There are some scripture passages that everybody knows. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Everybody knows that line from the 23rd Psalm. “In my Father’s house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Almost everyone knows that one, too, from the Gospel of John. And this one: “Fear not! For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will be to all people. For to you is born this day a savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Those words that the angel spoke to the shepherds on that first Christmas are in our cultural consciousness. People might not know that they come from the Gospel of Luke; but even non-Christians know that they have something to do with Christmas. Many more who don’t know the details of the story know that an angel spoke these words. These are very familiar words to most of us.
But familiarity can sometimes be a problem. We know this
story of the shepherds and the angel so well that when we hear it, we miss how
astounding it really is! Even more troubling, we are tempted to read it as
history – something that happened once upon a time – and miss what it has to
say to us here in the 21st century. But it has a message for us here
and now – a message that we really need to hear.
We all know the story. A group of shepherds are watching
their flocks in the fields at night. It’s a night like any other night – dark,
quiet, and unexceptional. Suddenly, in the middle of that dark, quiet,
unexceptional night, an angel appears right in front of them – an angel who is
surrounded by God’s glory! Luke tells us that they were terrified!
It seems a bit of an overreaction, doesn’t it? But if you
consider that those shepherds suddenly found themselves not only in the
presence of an angel, but surrounded by the glory of God, that terror makes
sense. Today, we see God’s glory as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ: the
merciful savior who went to the cross on our behalf. But these shepherds didn’t
know anything about that. All they knew about was the glory of God as the Old
Testament describes it. And God’s glory was a dangerous and terrifying thing. In
the Old Testament, God’s glory surrounded God like an aura. To be in the
presence of God’s glory was to be in the presence of God himself. And everyone
knew that no human being could possibly survive in the presence of God. That’s
why Isaiah, seeing God in the Temple, cried out, “Woe is me! I am lost!”
(Isaiah 6:5) Anyone who came into God’s presence unprepared would be consumed
by God’s glory. Those shepherds knew that they were in a very dangerous place.
The angel was frightening enough; but to be surrounded by God’s glory… Why,
they expected to be burned into ashes at any second!
And so, before they go any further, the angel reassured
them. “Fear not!” said the angel. At least, that’s the way that the King James
Version puts it. “Fear not! I bring you good news of great joy that will be for
all people!” Well, of course, we think; what would the angel bring but good
news? But to those shepherds, the glory of God might well bring anything but good news! The Old Testament is full
of prophecies that reassure us of our ultimate salvation; but it is also full
of prophecies that threaten us with destruction. Consider this text from the
prophet Isaiah, for example (24:1-3). “The Lord
is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate. He will twist its surface
and scatter its inhabitants. It shall be, as with the people, so with the
priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her
mistress… The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled; for the Lord has spoken this word.”
According to the Old Testament,
God’s glory announces judgment and destruction just as often as it offers
salvation. What were the shepherds to think? They hardly ever worshipped in the
Jerusalem Temple. According to the religious authorities, they were ritually
unclean, and therefore unacceptable to God. They gambled and cheated and fought
and used foul language. In short, they were pretty much like many of us are
today! Did God’s glory announce their salvation or their destruction? If I had
been one of those shepherds, I know what I would have thought!
We know the answer, of course.
God’s glory on that first Christmas night announced not destruction, but the
greatest salvation that humanity had ever imagined. And once the angel put
their fears to rest, he announced exactly that: the good news of great joy
which will be to all people – the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It was
good news to the shepherds, and it is still good news to us today! But I
suspect that many of us still need to hear what the angel said to the shepherds.
“Fear not!” “Don’t be afraid!”
Because we are afraid! When we feel ourselves surrounded by the glory of God,
some of us – like the shepherds – are afraid that God has come not to save us,
but to punish us. We get that idea from all kinds of folks who don’t have a
clue as to what God is doing, but who somehow think that they have a hot line
to God’s intentions. Confident TV preachers, for example, tell us that
hurricanes and tornadoes are God’s punishment for our sin. Some of them warn us
that God has abandoned our country because of our tolerance for diversity. And,
of course, we watch that fine church from the Midwest picketing the funerals of
soldiers, all in the name of a God who kills brave men and women because – they
say – God hates gays. No wonder that so many people are afraid of God’s glory!
They feel that they have to walk on eggshells so that they don’t risk offending
a deity who might use wind or lightning or even bullets against them!
Other people are afraid of God
for the opposite reason. These folks believe that the angel meant exactly what
he said when he announced peace on earth. The trouble is that we are the ones that God expects will
help to bring it about. If that’s the case, then we should start behaving like
Jesus did; and that is a frightening
possibility. If we are going to behave like Jesus, then we should be seeking
power in humility instead of in money or social position. Instead of arming
ourselves to the teeth with handguns and assault rifles; we should be turning
the other cheek, and praying for the people who want to do us harm. Instead of
making plans based on our own whims, we should be listening to God’s guidance. Even
more frightening than the possibility that God might punish us is the
possibility that God might actually work the way that the gospel says he does –
quietly, in out-of-the-way places that nobody notices, in the hearts and minds
of people just like you and me. We might be afraid of a God who uses violence
to get his way, but we can deal with it. After all, that’s the way that we do things! But a God who insists on
being powerful through humility – that frightens some people to death!
To those who are afraid that God
is poised to punish them, and to those who are afraid that God expects us to
give us our worldly ways of power and violence, the angel has the same message
– “Fear not!” God’s glory is here to save us – from our fears, from
destruction, and from ourselves. Don’t be afraid. It really is good news of
great joy for all people. God has come among us to save us! Rejoice! Christ is
born!
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