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"Claire Elizabeth Stewart born 10.08 am on Thursday 20 March weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces or 3.13 kg mother and baby both well."
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As many of you will know, those words are from the text message I sent just over nine months ago announcing the birth of our second daughter. Some others may have received the e-mail I sent later that day saying the exact same thing. Many of you received one of these messages. I didn't get any marks for originality. This year several of our friends have become parents and we have received several similar messages. The names dates and body weights were different but the message was basically the same. Perhaps during the reading you noticed how different the announcement of the birth of Jesus was? |
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"I announce to you good news of a great joy which will be for all people. To you today there is born in the city of David a Saviour, who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a trough." (Luke 2:10-12)
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The centre of attention was not on the baby but on the angels' interpretation of the birth; about what it meant for everyone else! No mention of the mother's labour! In fact, there was no mention of the parents at all! And the angels are a bit vague about the time of arrival – just "today" whenever. We have no idea of the baby's weight. Even the gender was only implied in the titles the child was given. And I won't even comment on the fact that the only people who seemed to be given the message were a bunch of redneck sheep farmers camped on the outskirts of a one-pub town. Not to mention the fact that not one single media personality was anywhere to be found! But speaking seriously for a moment, how could a newborn child be a "sign" of salvation? It's all very well to make grand claims, even if you are angels. But the fact is that children are born every day. What made this child a "sign"? |
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Historians tell us that "Christmas" as we know it is a modern fairy tale – a charming fairy tale, but still a fairy tale invented in the nineteenth-century [read, for example, J.W. Golby and A.M. Purdue, The Making of Modern Christmas; Geoffrey Rowell in History Today, December 1993, pages 17-24; or Ronald Hutton, Stations of the Sun, pages 112-124]. While some traditions like the Christmas tree go back to the 1500s or so, Christmas as we see it today in the Myer-window was invented, in large part by Charles Dickens' book A Christmas Carol published in 1843, and Clement Clark Moore's poem "A visit from St Nicholas" written in 1822 and later published in a local newspaper. Christmas as it actually happened was flesh-and-blood history, sometimes even blood-and-guts history. |
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The words "This will be a sign for you" were not original to the angels. When God first called Moses to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt and request the release of the Jews from slavery, God said: "I will be with you; and this will be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain" (Exodus 3:12). And at the end of his life Moses reminded the people of Israel about God's signs: "has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation… from among another nation… by signs and wonders… as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes. To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides God" (Deuteronomy 4:34-35). |
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And this was not the first time God had given a baby as a sign. The Old Testament tells us these were words were originally spoken to a doubting king named Ahaz in the year 734 B.C., give or take a year or two. Ahaz's country of Judah (part of modern day Israel) was at war with neighbouring Syria and Jordan. Most of us will know that Israel fought wars with Syria and Jordan in 1948, 1967 and 1973 A.D. so that is hardly unbelievable is it! Ahaz was tempted to form a coalition with Assyria (modern Iraq). Assyria was the military "superpower" like America is today. But God warned Ahaz that Assyria wouldn't come to his aid but instead would use it as an opportunity to conquer his country. In other words, don't look to Assyria to be your saviour, they will just betray you. Instead, look to God to be your Saviour. |
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Now Ahaz was a king in the royal family of David, just like Elizabeth II is Queen in the family of Windsor. And God had promised that the royal line descended from David would never fail [read 2 Samuel, chapter 7]. But, "Could Ahaz trust anything so flimsy as a promise of God, when he had an enemy army laying siege to Jerusalem?" (Elizabeth Achtemeier). It was very good theology but some people might have called it a "courageous" military strategy. So God sent his prophet Isaiah to Ahaz with a message: |
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"the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son... For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread [that is, Syria and Jordan] will be deserted." (Isaiah 7:13-16)
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So for Ahaz a sign was given in the birth of a little child, to serve as proof to him, that God will keep his promise and send his salvation. Just for the record, Ahaz got into bed with the Assyrians and his country suffered the predicted consequences until God rescued them [read 2 Kings, chapters 16-19]. |
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In the same way, the historical details of Jesus' birth are not just cute window-dressing like they are at Myers. Over 700 years after Ahaz, the baby Jesus was born as a member of the same royal family. And Jesus' birth also took place in Bethlehem the home city of David, the sheep farmer who became a king. "To you today there is born in the city of David a Saviour who is Messiah and Lord" (v. 11). |
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Now another king, who like Ahaz was descended from David the sheep farmer, would rule. The birth of Jesus took place in Bethlehem for a reason. The announcement was made to shepherds for a reason. The "good news" or "gospel", (v. 10) that the angels announced (v. 11) is that centuries ago God started a great movement in history with David which continued despite Ahaz. This was a movement which was every bit as literal and historical as the rise of the Roman Empire which dominated Israel in Jesus' day, just as Assyria had dominated Ahaz's world. And Jesus the "Messiah" (the appointed king) and Saviour is the culmination of that historical movement, born to keep all the promises made to and through David, as we are often told in the New Testament: |
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"And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David" (Luke 1:32-33);
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"He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David" (Luke 1:69);
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"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:1-5); |
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"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel" (2 Timothy 2:8).
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In Jesus' day the people of Israel were dominated by another military superpower – the Roman Empire. Did you notice how this reading began: "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered" (v. 1). But the sign of the baby in a trough said "whatever the mighty governments of the world might be doing, God cares for his people" (David Gooding). If the stock market collapses, if our physical health fails, if our whole way of life is lost, in the end there is one who can hold us securely, one God who keeps his promises. |
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When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us" So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:15-20).
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Did Mary "treasure" all these words and "ponder" (v. 19) them in her heart because she had the biggest, tastiest turkey yet (or the largest credit card bill)? Did the sheep farmers return "glorifying and praising God" (v. 20) because all the kids were home for Christmas (even though it is great to have the kids home for Christmas)? Of course not! It was when they saw the baby confirming God the saviour of Israel in Old Testament times was now acting to save people though Jesus. If this is correct then, "Just as for Ahaz in the days of Isaiah, the sign that is given us is the birth of a little child, and this is to serve as proof to us … that God will send his salvation" (Elizabeth Achtemeier). Isn't that why after the sheep farmers made it known to other people they met? Isn't that why Mary treasured the words and pondered them! |
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The beginning of Jesus' life was a sign. And at the end of his earthly life Jesus gave his followers another sign of their coming salvation. Once again something ordinary was to symbolize something extraordinary. At his last meal he took a loaf of bread and a cup of wine and said – notice carefully the words he uses: "This is my body". "This is [the sign of] my blood" for you. Tomorrow when you see me put to death by the Roman soldiers you should recognize that God is at work in me to save his people. In the Bible some signs were once-offs, others could and should be re-enacted. We will end our Christmas service this morning looking forward to Easter as we together re-enact the sign of the bread and the wine knowing that in Jesus God was acting to save his people. |
