Matt Chandler - Christmas Light

Man, we’re gonna dive into one of the more difficult parts of Christmas Eve for me: I get 20 minutes instead of my usual 48 to 52. So, if you’re a regular here, don’t panic; they have dealt shrewdly with me regarding the time I get. Really, Christmas Eve is probably a more challenging time for a preacher than you might think, and here’s why. There’s something cliché about all of this; there’s something tied to nostalgia more than it is to any historical spiritual realities for many of us. That’s not true for all of us, but it is true for many.

What I mean when I say it’s kind of cliché or nostalgic is that many of us see this as a cultural norm rather than a spiritual reality. It’s a cultural norm, but it’s not a spiritual reality. What I mean by that is this is what we do on Christmas Eve because it’s what our family has done, and this is what we’ve learned is right to do in our cultural context, whether we love Jesus or not, whether we’ve surrendered our lives to Him or not, or even if we understand what a little Jewish baby born two thousand five hundred years ago, seven thousand miles away from here, has to do with anything. It doesn’t matter whether we grasp any of that; we’re just going to come, sing some kind of historic Christmas songs, and, Lord knows, we better light some candles and sing «Silent Night,» or we’re going to lead a rebellion out of this place.

This is one of those strange situations where what I’m going to talk about today isn’t just about the birth of Jesus. You might think, «Wait, I thought that was for Easter!» There’s this kind of cliché feeling here that ultimately isn’t good for our souls. If we’re right that God took on flesh and dwelt among us, if Emmanuel is true, and if Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, co-eternal with the Father, truly was born of a virgin and lived a life that you and I are unable to live—weak as we are in our flesh—then everything should change. There shouldn’t be anything nostalgic about this; there shouldn’t be anything cultural or kitschy about it. There should be something deeper beneath all the shadows we’re celebrating, something that roots us and grounds us in an unshakable, unwavering way into what’s actually true.

So, I’ll just dive in. If you’re like, «Wait, was that not you diving in?» Not quite. Let me read our text from Luke 2; I’ll put it on the screen. By the way, whenever I think of Christmas, I always think of this text and then of C.S. Lewis’s «Chronicles of Narnia.» In the very last book, «The Last Battle,» Lucy has a great line: «Yes, in our world, something was once born in a stable that was larger than our entire world, ” which alludes to Christ’s coming in a manger. Christ laid in a manger is greater than our whole world.

Now, let me read this text. There’s so much about this that I appreciate. I want to point out three things from this text, starting in verse eight: „And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.’ And when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told to them.’“

Now, here are three things I want to quickly point out from this text. The first one is not only in this text, but really in any text where the divine meets humankind, mankind’s response is fear. What we have here is an angel of the Lord appearing, and if we could just use our divine imagination, that’s going to be terrifying. They’re in the middle of a field somewhere outside of Bethlehem.