Christmas Eve, 2021:
Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14
Merry Christmas! Blessed be to God and to the angel who brings us the good news of great joy for all people. For the angel said, “To you is born in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
What an awesome God we have! A God who shares his ONLY child with the world, leaves his ONLY child in an ordinary household, and trusts that the plan of redeeming humanity would succeed.
Blessed be to the shepherds who got the Good News. Why were the shepherds the ones to get the Good News first-hand? In first century Israel, most families had livestock like sheep, goats, cattle, horses, poultry, or pigs that were raised to provide labor or produce commodities. It was very common to pay shepherds to watch their sheep, which means shepherds knew people well. They knew their neighborhoods as well because of their lifestyle as nomads. They moved around; wherever green pastures were, there they were.
Through shepherds, the good news of great joy for all people was shared. They left the good news in their hands to decide if they would share or not. Before each departure for the next green pastures, shepherds trusted that people would be blessed by the good news of great joy for all people.
This makes me think of the three shepherds from the Old Testament before Jesus’ birth. Wasn’t Abraham a shepherd? God blessed him tremendously because of his believing. He participated in God’s redemption plan by showing his readiness to sacrifice his son which was eventually substituted by a ram. Before Abraham left his earthly life, he trusted that his descendants would continue being blessed by God for their participation in God’s redemption plan.
How about Moses? He became a shepherd after he got married. God blessed him because of his believing. He participated in God’s redemption plan by leading God’s people out of slavery. Before he left his earthly life, he trusted that Israelites would continue being blessed by God for their participation in God’s redemption plan.
David was also a shepherd. Because of his believing, God blessed his kingship and the unity of all the tribes of Israel under a single monarch. He participated in God’s redemption plan by defending his faith. As we know from the book of Psalms, he used his experience as a shepherd to illustrate a powerful relationship given by God to the people of faith. Before David left his earthly life, he trusted that Israelites would continue being blessed by God for their participation in God’s redemption plan.
All three of these shepherds were greatly esteemed in Jewish society because of their faith, but they all were far from perfect. Abraham, fearing for his own life, lied about his wife being his sister in the book of Genesis chapter 12 and 20. Moses failed to give God the proper respect and reverence in the desert when he took out his own frustration on God in the book of Numbers 20. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband Uriah in the book of the 2 Samuel chapter 24.
All three had their zest for life but failed to love others as God loved them. When we are not loved by someone, can we tell? I think so. Love has the power to be both tangible and intangible. It is intangible because it can not be measured or applied as a transaction. The magic is that when love becomes tangible in our lives, we begin to trust that love, don’t we? A great example: God comes to us through Jesus.
This kind of love, of course, is not dutiful affection or passionate emotion. It is not physical excitement, either. None of those! The kind of love that God gives to us is agape in Greek. Agape conveys a strong desire for the well-being of others. It is a reciprocal kind of love between God and humans. And the same principle is applied to the reciprocal love among God’s people.
The Bible is full of broken and imperfect people, like Abraham, Moses and David. The people in the Bible are just like you and me. Even though we know the fact that we are so loved by God, we still need to have reasons to love back. If there isn't a reasonable justification to love someone, we either walk away by labeling the unlovable ones as sinners, or we play sinner comfortably: “Oh, well. Anyway, I am a sinner. I just can’t.” That’s called cheap grace. It is Grace without a cross, it is Grace without Jesus Christ in our lives.
A well known quote of C.S. Lewis says, “God loves us NOT because we're lovable, because God is love. Not because God needs to receive, because God delights to give.” That is agape
Out of agape, God shared his only child with the world,
Out of agape, God left his only child in an ordinary household, and
Out of agape, God trusted that the plan of redeeming humanity would succeed.
Indeed, God’s redemption plan succeeded. God came and lived among God’s people through the life of Jesus Christ. Until these days, there are biblical stories that still do not make sense to many who live in the 21st century world: angels appearing in the sky; virgin Mary having a baby; Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension happening in the first century
All these miracles remind me of what St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29. It says, “God chose what is foolish to shame the wise, and chose what is weak to shame the strong, and chose ‘nobodies’ to shame ‘somebodies’. “
Shepherding is a humble vocation. Being the disciples of Jesus Christ is also a humble vocation. At the end of chapter 1, St. Paul’s words are a good reminder. He said that if we want to brag or boast about anything or anyone, let us boast in the Lord. Yes, let us boast in our Lord who is our Good News: “To us is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom God favors!” Thanks be to God, who is love, who is agape. AMEN.
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