The Nativity Of Our Lord
Preaching
Preaching Luke's Gospel
A Narrative Approach
The story of the Nativity of our Lord is narratively connected to much of the biblical story. This is hardly surprising in the sense that the birth of Jesus stands near the center of the biblical story. Luke sets this universal story within the particular context of Caesar Augustus, head of the Roman Empire. Caesar, "the august one," was deemed worthy of divine favor and human adulation. The biblical claim is that Jesus also deserves such favor and adulation. This passage speaks of two divinities. Caesar is known throughout the empire in all of his power and might. Jesus is a baby wrapped in diapers and lying in a manger. If God is truly revealed in Jesus then God is a God who is revealed in hiding! At the other end of this manger story stands a story about a cross. Truly, this God is a God who is revealed in hiding.
Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem in order to be enrolled in the tax plan of Caesar Augustus. Bethlehem is designated here as the city of David. (Normally it is Jerusalem that is called the "City of David.") Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem to be enrolled because they are of the lineage of David. Luke's story of Jesus, therefore, is immediately tied to the story of David. David was born in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:1; 17:12, 58; Micah 5:2-4).
David is very important to Luke's story of Jesus. It was to David, after all, that the messianic promise was given: 2 Samuel 7:8-16. This may be the most important passage in the Old Testament. It is the foundation of all of Israel's hope for the One who would come and usher in the messianic age.
There are also ties to the David story in the appearance of the angels to the shepherds. In each of the three stories told of David's origins in the book of 1 Samuel David is identified as a shepherd. The prophet/judge Samuel is commanded by God to go to Bethlehem to anoint the next king. Samuel went as he was commanded to the house of Jesse. How proud Jesse must have been that day. He heard Samuel's mission and immediately produced his eldest son (that's the way you did things in those days) for anointing. But God said, No! Samuel heard God say, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). This passage could serve as a com-mentary on the story of Jesus' birth!
The other stories of David's origin also place him in the fields with the sheep. David is out in the fields keeping watch over his sheep when the word comes to him that the king, Saul, needs someone to play soothing music over his troubled spirit: 1 Samuel 16:14-23, 19. The story of David's mighty slaying of Goliath also begins with David amongst his sheep: 1 Samuel 17:1-58, 15.
Luke's shepherds come on the scene basking in the glory of the Lord as it shone around them. The angel spoke to them. (Note how often in these first chapters of Luke that an angel brings God's message!) "... 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." This Christologically-loaded proclama-tion is our clearest clue so far as to Luke's understanding of God's plan in, with, and under the birth of Jesus. (We will talk of God's plan in Luke's Gospel many times.)
Luke is the only Gospel writer to use the term Savior in reference to Jesus (cf. Acts 13:23). His primary Christological references to Jesus are as Messiah and Lord. This first announce-ment of the angels speaks of Jesus as Messiah and Lord. These same titles appear in the conclusion of the first Christian sermon preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost. Peter's sermon is recorded in Acts 2:14-36. The sermon concludes with these words: "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." We might think of an arch extending from the angels' promise to Peter's sermon. This arch begins and ends with the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Luke's entire Gospel lives under that arch, within these bookends.
For the Nativity text we will focus our attention on Jesus as Messiah. In Christmas 1 we will explore the Lord theme a bit more. The title, Messiah, connects Jesus to David and messianic promise. This theme has already been spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary. The son born to Mary is to inherit the throne of his father David and inaugurate an everlasting kingdom (1:32-33). When old Zechariah cut loose with his Benedictus he blessed God for visiting and redeeming God's people and for raising up a horn of salvation in the house of God's servant, David (1:67-69). This theme begins early in Luke!
As Luke's Gospel unfurls the Messianic theme occurs many times. After Jesus' early healing miracles the demons knew that he was the Messiah (4:40-41). In Luke 7:18-23 the messianic question of the ages is raised with respect to Jesus. Israel lived with the confident hope that God would keep the promise and send the Messiah. With the dawn of every new kingship, with the advent of any wonder-working agent of God, the question arose: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus this question. Jesus' reply gives us Luke's first real attempt to fill the concept of Messiah with his substance. Jesus said: "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me" (7:22-23).
This passage complements what may be Luke's most program-matic assertion of Jesus' mission and identity in Luke 4:18-19. We'll deal with that passage often in our narrative journey through Luke.
In Luke 9:18-24 we have another pivotal passage about the meaning of the Messiah. Jesus asked the disciples who people thought he was. He asked them who they thought he was. Peter got it right. He answered Jesus, "The Messiah of God." Jesus accepts Peter's designation and reorients the notion of Messiah as the one who will suffer many things, be rejected and killed, and on the third day be raised. Furthermore, Jesus indicates that if we wish to be followers of the Messiah we will have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and lose our life in order to save it. This Messiah, diaper-wrapped and manger-born, will ultimately ask us for our life. Merry Christmas!
