Be Not Afraid

TC, SERMON, SEEING IS BELIEVING FR. SCOTT HOMER
In the name of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

THE ANGEL SAYS, “BE NOT AFRAID...”

On this night some two thousand years ago, a world that had grown weary of faithfulness and increasingly resigned to God’s judgment received a surprise gift. God, who had every reason to bring destruction, acted in an unexpected way and the dark world was not flung into deeper despair. Instead, the world saw a great light and was greeted into a new age of hope.

Have you ever been caught red handed? Maybe somewhere along the line you took something that didn’t belong to you. You thought you could get away with it but you got caught. Or, maybe you said something terrible about a friend behind their back. You didn’t think they would trace it back to you but they did. Maybe you went someplace that you shouldn’t have, or did things you regreted, or maybe you looked at things that you shouldn’t have looked at and somewhere along the line your misdeed was discovered. You got caught. If you have ever had such an experience you know what it feels like to be ashamed and frightened.

After St Luke describes the time and the place where the Christ was born, he says that an angel appeared to some shepherds who were watching their sheep. Now you need to understand that this was a real angel—not the fairytale type of angel like the one’s our mom’s and grandma’s wear as jewelry, or the ones you see in cartoons. The angel that appeared to the shepherds was a real angel. His job was to wage war against the supernatural powers of darkness. He fought demons. He was an avenging angel who brought punishment to all of God’s enemies. Real angels are frightening—strong and powerful. And this angel, along with the others that fill the sky over Bethlehem, are called the “host of heaven.” And “host” is actually a military term for a large army. There was a large army of supernatural warriors hovering over the heads of these poor lowly shepherds. No wonder the angel says to the shepherds, “Be not afraid.”

And as if that were not enough, for hundreds of years the prophets of Israel had been warning the people that the day was approaching when God’s host of heaven would come and destroy them for their unfaithfulness. Generation after generation they had been called to repent and return to the Lord, to make amends before the great and terrible day of the Lord came, before humanity’s rebellion against God would be put down once and for all. So when this host of angels appeared to the shepherds, I suppose they must have wondered if the Day of Judgment had arrived! But of course, God had a different plan in mind.

Christmas reminds us that when God was faced with a rebellious and sinful people God’s answer was not to destroy. God answered the sins of his people by sending a sinless Savior. “Be not afraid!” God has not come to wage war against you. God has come to wage peace! For all who will listen, and to all who will respond in faith, the angel is not a messenger of death but a messenger of new life: “Be not afraid for to you this day is born a savior.”
“FOR TO YOU THIS DAY IS BORN A SAVIOR.”

And so the angels, scary as they must have appeared at first, did not come to destroy God’s people. They came, in fact, to announce a new beginning. God and man reconciled to one another through this newborn child in Bethlehem, this God-man laying in a manger. Instead of a final tragic ending God delivered a new, hope-filled beginning.

The story of Christmas is the story of a new beginning but it is just a beginning. It is a tremendous start, and it will surely end in victory, but this tiny, helpless baby must suffer much before his work is done. He must grow into the full stature of manhood, he must speak God’s truth into the lives of God’s people, challenging them to surrender their lives into his care and keeping. He must grow into a force for good, bringing miracle healing to the lives of thousands, restoring the hope of millions, breathing new life into all who turn to him for help. This little infant represents a new beginning for God’s people, but the fulfillment of God’s promise in their lives and in the lives of all the generations to follow, the completion of God’s promise required the sacrifice of a life. Someone had to die for the people…the birth of this innocent baby is the beginning but it is the death of his innocent Son on the cross that forever seals God’s promise and assures us of everlasting peace. Tonight, we celebrate the beginning of God’s work of salvation in our lives!

THE SHEPHERDS RESPOND TO THE GOOD NEWS BY SAYING, “LET US GO AND SEE.”

The shepherds hear a story told by angels. It is a wonderful story, an amazing story but it is just a story. And the shepherds do not simply take the story on faith. Don’t get me wrong, faith is important, but hearing about Jesus without actually experiencing his presence and power in your life, is simply insufficient. The shepherds want to see the Christ; and so they go and when they see the Christ they are no longer just hearers of a story that may or may not be true, a story that you can believe or not believe as you choose. When they walk up to that manger in Bethlehem and see that child lying there, just as the angel had told them, they see the facts for themselves and they become a part of the greatest story ever told. And they begin to do for others what the angel did for them. They tell others the story of a savior born in the City of David. Once they go and see, once they witness and proclaim what they have seen, it is no longer a matter of mere faith—it has become actual fact—and they are drawn into God’s great work of salvation. So naturally, when they return to their work, they return rejoicing because the story they heard was true—they have been saved—they saw it with their own eyes. Their leap of faith has been grounded in reality.

But, of course, in order for that happy ending to occur they had to take a chance—what some call a leap of faith. They had to believe the story AND they had to go and see. They had to place themselves in the story by going to the Christ and seeing for themselves. Everyone who hopes to come into the presence of God’s salvation has to do the same. For the shepherds taking a chance meant leaving their sheep unattended. They risked their flock in order to go and see this thing that had happened. They put their jobs on the line in order to become Christ’s witnesses. Mary had to risk her reputation in order to bring the Christ into the world. Joseph had to risk being a laughing stock, in order to see the miracle baby. The wise men had to risk a perilous journey. Bartameus, the blind man, the woman with the issue of blood, they had to risk breaking the cleanliness laws in order to see Jesus. The Centurion had to risk his favored status to see Jesus. Nicodemus had to risk his place as a religious leader in order to see his salvation.

On this Christmas Eve I pray that you will set aside a time—even if it is only a few minutes—I pray that you will set aside a time to wonder about God’s Salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. Are we content to just be hearers of the story? Is it enough to simply listen to the old familiar carols year after year? Or do we want to become a part of his story? Do we want to be able to return to work or school rejoicing that all that we heard is in fact true, that God’s salvation really has come into the world, that every one of us really has been set free from our sins, and really is welcome into God’s kingdom forever? And if we want more, if we want to know Christ Jesus, what is it that we are going to have to risk? What must we give in order to go and witness the Christ?

Amen and Merry Christmas.