Advent 3, Cycle A

by Norman Beck

The primary theme of the texts for the Third Sunday of Advent for this year is that the Lord is coming and has come to relieve the suffering of those who are suffering political, economic, social, and religious oppression and those who are disadvantaged by a variety of afflictions.

Psalm 146:5-10
In this psalm the inadequacy of all human rulers is contrasted to the total adequacy of the Lord. It is the Lord, not any human figure, who is to be praised for all creation, for mercy and release from suffering for all who are weak, oppressed, and limited by afflictions.

Isaiah 35:1-10
In this text, which is in many ways the most outstanding of the four texts chosen for this occasion, the ancient Israelite poet’s imagination is given free rein. There are no restraints. Physical disadvantages and all of our usual limitations are removed. “Your God will come to save you!” in Matthew 11:2-11 is an echo of this and of other similar Israelite apocalyptic texts. The Matthean tradition affirms that when Jesus comes to act in God’s behalf the current physical restraints and limitations are cast away, the fullness of life is restored, and the gospel is proclaimed to the oppressed.

In order to highlight the beauty of this Isaiah 35 text, it would be appropriate to have two or more members of the congregation accompany the reading of this text with an interpretative dance coordinated to an expressive reading of the text. A free spirit in the reading and appropriate imagination on the part of the interpretative dancers will make this a memorable occasion. A second possibility would be that the Psalm would be memorized by someone and presented vividly in the storytelling mode that is becoming increasingly popular in the Church, as this recaptures in many ways the enthusiasm and exuberance of the ancient Israelite poets. We too can be inspired, just as were the psalmists and poets of the Isaiah tradition. Each of the worship services on these four Sundays of Advent should be a unique and memorable experience.

James 5:7-10
A glance at the Aktionsart (kind of action) of the Greek verbs in this text indicates that the writer of the Epistle of James was addressing a situation with much more urgency than is apparent in our typical translations into English. The “kind of action” is much more pronounced in the imperative verb forms in Greek than in the Greek indicative. We see, therefore, that the speaker/writer was urging the people of the community being addressed to “begin to be patient” (using the Greek aorist active imperative word makrothumesate) where the progressive active imperative word, had it been used, would have encouraged them to “continue to be patient.” The people of the community are urged to “begin to show some fortitude” (aorist active imperative steritzate) where the progressive active imperative, had it been chosen, would have encouraged them to “continue to hang in there.” When the negative command was used at the beginning of 5:9, the writer switched to the progressive active imperative me stenazete to admonish them to stop grumbling against each other; had the aorist active subjunctive form been used, it would have advised them not to start grumbling. If we prepare our own translations with an awareness of the Aktionsart factor of progressive forms for continuous or repeated action and aorist forms for simple action, the life-situation addressed in this text will be related much more closely to our life-situation today.

Matthew 11:2-11
Regardless of whether this text and its Lukan parallel represent incidents that occurred during the activities of the Jesus of history, the more significant consideration for us is “What is the principal theological message of this text?” “What is the gospel in this text that we can proclaim next Sunday?”

The gospel is most pronounced in the final verse of this text (and in the Luke 7:28 parallel), “Truly I say to you that there has not been raised up among those born from women anyone greater than John the Baptist. But the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is!” The principal theological value of this text as an Advent text for us lies in the anticipation in Matthew 11:11 of an impending glorious, joyous future. This is the point of contact cited above to the beautiful Isaiah 35:1-10 text. With these two texts we look forward with a “Joy to the World” motif to the time when all disadvantages, limitations, and impediments will be removed from us. Within this limited world of time and space each of us is suffering impediments in many ways, but the gospel here is that God will remove our limitations in a new and better life both here and in the life to come, in spite of everything.

by Norman Beck

The comforting message of each of these texts selected for us for the Fourth Sunday of Advent this year is that God is present with us. The expectation level for this is very high. It is almost Christmas, but not quite. Something must be held in suspense in anticipation of Christmas.

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
The plea for God to save the nation and people of Israel is eloquent, desperate but at the same time confident, in this group lament. We should consider using verses 8-16 also because of the vivid analogy in them of Israel being like a vine that God brought forth out of Egypt, planted it, and caused it to flourish. We have here a biblical fruit-bearing tree that in many ways as a predecessor of both the Christian Christmas tree and the Jewish Hanukkah symbol unites us as Christians and Jews.