The last Messianic references in the Gospel of Luke underscore this theme of the suffering Messiah. On the first Easter day Cleopas and his friend were discussing the events of the day when Jesus, unrecognized, joined them on the road to Emmaus. Jesus spoke to open their eyes. "Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Jesus said to them (24:13-35, 26).
And, finally, Jesus tells his disciples that the work of the Messiah was to fulfill the law, the prophets, and the psalms (24:44-49). "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (24:46-47). Such is the work of the Messiah. Such is Luke's sketch for us of the plan of God for humanity. God's plan includes the suffering of the Messiah. The day will come, however, when the reversal of which Mary sang will come true for the suffering Messiah!
Homiletical Directions
Our narrative advice for the Nativity of our Lord is to tell stories of Jesus, the Messiah. Such storytelling can move in one of two directions. The first possibility is to tell stories of David as the background for the story of Jesus. There are stories that tie David to Bethlehem. There is the story of David's anointing as Messiah at the hand of Samuel. There is the promise made to David that his son will rule after him to all eternity. Next tell the birth story of Jesus emphasizing his connections to David: the birth city, the shepherds, the message that the angels bring to the shepherds, and so forth.
The closing proclamation to this grouping of stories can take the shape of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. It might go something like this: The angel that spoke to the shepherds long ago speaks to us today. The angel speaks for God when he an-nounces that the Messiah is now born among us. God says, "I made a promise to David long ago. I promised an everlasting kingdom. Today that promise is fulfilled in your hearing. I have sent my Messiah among you as a diaper-wrapped king. Through my son I offer you my kingdom. I offer you rest from life's trials. I offer you life in my kingdom. I offer you, this day, eternal life. It is yours. Now. It's my Christmas gift to you." Amen.
The second possibility of Messianic story telling for today is to tell what Jesus' Messianic rule is like based on other stories in Luke's Gospel. We might begin with the word of Gabriel to Mary, the promise of Messiah (1:32-33). Zechariah's song can be referred to as well (1:67ff). Substance for the Messianic theme begins to unfold when John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask if he is the One to come or if they should look for another. Jesus' answer to John gives substance to the Messianic promise. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the poor have good news preached to them. This is the essence of Messianic promise for Luke.
For Jesus to be Messiah, however, means he must suffer. The story in 9:18-24 sets that forth. So do the references to the Messiah in Luke 24:26, 46. These stories can be told leading to the an-nouncement at the end of Luke's Gospel that sets forth the plan of God that „ as a result of the suffering, dying, and rising of the Messiah „ repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations.
Preaching to all nations. That's what you are about today. You are bringing the Messiah's word of forgiveness to today's people. Your closing proclamation in this case might focus on forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is where Luke takes this Messianic theme. Announce this forgiveness to your congregation in the name of the hidden child in the manger.
Or focus your closing proclamation on Jesus' words in Luke 7:22-23. Your sermon could simply end in the proclamation of this word of Jesus, this word of the Messiah spoken for all nations to hear. "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." Amen.
Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem in order to be enrolled in the tax plan of Caesar Augustus. Bethlehem is designated here as the city of David. (Normally it is Jerusalem that is called the "City of David.") Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem to be enrolled because they are of the lineage of David. Luke's story of Jesus, therefore, is immediately tied to the story of David. David was born in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:1; 17:12, 58; Micah 5:2-4).
David is very important to Luke's story of Jesus. It was to David, after all, that the messianic promise was given: 2 Samuel 7:8-16. This may be the most important passage in the Old Testament. It is the foundation of all of Israel's hope for the One who would come and usher in the messianic age.
There are also ties to the David story in the appearance of the angels to the shepherds. In each of the three stories told of David's origins in the book of 1 Samuel David is identified as a shepherd. The prophet/judge Samuel is commanded by God to go to Bethlehem to anoint the next king. Samuel went as he was commanded to the house of Jesse. How proud Jesse must have been that day. He heard Samuel's mission and immediately produced his eldest son (that's the way you did things in those days) for anointing. But God said, No! Samuel heard God say, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). This passage could serve as a com-mentary on the story of Jesus' birth!
The other stories of David's origin also place him in the fields with the sheep. David is out in the fields keeping watch over his sheep when the word comes to him that the king, Saul, needs someone to play soothing music over his troubled spirit: 1 Samuel 16:14-23, 19. The story of David's mighty slaying of Goliath also begins with David amongst his sheep: 1 Samuel 17:1-58, 15.
Luke's shepherds come on the scene basking in the glory of the Lord as it shone around them. The angel spoke to them. (Note how often in these first chapters of Luke that an angel brings God's message!) "... 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." This Christologically-loaded proclama-tion is our clearest clue so far as to Luke's understanding of God's plan in, with, and under the birth of Jesus. (We will talk of God's plan in Luke's Gospel many times.)
Luke is the only Gospel writer to use the term Savior in reference to Jesus (cf. Acts 13:23). His primary Christological references to Jesus are as Messiah and Lord. This first announce-ment of the angels speaks of Jesus as Messiah and Lord. These same titles appear in the conclusion of the first Christian sermon preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost. Peter's sermon is recorded in Acts 2:14-36. The sermon concludes with these words: "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." We might think of an arch extending from the angels' promise to Peter's sermon. This arch begins and ends with the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Luke's entire Gospel lives under that arch, within these bookends.
