Luke 2:8-14 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Christmas Eve Friday, December 24, 2021 “What Child Is This? A Savior Born for You”
“What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?” Don’t worry, I am not planning to sing this entire devotion. But that beautiful hymn that we sang at the start of our service really does ask an important question, doesn’t it? For us and for the hymn-writer, that is a rhetorical question. When he wrote those lyrics, he knew the answer. And most people who sing the classic Christmas carol—it’s been in use since the late 1800s—they know the answer, too. You know the answer, I presume. It’s why you are here this evening. The song doesn’t ask the question to test or quiz us. It isn’t trying to determine whether someone knows; it is an artful way of focusing someone’s attention on the answer. Other Christmas songs do something similar when they ask questions like “Do You Hear What I Hear?” or “Mary, Did You Know?” “What Child Is This?” is a rhetorical question. It is the theme of our service because you probably know the answer. The answer has been presented in several different Scripture readings and several different Christmas songs and hymns and carols. The answer was presented to us in promises and prophecy, in psalms of praise, and now in prose. We just heard the story, hopefully very familiar, of Mary and Joseph’s journey to the little town of Bethlehem, of their trouble finding lodging, and of the birth of her Son in a stable. We know that this little child who was laid in the manger and wrapped in cloth strips is Jesus. We know him as the most important figure in the world’s history in spite of these humble beginnings. But our next reading, likely also familiar, invites us to consider someone else’s perspective. It invites us to the fields of Bethlehem. We hear the bleating of sheep. We smell the smoke of the little fire barely keeping the men warm in the cold night air. We smell some other scents, too. These are shepherds. There’s a reason no one likes them very much There’s a reason that they are on the lowest rungs of that society’s ladder. When the people then thought about shepherds, they were glad that those men lived out in the fields with their sheep. While you know the answer to our question, these men didn’t. They didn’t even know that there was a question. They had no idea that night that anything special was going on. They didn’t know that it was the first Christmas. What did they know? They knew their place in society—and it wasn’t good. They should have known more, too. They had, like everyone does, a voice inside that told them they were outcasts because they deserved it. That voice kept on urging them to know that something was not right about their lives and their behaviors. I don’t mean because they were shepherds, but because they were people. They either knew or should have known that being the smelly dregs of society was actually better than they deserved. And that they had in common with everyone else in Bethlehem that day except for the baby in the manger. This common condition goes all the way back to the first two human beings. That’s why our first reading came from an account about Adam and Eve in the garden in the moments after their sin. That’s where Christmas starts. It starts with sinners who stand naked before God with nothing whatsoever to give to him to make up for what they have done. And generation after generation of people stand before God the exact same way. All of Adam and Eve’s descendants: kings and priests, prophets, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, you, me. If we really listened to that nagging conscience-voice, we would do nothing but beg God for mercy understanding that we have done wrong and deserve his punishment. That’s where it starts. That’s where the shepherds were on that Bethlehem night like so many others that they had lived through before. It was a night just like any other right until it wasn’t. An angel. The glory of God shining. A bright light pierced the darkness around these men and their sheep, and it terrified them. All the thoughts that they had never been able to fully express, all the pangs of their consciences suddenly erupted within them. It felt as though that bright light could shine right into their naked souls. And of course they were afraid. But the angel said, “Don’t be. Don’t be afraid. I am not coming with bad news. I am not coming with scary news or terrifying news. I am coming with good news. Good news for shepherds, yes, even for you. It is for you because it is for everyone.” And what was the good news that the angel shared? It was a baby. The Savior was born. He is Christ, the Lord. He is God come down to do for his people what his people could never do for themselves. He came to save them. He came to save sinners. He came to save shepherds. He came to save you
and me. And at that very moment, there was only one place to find him: in a manger and wrapped in cloths. What child is this? This is a Savior born for you! The shepherds heard the good news. They heard it first. Let’s hear it now. Luke 2:8–14 8There were in the same country shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified! 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: 11Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude from the heavenly army, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.” This is, of course, God’s Word. Permit me a few more comments. The shepherds heard the good news first, and many have heard it since. You are here presumably because you know the same good news. Over 2,000 years ago, in a tiny town whose name you probably wouldn’t even know except for this event, a child was born for you. He was born because you, too, needed saving. What child is this? A Savior. It’s hard to imagine as we see him in the manger that eventually we will see him on the cross. And it’s hard to imagine as we see him on the cross that we will one day see him in his glory. But this is why he has come. The glorious and holy and almighty God himself has loved people, in spite of their shame and wrongdoing, in spite of their lowly positions, in spite of their rejection of him and his Word. He loves them so much that he hides his glory—he is the Lord—he wraps it in the tiny body of an infant boy to be born in a smelly stable. And that is the start of something amazing. It is the first time that anyone has seen him, though that baby was alive in his mother’s womb for months already. And all of it has already been perfect. And all of his life will be perfect. That’s what we needed. That’s the sacrifice that he will offer, the most precious, innocent, perfect, valuable life. And all of that is the answer to this question: who is this child lying in the manger? And all of it is wrapped up in the angel’s words: “Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.” You know the good news. There is no substitute for this good news. There are cheap substitutes and imitations. I received an email just the other day. The subject line said, “Your quest for the perfect gift ends here.” I don’t even remember what was being advertised in that message. But I know this: that was not the perfect gift. The perfect gift was already given, and it was given by God that first Christmas. So what will you do with this gift? What will you do with this good news? This lesson and our next, the final one in our service, both offer suggestions. The shepherds who heard the angel will make their decision to go and see this special child. You do the same. You are doing it tonight, but don’t stop. Go to his manger bed. Remember what the angels proclaimed. Bow down and worship. Be like the shepherds. And be like the shepherds when they left the stable. Tell others what you have seen and heard. Tell others the good news. Tell others what God has told you. Let them be as amazed by God’s love and goodness as you are. Be like Mary, too. We will hear that she didn’t run through the streets proclaiming anything. She pondered and she treasured. Take time to do that as well, time to escape the loud and the busy and to spend some quiet moments considering how richly God has blessed you. And be like the angels. When the one angel had finished his announcement, as you heard already, the sky was torn open by a multitude of angels singing their praise to God. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.” Join in that song. Sing God’s praises. That’s what we have been doing already this evening and will continue to do. Glory to God, peace to us. That is what this child has come to accomplish. That is what our Savior has done. That is the message not only of our service tonight, the Scriptures we read and the songs that we sing. It is the message and the focus of every word of Scripture and every teaching that is faithful to Scripture. That is the answer to the vitally important question. It is a rhetorical question in our carol, but it is not a rhetorical question in our lives. What child is this? He is Jesus, the Lord and Savior, born for you, born for the world. Glory to God in the highest.