Luke 2:1-14(15-20)
Christmas 2008. God with us

When something important like a wedding proposal, the birth of a child, sickness in the family or death takes place in our rather large extended family; there is an unwritten protocol of how that piece of information or news gets relayed. The first ones to be informed are the heads of every family starting from the grandparents, then comes the adult children of every family and if need be the younger children, and depending on the nature of the news friends and others outside the family would be told. In other words, how soon a certain piece of news gets relayed to a person usually indicates the place of authority and importance of that person within the family.

In this country we are used to seeing farm animals enclosed in a fenced area and food is brought to them. But in many parts of the world, including India it is still the practice for most farmers to employ someone to take their cattle, goats, sheep and even geese out into the countryside away from the towns and villages for the animals to graze. These herders or shepherds are the first ones to leave the village and the last ones to come home. The nature of their work pushes them out into the margins of the community and they often are the last ones to be in on any important news or events that happen in the town. To put it bluntly, shepherds and cattle herders have never been considered important people at any time. In our world, we have allowed certain jobs to be considered more prestigious than others and in that process uplifted people in certain jobs as more important than others. We see it happening right before our eyes in this country. Our economy is sinking and a handful of people decide that it is the right thing to bail out greedy banks and companies with billions of tax-payers money. The good news of the bailout is understood and becomes real in the lives of CEOs who forgo a percentage of their bonuses but keep their jobs while thousands lose their livelihood, homes and their pensions. It will take years for the good news of the bailout to be realized in most people’s lives who have lost their homes and their jobs. Maybe some will never recover from their losses.

On this Christmas day, we hear of a certain good news being proclaimed. It is the most important and best good news ever proclaimed on earth. It is the good news of God becoming incarnate in human history. For unto us is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. God is now in our midst to save us, to redeem us, to heal us and to transform us, and who are the first to be told of this glorious good news? The shepherds! The ones who have always been the last to hear any important news. It was in that proclamation itself that God showed us of a new heaven and a new earth that has been ushered in. In that first century powerful Roman world, all the town and city centers are buzzing with excitement and activity. People were moving toward the centers of all commercial, political and cultural activities because of the call for census by the great Emperor Augustus. All the important people in society were exercising and demonstrating their authority and power even more because the circumstances called for them to be. As ordinary citizens rubbed shoulders with high ranking Roman officials, the holy family got pushed out away from the town square into the lowly stable because there was no room for them.

Way beyond the towns, in the forgotten countryside, amongst the lowly and unimportant shepherds, the heavens open and angels declare to them the wonderful news of the birth of Jesus the Messiah, our Savior. While the world works and moves with the powerful and the moneyed, God chooses to unveil His glory and proclaim the good news of everlasting peace, justice and righteousness amongst the weakest, the loneliest, and the most vulnerable of people. In choosing to proclaim the most important news to the shepherds first, God was clearly showing that the worldly standard of categorizing the importance of people does not apply to Him. The birth of Jesus, the Son of God in a manger turned everything upside down because heaven itself or God himself descended upon our dark and broken world. Everything that we know and understand about life, power, justice, peace, righteousness, and hope has changed with the coming of Christ into our world.

Shepherds and outcasts have become the harbingers of hope, righteousness is no longer about doing and saying the right things, rather it is about who you are; peace is no longer about destroying the enemy, but about loving your enemies; justice is no longer about punishment, rather it is about forgiveness and transformation; power is not about dominance over others, rather it is about empowering and equipping the powerless. Jesus is here and life need not be about what jobs we have or don’t have; how much we have or don’t have; which family or company we belong to; what language we speak or what color of skin we have. Emmanuel! God with us! The light of God is with us, and we are called to become God’s own children. We have all walked in darkness, but along with the shepherds we too can behold God’s glory. Today let us make real in our lives the words of the Prophet Isaiah, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. May the Good News of God incarnate amongst us bring us hope and a new vision of love, joy, peace, righteousness, justice and power. A blessed Christmas to you all. Amen.