For Unto You Is Born
Luke 2:1-20
One of the most often asked questions at
this time of the year is, “What do you want for Christmas.” Ask most children that question and you will
probably get an answer pretty quickly that would include a list of things that
are high on the lists of most children their age. Gifts are a wonderful part of Christmas. Whatever the age, we all look forward to
being able to open the wrapping paper and discover the treasures that are
inside. It is also important for us to
remember that the idea of giving gifts comes from the greatest gift of all, the
gift of a Savior, Christ the Lord. On
this Christmas Eve, may you never forget that the gift of a Savior has been
given to each one of you. To help you
remember that, I would like to have you think back to that first Christmas
night and remember what happened when the angels appeared to the
shepherds. The message of the angel is a
message that was not just for them but for everyone in the world. It is a very personal message as well. Remember that the angel said, “Unto you is
born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” May that message have a special meaning for
you this Christmas Eve and may that special message move you to make this
celebration one that makes a difference in your life.
Imagine being one of the shepherds out in
the field. Your job is keep watch over
the sheep in your care. You are watching
out for predators that would like to take advantage of the smaller or weaker
sheep. The night is clear and cool like
it usually is. It is quiet except for
the random baaing of the sheep. There is
nothing unusual about this night. It is
much like the hundreds of nights before and the thousands of nights that other
shepherds had spent on these hills outside the city of Bethlehem. It was dark and quiet until suddenly there
was a bright light in the sky like nothing you had ever seen before. The other shepherds gathered together and
shielded their eyes from the light that pierced through the darkness. It was brighter than the full moon ever
shined. It was a brightness that could
only come from heaven. Then you saw
it. An angel, a messenger from God,
appeared. You and your friends were
shaking with fear. What could this all
mean? Was this the end of the world? Was this the angel of death? Was this the angel that killed whole armies
in a single night? There was good reason
to be afraid. Then the angel began to
speak. It was a voice like no other
voice on earth. It was a voice that
spoke with an air of authority. “Fear
not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people.” Fear not! That’s easy for the angel to say. You still need some convincing though. What is the good news of great joy? Why is that angel telling us this good news? What does it have to do with a bunch of
shepherds out in the fields? Those
questions were about to be answered.
“For unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Now that is some message. First
the angel said that the good news was for all the people. Now the good news is that a Savior, Christ
the Lord has been born in the city of David, in Bethlehem. He is the Christ? He is the Lord? He is a Savior? That sounds big. If He is the Christ, that means that God’s
promises of sending the Anointed One, the Messiah have been fulfilled. This is really big news. This has been the hope of our people for
centuries. The prophets have spoken of
this Messiah. We have heard the writings
of the prophets in our synagogues our whole lives. Does this mean that the prophecies are now
being fulfilled? If that is what it
means, this is really, really big news.
The angel also called Him the Lord. Could it be that this the one that Isaiah
called Immanuel? That means that God is
with us. He is God and He is now living
among us. How could something like this
happen? We’ve heard these promises for
years but like so many other things that we hear, we never think that would
happen in our time.
The angel also said that this was the
Savior. That’s the hard one. What is this Christ going to save us
from? We would like to be saved from our
enemies. We would like to be saved from
the drudgery of our work. Watching these
sheep all the time can be a real drag.
Nothing much ever happens, until tonight that is. Maybe we will be saved from having to keep
these sheep in such good condition all the time. Most of them are only going to be sacrificed
at the temple anyway. It would be great
if we could be saved from having to bring all those sacrifices. I guess we will find out soon enough.
There is one thing that bothers me though
that just doesn’t quite make sense. The
angel said that unto you is born this day.
My wife and I are not expecting a child.
In fact none of the other shepherds are expecting children at this
time. Why would the angel say that unto
you is born this day. He did say that it
was good news for all the people. Maybe
this Savior is for everyone. Since He is
supposed to be Christ the Lord, maybe He is everyone’s Savior. If that’s true then he must be my
Savior. “Unto you is born” must mean
that He was born for me.
Let’s return now from the fields outside
Bethlehem to the comfort of Zion Lutheran Church and think about what the angel
said and what those shepherds must have thought. You have the advantage over those shepherds
because you now have the Good News explained for you in the pages of the
Scriptures. You can answer the questions
that the shepherd may have been asking out in the fields when the skies lit up
and the angel spoke to them. You know
that the child who was born in Bethlehem was truly Christ the Lord. He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed
One that the prophets had foretold. He
was the Lord because He was the Son of God sent down from heaven to be your
Savior. He grew up and lived a perfect
life in your place and then sacrificed His life as the punishment for your
sins. In a sense He did eliminate the
need for further sacrifices of animals because He was, as John the Baptist
said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
One word in the angel’s message to the
shepherds is often passed over by us as we hear it year after year. That one word is “you.” Unto you is born this day. That one word makes this whole message a very
personal one. In our little imaginary
thoughts of the shepherd before, he thought about what that could mean. What it means is that Jesus came into the
world for you, for every one of you. He
came because you needed Him to come and take your place because you would be
lost without Him. Because of your sins,
your sins of greed, selfishness, hatred, envy, lying, and the list could go on
and on, you have separated yourself from God.
That’s what sin does. It can be so
easy to celebrate this time of the year without even thinking about why Jesus
had to come into the world. You can get
so caught up in the traditions and celebrations that you forget that it was
your sin that caused God to sent His only Son into the world to be your Savior,
Christ the Lord. That gives a deeper
meaning to the word, “Unto you is born this day.” Because He came for you, the sins that had
separated you from God have been wiped away.
They have been forgiven. Because
He came for you, God sent the Holy Spirit to work in you so that through the
Means of Grace you could believe that Jesus is your Savior, Christ the
Lord. By that faith, one of the greatest
gifts that you could ever receive, you are brought back to God and you are
given the assurance that one day you will be heaven to sing with the angels and
all the hosts of heaven that song that the shepherds heard on that night,
“Glory to God in the highest.” It is all possible because unto you is
born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Amen.
Rev. Gerald D. Matzke
Zion Lutheran Church
Painesville, Ohio
Christmas Eve 2013
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