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Luke 2:1-21

Message for Christmas 2022

Andy Nagahara

Now it is the last week of Advent. Since Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, some churches will hold their Christmas service on that day, but many churches have their Christmas service on this last Sunday of Advent. So let us, too, reflect on the events of Christmas today as we read the Gospel of Luke chapter 2. At first, let’s read verses 1-7.

A. The miserable birthday (1-7)

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

As many Japanese people value their ancestry, it seems that Jews valued their family lineage even more. Although we will not read it today, Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy from Abraham through David to Jesus. It certainly seems that Jesus was born into a venerable family, but by Joseph’s generation he was no longer of the privileged class.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, the town of the family of David to which Joseph belonged, there was no one to welcome them and they could not even stay at an inn, so they had to spend the night in a livestock stable, and there Mary gave birth.
Oh, what a miserable day of childbirth! Compared to today’s well-equipped maternity hospitals, childbirth was a life-threatening experience for both mother and child. They must have entered this moment with a terribly uneasy feeling. Jesus, who was prophesied to be born King of the Jews, began his life as a man by being placed in a manger, not in a soft bed in a warm room of a royal home. It was a life that began in the least favorable environment, rather than with special benefits.

And Jesus is the one who always stood in the midst of those who suffered from their circumstances, and finally ended his walk as a person by being killed as a criminal on the cross. The fact that there was no room in any of the inns in Bethlehem to receive Jesus seems to me to symbolize that the world did not welcome his coming. This is because everyone prefers to have someone else make sacrifices for them rather than to make their own sacrifices for someone else. This is how people have fought against each other, race against race, and country against country. And the weaker and smaller ones have been sacrificed.

Jesus came to put an end to such injustice. He came to realize a world where the small and the weak can live in peace. He is knocking on our hearts, as He wants to start that from the heart of each and every one of us.

Our hearts don’t need to be a room like a special room in a gorgeous Trump hotel at all. He will gladly dwell in a person’s heart if they welcome Jesus as Lord, even if it is a small, weak, poor heart, as if it were a stable, totally unsuitable as a room for even an ordinary person to stay in, let alone a king. If you have not yet accepted Jesus as Lord of your life, then please do so today.

B. The Sign (8-14)

Now let’s read the following verses 8-14.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Shepherding is a traditional job in Jewish culture. David, too, was born into a family of shepherds and helped in the family business from childhood. However, by the time of Jesus, it had become a job to be looked down upon by religious people. Because of their way of life, it was difficult for shepherds to keep the detailed regulations of the law at that time. God chose such people and had angels announce the birth of Jesus. It was a fitting combination for a Savior who was born in a stable and placed in a manger. God first announced the birth of the Savior, not to the religious, but to the shepherds whom they despised. This was because religion at that time had become something for a few religious and wealthy people who were far from God’s will.

Let’s listen again to the angel’s call to the shepherds.

It means that God can no longer stand being continually misunderstood as a God for a particular ethnic group or class of people. This is God’s declaration that ” I am the God of ‘all the people of the little ones and the weak ones who, like you shepherds, have been neglected, discriminated against, and cold-shouldered by the powerful and the religious!’　

In verse 14, we see the pairing phrases of “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests,” but these are not two separate things, but different aspects of one thing. The glory of God in heaven is manifested through the bringing about of peace on earth by those who are willing to do His will. God shows his glory by first creating peace in those who walk in obedience to Jesus, and then by spreading the peace that is in them to the world. God has placed all of you followers of Jesus in this world as messengers of God’s peace.

The signs passed on to the shepherds are also signs given to us. That is an invitation to find Jesus who stands with the weak, the little, the oppressed, and the afflicted, and to live following Him.

C. Mary Convinced by Shepherds’ Testimony (15-21)

Lastly, let’s read verses 15-21.

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

Until now, the couple (Mary/Joseph) and the shepherds had had nothing to do with each other, but it was an important encounter for both of them. To Joseph and Mary, as well as to the shepherds, the angel announced the birth of the Savior Jesus. However, it was not a sure thing for either of them. We do not see angels in our lives very often. It is an experience that makes us think that it was just a dream or an illusion.

When the shepherds found the three in the stable and discovered that Jesus had indeed been placed in the manger, they were convinced that it was not their dream or illusion. They then told Mary and Joseph what had happened to them.

Mary and Joseph were convinced by the testimony of the shepherds that they were not the only ones who had been spoken to. They then gave the child the name Jesus, which was shown to them by the angel.

Jesus has revealed Himself to us as well. The words that were spoken to our hearts were joined by the testimonies of the people and turned into conviction. Yet, our minds will doubt again and again. And it is someone else’s testimony that renews our conviction at that time. The testimonies are not the kind of words that persuade, but the sure footsteps that the person is walking with the Lord and the joy that appears in them.

May this Christmas be a discovery and rediscovery of the fact that Jesus is walking with each of you. See you again on Saturday for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, either at this location or by live-streaming.

（Prayer） Dear God, in this time of commemoration of your coming to this world as one person, give us the same conviction in our hearts as you did with Mary.
It has already been 2000 years since the beginning of your new plan, yet the peace you are giving us is not fully expressed in this world.
Please prepare us, guide us and use us so that the peace you have given to each of us may be expressed in this world as widely, greatly and strongly as possible.
We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Summary

For about a year after the announcement of the conception by the Holy Spirit, Mary and Joseph waited in anticipation and anxiety for the child to be born. The situation of childbirth was so harsh that they could not believe it was God’s plan, but they were convinced that his birth was the beginning of God’s great plan by the testimony of the shepherds.

For Discussion

What kind of people fits God’s will?
What was Mary pondering in her heart?