Overwhelmed by Wonder!

Every Christmas growing up my parents would make us reenact the Christmas story and it was always a good laugh.  I mean someone had to play the donkey so throw the brown blanket on one of us.  Rhonda was Mary and everyone else took their roles.  It was easy being a shepherd for the play because all they did was just show up!   However, as we will see, the fact that the shepherds were the first to hear the good news is no small story and God showed up in a huge way!

The shepherds lived most of the year outside, away from the townspeople. "Abiding in the field" "they were the true outdoorsmen”  Shepherds were constantly with their sheep, since the sheep were vulnerable to all kinds of trouble They had to move about during the rainless summer and to stay for months at a time in isolated areas, far from the owner's home. So, herding sheep was an independent and responsible job.

It was also significant to note that Migdel Eder is also right by Bethlehem as Micah 4:8 prophecies!  Here is where the perfect, spotless lambs were kept for the temple sacrifice and here is where the final sacrifice for our sins was born!

I want to talk about the overwhelming sense of wonder that was felt by the shepherds in
Luke 2:8-20  

Wonder Is Found In Simplicity v8

Now to understand why God got in contact with the shepherds, let’s skip forward ahead about 32 years or so and see what Jesus is doing. Because if we watch Him I think what we will discover is the plan was found in complete simplicity.

We also need to understand what God was up to on that first Christmas night and so let's take a moment to watch where Jesus showed up during his time on earth.  Here are two clear examples for us to see and both of them we can find in this gospel of Luke. So let's take a look at them one at a time.

Brennan Manning in his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, says this about how intimate this act of meal sharing is. He says this, "Sadly the meaning of meal sharing is largely lost in the Christian community today. In the Near East, to share a meal with someone is a guarantee of peace, trust, fraternity and forgiveness. The shared table symbolizes the shared life. For an Orthodox Jew to say I would have dinner with you is a metaphor implying I would like to enter into friendship with you. To extend a dinner invitation is to say, come to the miniature sanctuary of my dining room table where we will celebrate the most sacred and beautiful experience that life affords. "Friendship." That's what Zacchaeus heard when Jesus called him down and invited him to dinner. And that's why Jesus practice of ‘going out for lunch’ caused such hostile comments from the very beginning in his ministry.

Look at Luke 5:27-32.   This time it involves Levi, the tax collector, who we later know as the disciple Matthew who wrote the first gospel.

So let's again reference back to that. Go back to Luke 2, 8 and 20. We have heard this story now. So you don't really need to read it again, but think about it. Of all the people that God could have announced the birth of Emmanuel to. God with us. The Savior. The Messiah. This long awaited One. You know if you want to get the word out, there would seem to be more influential people, more together people that you would want to go and make this announcement to.

One theologian remarks  that shepherds were those whose daily occupation rendered them ceremonially unclean and not in the Pharisee's eyes to be associated with. And because of the shepherd's job to be out in the fields, to be with the sheep, they literally were considered unclean. But being out there with the manure, with the uncleanness of the animal, they could not go into the temple until they were ceremonially cleaned and that was a big deal. And yet on this momentous night, who does the Father go straight to on purpose and with such a glorious show, do you think he was trying to make a point? I think so. Not only a point, but just as Jesus did again, Jesus was taking his cue from the Father making a very intimate point.  God, our Father, calls us into intimacy, community and He calls everyone, even the most unlikely!

Some of Israel's great heroes were shepherds -- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. Both Psalm 23 and Jesus compare God's care to that of a Good Shepherd. But in the First Century, it seems, shepherds -- specifically, hireling shepherds -- had a bad reputation.

However, Jesus distinguishes between the good shepherd and the hired farm hand. (John 10:11-13). He tells a parable of the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep in the fold while searching the hills to find the missing one (Luke 15:3-7). Perhaps this is because Jesus, who has fellowship with the despised and sinners, knows and appreciates them as people. 

Wonder Is Reflected In Glory  v9-14   

One minute the shepherds are talking quietly in the darkness of the winter sky. The next moment the hillside is ablaze with light and booming with the sound of an angel's voice."An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified." (2:9)

