in a mansion on the hilltop,” Tolbert wrote, “few people would have felt welcome in His presence. But He was born in a barn; anyone can go there. The lowly shepherds did not hesitate to enter a stable and bow before the Child. Then and now anyone willing to humble himself may come to Jesus.” (5)
As we reduce Christmas in our time to an occasion for extravagant gift-giving and tinsel and all manner of glitter, let us consider what it means that the Christ was born in some of the most deprived circumstances in this world. The angel Gabriel came to a humble maiden in an obscure village called Nazareth to tell her that she would bear a child who would be called the Son of the Most High. She could not foresee that his birth would be in a stable with cattle and sheep as witnesses. Through the centuries Christians have kept a consciousness of Christ’s humble birth as well as a sense that we, as his people, should have a sense of responsibility for those who do not share in the affluence we enjoy.
Mike Slaughter in his book, Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, tells us that in medieval times, “Christians would place candles in their windows to welcome the Christ Child [on Christmas Eve], who was looking for places where he would be invited in. No one knew for sure how he might appear. Perhaps he would come dressed in the rags of a beggar, or he might come as a poor and lonely child. Maybe he would come in the form of a person with disabilities or as a homeless wanderer of the streets. It became customary for devout Christians to welcome into their homes any of ‘the least of these’ who knocked at their doors on Christmas Eve. To turn away any might have meant the rejection of the Christ Child, who had come in unfamiliar garb . . .” (6)
So, the second snapshot is that humble stable with cattle and sheep and a humble young couple and their newborn son.
The third snapshot is of shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. In the picture an angel of the Lord is appearing to them, and the glory of the Lord is shining around them, and they are terrified. And the angel is saying to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appears with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
It’s interesting that the first thing that an angel invariably says in these biblical encounters is what? That’s right, “Don’t be afraid” or “Fear not!” It must be a startling experience to encounter one of these messengers of God. But this is an integral part of the Gospel—the idea that followers of Jesus should not be afraid.
Fear is one of the most common emotions that human beings experience—fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of failure, fear of losing your job, fear of doing the wrong thing and embarrassing yourself, etc. The list goes on and on of things to fear.
The angels were proclaiming a message that sooner or later will speak to every heart: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” That’s a message that gladdens the heart of every believer.
Some of you may have a tradition of watching the popular TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas each year. James Moore in his book, Christmas Gifts That Won't Break, tells about a beautiful moment toward the end of this animated Christmas special.
The scene features Linus, the fearful kid known for his security blanket that he carries with him everywhere he goes. The next time you watch the show notice that at the end, Linus takes the spotlight. He begins to recite the Christmas story from Luke 2, our scripture for this service, but he adds a little bit of drama when he comes to the part about the shepherds receiving the news of Jesus’ birth. When he quotes the angels saying, “Fear not,” Linus throws his blanket down and finishes the story with both hands free so he can give gesture to the amazing announcement of the gift of love in the baby Jesus. “There are many messages of Christmas,” writes James Moore, “but there is one that everybody in the story received and receives. And it is, ‘Fear not.’ Do not be afraid. It seems that everybody needed to hear it.” (7)
We do need to hear it. The world can be a scary place. But the world is far less scary to those who trust in the message of the Christ child.
Three snapshots—Augustus Caesar in all his earthly but unsuspecting glory; a humble stable where the true divi filius, Son of God was born; and the shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night when an angel announces to them not to be afraid for a Savior has been born to them in a stable in Bethlehem. No wonder that a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” It was the grandest night since the creation of the earth. Amen.
1. Doc’s Daily Chuckles, http://family-safe-mail.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=55.
2. Dr. William P. Barker, Editor, Tarbell’s Teacher’s Guide, September 1996~August 1997, (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook Church Ministries Curriculum).
3. Albert Barnes, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke.
4. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), pp. 36-37.
5. Contributed. From a sermon by Rev. Joe McKeever.
6. Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus
7. James W. Moore, Christmas Gifts That Won't Break [Large Print] (p. 51). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.