For the Nativity text we will focus our attention on Jesus as Messiah. In Christmas 1 we will explore the Lord theme a bit more. The title, Messiah, connects Jesus to David and messianic promise. This theme has already been spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary. The son born to Mary is to inherit the throne of his father David and inaugurate an everlasting kingdom (1:32-33). When old Zechariah cut loose with his Benedictus he blessed God for visiting and redeeming God's people and for raising up a horn of salvation in the house of God's servant, David (1:67-69). This theme begins early in Luke!
As Luke's Gospel unfurls the Messianic theme occurs many times. After Jesus' early healing miracles the demons knew that he was the Messiah (4:40-41). In Luke 7:18-23 the messianic question of the ages is raised with respect to Jesus. Israel lived with the confident hope that God would keep the promise and send the Messiah. With the dawn of every new kingship, with the advent of any wonder-working agent of God, the question arose: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus this question. Jesus' reply gives us Luke's first real attempt to fill the concept of Messiah with his substance. Jesus said: "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me" (7:22-23).
This passage complements what may be Luke's most program-matic assertion of Jesus' mission and identity in Luke 4:18-19. We'll deal with that passage often in our narrative journey through Luke.
In Luke 9:18-24 we have another pivotal passage about the meaning of the Messiah. Jesus asked the disciples who people thought he was. He asked them who they thought he was. Peter got it right. He answered Jesus, "The Messiah of God." Jesus accepts Peter's designation and reorients the notion of Messiah as the one who will suffer many things, be rejected and killed, and on the third day be raised. Furthermore, Jesus indicates that if we wish to be followers of the Messiah we will have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and lose our life in order to save it. This Messiah, diaper-wrapped and manger-born, will ultimately ask us for our life. Merry Christmas!
The last Messianic references in the Gospel of Luke underscore this theme of the suffering Messiah. On the first Easter day Cleopas and his friend were discussing the events of the day when Jesus, unrecognized, joined them on the road to Emmaus. Jesus spoke to open their eyes. "Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Jesus said to them (24:13-35, 26).
And, finally, Jesus tells his disciples that the work of the Messiah was to fulfill the law, the prophets, and the psalms (24:44-49). "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (24:46-47). Such is the work of the Messiah. Such is Luke's sketch for us of the plan of God for humanity. God's plan includes the suffering of the Messiah. The day will come, however, when the reversal of which Mary sang will come true for the suffering Messiah!
Homiletical Directions
Our narrative advice for the Nativity of our Lord is to tell stories of Jesus, the Messiah. Such storytelling can move in one of two directions. The first possibility is to tell stories of David as the background for the story of Jesus. There are stories that tie David to Bethlehem. There is the story of David's anointing as Messiah at the hand of Samuel. There is the promise made to David that his son will rule after him to all eternity. Next tell the birth story of Jesus emphasizing his connections to David: the birth city, the shepherds, the message that the angels bring to the shepherds, and so forth.
The closing proclamation to this grouping of stories can take the shape of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. It might go something like this: The angel that spoke to the shepherds long ago speaks to us today. The angel speaks for God when he an-nounces that the Messiah is now born among us. God says, "I made a promise to David long ago. I promised an everlasting kingdom. Today that promise is fulfilled in your hearing. I have sent my Messiah among you as a diaper-wrapped king. Through my son I offer you my kingdom. I offer you rest from life's trials. I offer you life in my kingdom. I offer you, this day, eternal life. It is yours. Now. It's my Christmas gift to you." Amen.
The second possibility of Messianic story telling for today is to tell what Jesus' Messianic rule is like based on other stories in Luke's Gospel. We might begin with the word of Gabriel to Mary, the promise of Messiah (1:32-33). Zechariah's song can be referred to as well (1:67ff). Substance for the Messianic theme begins to unfold when John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask if he is the One to come or if they should look for another. Jesus' answer to John gives substance to the Messianic promise. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the poor have good news preached to them. This is the essence of Messianic promise for Luke.
For Jesus to be Messiah, however, means he must suffer. The story in 9:18-24 sets that forth. So do the references to the Messiah in Luke 24:26, 46. These stories can be told leading to the an-nouncement at the end of Luke's Gospel that sets forth the plan of God that „ as a result of the suffering, dying, and rising of the Messiah „ repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations.
Preaching to all nations. That's what you are about today. You are bringing the Messiah's word of forgiveness to today's people. Your closing proclamation in this case might focus on forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is where Luke takes this Messianic theme. Announce this forgiveness to your congregation in the name of the hidden child in the manger.
Or focus your closing proclamation on Jesus' words in Luke 7:22-23. Your sermon could simply end in the proclamation of this word of Jesus, this word of the Messiah spoken for all nations to hear. "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." Amen.
