The gospel of Luke's nativity story is such a familiar story - we all know the names, shape, and texture of these verses read every Christmas eve. Yet the warm familiarity which is so synonymous with God's love shone in the baby Jesus sometimes dims the details of the story. Within this there are some shocking layers - this sermon focuses on the fact that God called the shepherds, religious outcasts, considered unclean, to be the first visitors to God's son, the word made flesh. To me this speaks a powerful gospel word of God's radical inclusivity, that God really means that Jesus is the good news for ALL people, underscored in the fact that the shepherds are the first to be told. Click below to read the sermon.
Vicar Brett Wilson – Christmas Eve, 2010 – Luke 2:1-20 – CELC Lancaster
When you had your first child, passed a big test, or graduated, or got engaged, or even got bad news, who did you call first? Maybe a friend, spouse, family member a trusted confidant . . . When it's Christmas, who do you call? In this beloved scripture, on the night when Jesus is born, who does God call first? I think of so many people that should have been called – Mary's parents would have liked to have known, or other family acquaintances, like Martha. I wonder if Mary, the new mother, would have perhaps liked a visit from a midwife or nurse who could help her out. God could've called a temple priest, to tell him the savior has come, that the time of waiting is over and Emmanuel, Messiah, is here. It could've even been a local call, to the innkeeper – uh, it's the son of God, can you get him a room? When something life changing happens, who you gonna call? Jesus is born, and God called the shepherds.
When the shepherds showed up first, what would Mary and Joseph have thought – God called – you? Shepherds weren't these fuzzy, gentle-giant, rustic characters we think of them as. In the ancient world shepherds were considered unclean, and outcasts. Gil Bailie reflects - “they were they unwashed, the unscrupulous. People locked their doors when they came into town. They had the social mark of gypsies, with a very low social status.” They were thought to be common thieves and men without any morals or standards. In other words, shepherds were not the first people on anyone's speed-dial. And we still do this today, construct a social ladder and put some people on the bottom and also consider them lower on God's list. They aren't the ones you call when something big happens or trust with important news. I'm guilty of it it too. I know when I got engaged last March, my parents were the first ones I called, not – the guy who sits outside the convenience store across the street who is always asking for money, looking bedraggled and smelling of alcohol. It may sound jarring, but the shepherds are meant to be surprising figures in the story. If cast today, they could be any number of people who we cast out, consider last, or untrustworthy. And right there, in the shock that God would call someone like – them – we are caught throwing stones from our own glass house, because deep down we know that we're not perfect either. Sometimes, I know I think, would God ever call me?
I can just picture Mary and Joseph, wearily caring for Jesus after their first sleepless nights, and suddenly into the stable comes these shepherds – to see their baby. That part of the dialogue isn't there, the conversation when the shepherds show up. Did Joseph look around for a missing sheep they might be looking to collect . . . What's that? Angels came to you? It wasn't just that shepherds were country bumpkins or unsophisticated, but they were cast out from the Jewish religious structure as well. Because they were considered unclean, shepherds were not allowed to enter the temple – they wouldn't have been allowed to worship, or read the scriptures, or be a part of the worshiping community. I wonder if they even knew what the angel meant by “messiah,” as they would not have been well read on the prophecies of the faithful. They were literally kept outside of God's area, and the Godly people, and yet when God has a son, the savior, they are the first called.
This is not just a interesting fact of trivia for your Christmas knowledge, this is the very core of the story. The story of Christmas is that God came down. Down to earth in the form of a vulnerable, baby, born in all appearances to the poorest status, in a food trough in a stable. God also came down that day to the shepherds – to the lowest on the social ladder – and gives them this news – “good news of great joy.” This news, that God loves us so much and saves us by coming down, this news is “for all the people” - ALL – and God showed this in a way that would have been shockingly clear to the ancient people. God must've really meant to include all people, because this news is brought first to those who were outcast, thought to be lowest, and least religious. The last ones anyone would've called or told the story. But they are close to God's heart, and first on the call list. Because God's good news of Jesus' saving grace is really for all people.
So what? Then what? The shepherds aren't left there, and neither are we. The shepherds, like us are gifted with a job to do, to proclaim this news, so they go to Bethlehem and check it out. They find Jesus – and are changed and compelled to tell everyone they meet along the way – and the people were amazed at what the shepherds told them. God's love, the news of Jesus the savior who is for all people transformed the shepherds. But they didn't become priests or professional do-gooders, they returned to their work as shepherds, though not the same. This news of God's love changes all of us – and the shepherds show us God's radical inclusivity – that Jesus the Christ came for every person, even shepherds, even me, even you.
Tonight, though this story is familiar, it is BIG news. Sometimes it seems so sacred and almost fragile that it seems distant from us, such a beautiful, far-off scene. But these were real people, and God came down to you in this child, Jesus, our savior. God came down and called all people into this good news – every single person. Notice that the angel's words to the shepherds are present tense – Jesus “who is the Messiah, the Lord.” It is now about 2,000 years after that night, but the story is still in the present tense. God loves you now. God is here now. God moves in the world. God comes down tonight. God calls the outcast, the last, the forgotten – first, as a testament that in God's love, not one will be left out. Something important is happening, in the world, and God calls you. God calls to you here, through this story. How did you first hear this story? Someone told you. Someone read it. God calls to us through each other, through stories and traditions passed down. This story. Now. It's big news! And God calls every person. God calls to you in love. Amen.
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