Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward me.”
That’s the way the heavenly host sang it. It must have been quite a sound, quite a sight.
The first reaction of the shepherds was fear. They were sore afraid. The heavenly
glory of the Lord shone down on these earthy men and their flocks. And they
were keenly aware of the great contrast there is between the things of heaven
and the things of earth. In heaven there is the glory of God; on earth there is
the sin and decay of humanity. In heaven there is only goodness and only joy; On
earth there is evil and sadness. In heaven there is peace; on earth there is
turmoil and fear. So we must pray for what little good we might get in this
life, saying “on earth as it is in heaven”.
But on that holy night, the peace of heaven came into the midst
of the turmoil and fear of earth. As we heard again the Christmas Gospel,
couldn’t you just envision the scene, so many artists over the years have depicted
the lowly manger, the Christ child with his mother, and with the righteous man
Joseph and the shepherds and angels. It is the center of all that is comforting,
traditional and truly joyful about Christmas. What a contrast from what things
are usually like on earth. Jesus was born at a time when the only peace was
that forced on the world by the tyrant emperor Caesar August and his great
armies. It was at the time when Quirinius was governing Syria. Quirinius was one
of Caesar’s generals. He gained his position in Syria by violence and bloodshed.
Herod the Great was a puppet ruler. He was a mad king. And the population was
scared about what he might do next. Such was the world then, not much better
now.
But that Silent Night there was Peace on earth –heavenly peace.
And for those of us who believe the angel’s message that there is a Savior born
in Bethlehem, there is peace for us, too.
There is always that contrast between the things of heaven
and the things of earth, especially when it comes to peace. Earth is marked by violence and war. I’m not just
talking about war with bullets and bombs, but also the spiritual war started by
the devil when he rebelled against God and tempted others to join him his
ongoing rebellion and hatred. That spiritual war continues whenever any man,
woman or child chooses not to fear God, love God and trust in God above all
things, but instead feared earthly things, loved earthly pleasures, and trusted
in earthly things, including especially their own selves. There can be no real
peace for sinners without a Savior. There’s no peace when we recognize that we
are poor miserable sinners and we deserve God’s temporal punishment, here on
earth and his eternal punishment forever in the world to come. That’s a
shameful, uncomfortable thing to have to admit, and so we hang our heads in
shame, until our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ pronounces His word of
forgiveness and peace, and then makes it happen by his birth, his life, his death
and resurrection.
“This will be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
“Swaddling clothes”, not to specific, most babies were wrapped, swaddled
back then. “lying in a manger” not that’s a sign that will stand out. That is different
and noteworthy. Christ the Lord is born, and he’s placed in a manger, a food
trough. He who lay in a food trough would be come food for His peoples souls.
He says “I am the bread of life. Do not work for the food that perishes, but
for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will
give to you.”
A young woman has a baby in an out of the way part of town,
not noticed by many, poor and lowly. And the worshippers of this Savior are
shepherds. He who is visited by Shepherds is the very Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world. When He takes our sins away there is peace, peace on
earth.
I do wish each of you to have hearts full of peace and joy this
Christmas Eve. It’s good to have a peaceful feeling. But it has to be more than
just a feeling. it’s gotta be grounded in reality. If you’ve ever seen these
horror movies where the main character, or victim, is very comfortable, feeling
safe and secure, but the viewers can see that the monster is right behind them
almost in reach. None of us want to go through life with a false sense of
security and peace. The angels proclaimed the peace of Christ, grounded in the
historical reality that the Savior, Christ the Lord, is born.
Your peace will come not from a warm feeling because those come and go. Your peace does not come from company of friends and family, because they won’t always be able to be there. Your peace comes from heaven, from where God said to His only begotten Son, go and put an end to their sins and the war that those sins have been bringing all these years. Go and fight like a man, even to the point of shedding your blood and giving up your life. Slay sin, and Satan and death. Then rise again for peace on earth, good will to men. Amen.
