Christmas Eve 2023 Good News of Great Joy: A Savior Has Been Born FIRST LESSON
Good News First Shared
Genesis 3:8–15
I often try to put myself in other people’s shoes, to try to think like they might think, ask the questions I think they might ask, imagine how they might feel. I suppose we all do that sometimes. I find myself doing that at Christmas. For lots of different reasons, people find themselves here in church on Christmas Eve—even if they usually don’t go to church. Some people might come to a service like this and not believe what the pastor says and the people sing. I get that. There are other reasons to be here tonight. Family is a good reason. Nostalgia drives some; curiosity others. We’re usually a mixed bag here on Christmas Eve. When it comes to this night, no matter whether church is not our thing or church is our everything, we at least expect certain things. We expect to hear the sweet songs: O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, Silent Night, and the precious and peaceful story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible. But then…we hear some words that I suspect not everyone is prepared to hear though—because they are not happy words. In fact, they’re the worst. I promise we’ll sing those songs and we’ll hear the beautiful words of Luke chapter 2, but first this from Genesis chapter 3, because you can’t understand Christmas or feel its impact on your heart if you don’t know WHY Jesus had to be born. So, we hear about how human beings rebelled against God, knowing that we do the same. But the glimmer of hope for us all—the Good News—is found in the last words here—a promise that’s a little cryptic, talking about someone who would come to crush the devil, who led people into sin. The promises and prophecies about the Savior who would come to do that become more and more clear over the years—and we’ll hear some of those tonight. But first this: 8
They (Adam and Eve) heard the voice of the Lord God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” 11God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14The Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the livestock, and more than every wild animal. You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.
HYMN 357 A Glory Fills the Midnight Sky