Isaiah 9:2-7
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 [story of Gideon, Judges 6-8]. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; 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. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Psalm 96
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless the name of the Lord; proclaim God’s salvation from day to day. Declare God’s glory among the nations and God’s wonders among all peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, more to be feared than all gods. As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; but you, O Lord, have made the heavens. Majesty and magnificence are in your presence; power and splendor are in your sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord honor and power. Ascribe to the Lord the honor due the holy name; bring offerings and enter the courts of the Lord. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before the Lord, all the earth. Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is king! The one who made the world so firm that it cannot be moved will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea thunder and all that is in it; let the field be joyful and all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy at your coming, O Lord, for you come to judge the earth. You will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with your truth.
Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
Luke 2:1-20
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were filled with 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 cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
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 them.
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In the people who are most hopeless comes the hope for the entire world.
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Isaiah the prophet calls to mind a story we haven’t heard today, nor do we hear it nearly as often as we need it. The day of Midian, the prophet says. “The rod of their oppressor you have broken as on the day of Midian.” And who really knows the story of Midian? That great and amazing day when God delivered God’s own people yet again from the hands of all who would conquer and obliterate their culture and identity. It is yet another story of God doing what God does, no matter how many times we reject God. It is recorded in the book of Judges, back before we had kings to rule over us, and each of the twelve tribes of Jacob - of Israel - was heavily oppressed by outside nations with lesser gods. Granted, they brought it upon themselves, but God wasn't going to let the people’s wandering infidelity be the last word in our history. So one day, while a man named Gideon was thrashing grain in secret in his family winepress, hiding so that the oppressor wouldn’t know that here was grain they could steal, an angel appeared to him. A messenger of God, come to tell Gideon that God was with him. And Gideon’s response? It may sound familiar: “Yeah, right! If God is with us, why are we suffering? If God is with us, why is life so hard? If God is with us, why do our enemies laugh at us?”
How often have we asked that question? If God is with us, why do people get cancer? If God is with us, why do policemen get shot just for wearing the uniform, and unarmed black and brown men and boys get killed just because other people are nervous around them? If God is with us, why haven’t we fed all the hungry and housed all the homeless yet? If God is with us, why do we get addicted to heroin, or to food, or to shopping? If God is with us, where is our peace?
But the story doesn’t end there. The angel of the Lord tells Gideon that there will be a great battle for freedom, and Gideon himself will lead it. Gideon who is the youngest child in an insignificant clan in an oppressed nation. Gideon who didn’t go looking to be a hero. Gideon isn’t just any hero, though. He doesn’t thrash the Midianites with might and brute force and a greater army or even attack drones. In fact, the first army Gideon gathers is considered too big for God to deliver God’s people with it, so they let go of the soldiers whose hearts just aren’t in it, and still God says there are too many soldiers. From rank upon rank of fighters, God selects a handful, three hundred men who are thirsty enough to lap up the water from a stream rather than take the time to cup it in their hands. It is a small, a laughably small, army, but God liberates the captives by means which we consider foolish. They surround the enemy camp with lights and trumpets, and their shouting and shining causes such confusion in the camp that the enemy basically takes care of destroying itself.
Because in the face of the living God, no enemy can last for long. No plight will remain forever. No sickness or struggle will have the last word. The day of Midian is a day remembered for the way God has set God’s people free neither by might nor a show of extreme power, but by a tiny little group of rabble-rousers and a small little nobody leading them. So that there may be no confusion about who really sets the people free, that it is God, and not our strength, who liberates us.
Which is the whole point of this night. A night where God sets us free from the power of death by putting on mortality, taking on flesh, spending nine months in utero, being born in blood and afterbirth, and growing up on breast milk. Susceptible to skinned knees and a broken heart, able to trip and fall and to lean on others to get up again, knowing hunger and thirst and want.
Because the biggest problem of sin is that it makes us feel as though we are alone. That we deserve to be alone. That we are the only ones who have ever hurt this way, or sinned this badly, or lost this much, and that we individuals have to protect ourselves first and only because nobody else cares. This is the problem of sin, the weight of loneliness and isolation and division which crushes the life out of us before we have a chance to live. And it doesn’t take self-help books to get out. It doesn’t take the latest technology to get us out. It doesn’t take a bigger paycheck or better vacations to get us out. The way out is to go through, and God goes through it all with us and for us. From day one, when God is born in a stable to an old man and an unwed immigrant mother, God is with us for the long haul. It is the shepherds, themselves outcast and powerless, who are first to be told by the angels to be on the lookout for this new Lord.
For 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… 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. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; 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.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts has done this. For you. For us all.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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