A Savior Is Born - For You, Today (December 24, 2024)
Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-14; Luke 2:1-14
“The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
So we have heard the proclamation of the Christmas story. What did we hear? Perhaps you were distracted and didn’t hear much of anything; after all, you’ve heard the story before. Maybe you were thinking, a nice fairy tale, but I don’t think I believe it really happened exactly like that. It’s a common reaction. Or maybe your mind went back to your memories of other Christmases past, when you were a child, or when someone who is no longer here was with you.
But wherever our minds may have taken us, the voice of the angel calls us to attention: “To you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior – the Messiah, the Lord.” The angel’s message to the shepherd, the angel’s message to us gathered here tonight.
The one who is born tonight is a Savior. We human beings have accomplished many things in this world, have made so much progress over these last two thousand years. And yet we have created so much misery and hardship as well. The longing of the prophet for the day when the weapons of war will be forever broken and thrown into the fire remains unfulfilled. So many are cold and hungry tonight, here in our community and around the world. So many are lonely, disconnected, afraid for the future. We are divided from one another, told who we must exclude, who we must hate, who we must put in their place. And even many Christians find their identity in who they condemn and who they are superior to rather than whom they love.
We human beings were made for more than this. The world God wants for us is better than this. And the child who is born tonight promises to be the one who shows us the way out of a broken and frightened world, the one who teaches us how to live authentically in a messed-up world, the one who brings to life the presence of the One who renews all things. A Savior has been born tonight – this is good news of great joy for all people, there is hope, there is light in the darkness, there is a way to another, deeper, more abundant life – in this world, not to mention the next.
But there is more. The angel says that this Savior has been born to you. Not for the world in general, not for just the good and holy people who already have it all together – but for you. The shepherds minding their flocks outside of Bethlehem heard the news that way – this Savior has been born for us, for me, a poor hardworking soul, out here in the cold smelling like the stinky sheep, nobody special – for me!
Of course, the angel wasn’t speaking only to the shepherds. The angel is also speaking now, in the proclamation of the gospel tonight in this service – this Savior has been born for you. You may think he was born for somebody else, somebody more religious than you, somebody more worthy than you, somebody more successful than you, somebody who checks all of the boxes for good and proper living, somebody who doesn’t have addictions and vices and doubts. Nonsense. This Jesus will grow up to say that healthy people don’t need a doctor, sick people do, so that’s why I hang out not with righteous people but sinners. And so tonight he is born to you. That’s good news of great joy for all people – there’s a Savior born for you too.
One more thing the angel says. The Savior is born to you this day. Yes, he was born in a stable more than two thousand years ago, but he is also being born today, right here, right now, as you hear the angel’s proclamation of good news. Today, not in the distant past, not at the end of time, not at the hour of death, but today. With everything that’s going on today, in your life and in the life of the world. He is here now, he is bringing salvation and deliverance now, he is here for you right now, today.
And when the angel has delivered the good news, the angel gets caught up with all the other angels in an outpouring of praise and gratitude for this good news: the Savior is born, to you, today. It seems the angel forgot to finish the announcement – what am I supposed to do with this news about a Savior being born for me today? Isn’t the angel supposed to say – so, if you want in on the deal, here’s the prayer you have to say to invite him into your heart, here’s the ritual you have to perform, here’s the sacrifice you’ll have to make. The angel invites the shepherds to go and see for themselves, but the angel doesn’t tell the shepherds what to do when they get there.
Well, if the angel doesn’t find it necessary to give you any instructions, it’s certainly not my place to correct them. The angel compels no one, the angel simply announces the good news and issues an invitation. It is up the shepherds, and up to each of us, what to do next. All I can do is repeat the angel’s proclamation of good news of great joy for all people: a Savior is born, to you, today. If you like, come and see.
The structure of this sermon is modeled after a famous Christmas sermon delivered by the theologian Karl Barth at the prison in Basel, Switzerland for Christmas Day 1954.