This appearance wasn't at a distance, but upfront and personal. "Appeared" is the Greek verb ephistemi, which here means "to stand at or near a specific place." Often this use of the verb occurs with the idea of suddenness.
The brightness is more than just mega-candlepower. It is the radiance of God's own glory. Doxa!!  Here it refers to "the condition of being bright or shining, brightness, splendor, radiance." Throughout the Old Testament the presence of God is referred to as overwhelmingly bright, burning as fire in the way that God spoke to Moses, led his people through the desert at night.
God's angels sometimes bear this same bright glory In this case the glory shines around the whole area .The result in the shepherds is predictable -- abject terror. "Terrified"
This Good News angel has the enviable task of being the first herald of Messiah's birth. "Bring good news" is the Greek verb evangelizo, from which we get our English word, "evangelize." Later in the New Testament it is widely used for "proclaim the message of salvation, preach the gospel.The message the angel brings is very good news that results in joy. "Joy" and it is joy intensified – great joy!!
Notice how broad is the angel's message. It's not for just the devout or pure of heart or the Jew, but "for all the people." It is truly amazing and wonderful news for all those who are apart from God and struggling with the purpose of life.
Shepherds were about as low on the social scale as it was possible to get.. They were the strangers in most minds that first night, but not with God.  Am I making myself clear? Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it astonishing that God would say, “You know, the first people who are going to hear the message of the birth of My Son, the Savior, the Messiah, are one of the most despised group of people in that society. Isn’t that amazing?

Christmas is a glorious time for us to celebrate the birth of our King Jesus.  He is the absolute glory of God and our brightest hope.  This season once again gives us an incredible opportunity as I heard today that over 50% of Canadians polled say they will attend some type of religious service so I invited my whole hockey team to our Christmas

Eve service!  The beauty of Christmas to me is found in the verses of 2 Corinthians 3:18 where it states, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  We as followers of Jesus are being transformed, we radiate the glory of  the Lord and just like Peter and John in Acts 4, my prayer is that people will see that we have been with Jesus. 

Wonder creates a sense of urgency! v15,16

One of the greatest joys for parents is to watch our children open their presents to exclaim… this is what I’ve always wanted.  The shepherds didn’t hesitate.  They didn’t doubt, they believed!

Wonder compels us to respond! v17-20

When God meets His people and speaks to them, they cannot either forget His word nor can they be unaffected by it. They worshipped, and they shared it. They had known the revelation of God, and it changed them.
True worship comes only when we have seen and heard God. It comes as a response to Him. Following that worship the message does not depart from the people; rather it creates a deep and irresistible desire to share that message.
So what can we do with this? How can we live differently this Christmas season in light of what we see God, Jesus, Levi and Zacchaeus and the shepherds doing? Can we make an agreement? That over the holidays we look for strangers in our midst? Would you imitate both the Father and Son as they made it their point to seek out those taking up the margins of their world?
Wait, wait, wait  Jack. Are you asking that I go out to the outcast, out there and reach out to them? Yes I am. And for some of you that might literally mean like going out to the street, a soup kitchen, the homeless shelters, where you can roll up your sleeve and be the gospel to those people. God is going to call some of you to do that and you need to be listening for it.

For most of us though, I want you to look for the stranger that may be right in your midst. Where there is a sole part of your routine that you don't even see him anymore. You know, what this might look like is going out of your way at the office Christmas party that's coming up to look for that awkward person or that person not like you and make your way to them. Now can I be so bold as to say, and don't just be polite. Try to connect with them. Be curious about them. Listen with your hearts. That's the start of intimacy.

Or maybe you've got a neighborhood Christmas party coming up. How about going out of your way to meet the people that you normally would avoid or at least the people that you don't naturally gravitate to, you don't talk to them because they are not like you or maybe they are not easy. Being an aroma of the gospel to those neighbors. Maybe you are a student. What would it look like this Christmas season to get outside of your comfortable and safe group to go across those lines? Find someone you could sit down with at lunch, in a class or a sporting event. Pursue them on a personal level and listen with care.

So, why would we do this? You know, to be honest. To go out of our way for these kind of people, it's a least a few things. It's uncomfortable. It's extra work. It can be awkward. There is risk involved and sometimes you know frankly it can be messy. Why would we do this? We do this because like Zacchaeus, Jesus has called us by name. He said, I want you. A Savior has been born for you!   I want to have fellowship with you. He wants to know us and has called us by name and we can do this because out of that overflow, that memory that Jesus has called us by our name, we have an unbelievable Christmas gift to share with others.

So again, if I could be so bold, if you would do this I will guarantee you two things. Two things I will guarantee you. That you will get at least two presents this Christmas. The first present you will receive if you do this, is joy. It's always the key byproduct of living outside yourself and in line with God and Jesus.

And secondly, I will guarantee you this present as well, you will be surprised. People because they bare the image of God are amazing creations. Be prepared to be surprised by their character and their stories if you allow them to connect with you and you listen.

So, we see in these passages that we read and many others, Jesus going on purpose to the left out, the sinners, the marginalized, and in his teachings in ministry he includes Samaritans, prostitutes, demon possessed, and strangers. Now why? Why would we do this? Well, we know obviously from his words much of the motivation that made him do this. He said, "I have come to call the righteous, not sinners." The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And God knew exactly what He was doing that first night of Christmas