Isaiah 7:10-16
The “God is with us” theme is explicit in this text as a bearer of the message of Isaiah in a specific historical situation in which the Judean king Ahaz was afraid of the combined power of Syria and of Ephraim. Instead of using a prosaic statement that within fifteen years Judah will no longer have to fear the military threat of Syria and of Ephraim because by that time Judah will have a much more serious problem (Assyria, the mighty empire that utterly destroys everything in its path), the writer used the illustration of a young woman conceiving, bearing, and rearing a child. The name to be given to the child, as is typical in the Israelite tradition, carries a message. The message is that even within this terrible impending situation “God will be with us.” Therefore, “Be strong! Be of good courage! Do not be afraid! Hang in there! God will be with us through it all!”

The historical situation of this Isaiah 7 text is unrepeatable, but the message is timeless. It is important that we understand the historical situation of the text so that we do not try to insist upon narrowing the application of the text to a single specific time later. The text should be applied to every time, so that in every crisis we may believe that God will be with us; certainly where we are this year just before Christmas in Series A.

Romans 1:1-7
Although it is implicit rather than explicit in this text, here also God is present with us, which is gospel for those who welcome God’s presence. In this text God is said to be present in Jesus Christ our Lord raised from the dead, the bearer of the grace of God for people of all nations, both for people from a Jewish background and for those who are not from a Jewish background.

Matthew 1:18-25
We should be aware that the beginning, origin, conception, and birth of Jesus were not matters of special attention within the letters of Paul that are accessible to us in the Newer Testament. For Paul, from what we have to read, Jesus had obviously been born to a woman within a Jewish culture (Galatians 4:4), born in the likeness of all people (Philippians 2:7), born as a human descendant of David (Romans 1:3), who for Paul became the Lord and Christ, God’s designated Son when God raised Jesus from the dead. The death on the cross and the resurrection of Jesus were of prime theological importance for Paul, not Jesus’ conception and birth as a human being. Within the Pauline literature it is only in the reaction to the speculations of gnosticizing Christians that we see in the Pauline Colossians 1:15-20 hymn attention given to Jesus’ unique origin. The Gospel According to Mark has nothing about Jesus’ conception and birth. By the time the Gospels According to Matthew and According to Luke were written, however, the beginning, origin, conception, and birth of Jesus had become matters of theological interest and reflection. In Matthew 1:18-5 and in Luke 2:1-20 we see the somewhat different ways in which the Matthean and the Lukan writers and traditions depicted Jesus’ unique background. The Matthean way of portraying the divine origin of Jesus was to develop and use a story about Joseph. The Lukan writer developed and used a story about Mary, a more fully developed literary drama about the Virgin Mary, a story more attractive than that of Matthew. Who of us can imagine Advent and Christmas cards and pageants based on the Matthew 1:18-25 account, except perhaps for the etymologies of the names “Jesus” and “Emmanuel” in 1:21 and 23?

In order that we may have a better grasp of this Matthew 1:18-25 text, let us employ a simple exegetical methodology with attention given to structure, genre, life situation, and meaning components.

1. Analysis of the external structure of Matthew 1:18-25 indicates that it is preceded by a genealogy rather artfully fashioned into three fourteen-part segments. The genealogy culminates surprisingly with Jesus’ human origin traced to Joseph, although Jesus’ human origin is then attributed to Mary. Matthew 1:18-25 is followed by other stories similar to 1:18-25 in that, in them also, the events included in the stories are said to have fulfilled that which had been spoken by various prophets. In terms of internal structure, Matthew 1:18a provides the introduction to the story with the words, “The genesis (beginning, birth) of Jesus Christ was like this.” Matthew 1:18b opens the story plot with a problem: Mary is pregnant, but Joseph, to whom she is committed by a binding betrothal, is not the person who has initiated her pregnancy. The hearer of the story is told that the pregnancy of Mary has been caused by the Holy Spirit of God. The cause of her pregnancy is still unknown at this point by Joseph. It is said that Joseph was a dikaios man (Greek), that is, a tsaddik man (Hebrew) who was trying to be faithful and just in all of his relationships. Even a tsaddik man did not always do what is right. No human being does. The point is that as a tsaddik man Joseph did not want Mary to be humiliated or killed. While Joseph ponders about what would be the just and righteous way to resolve this difficulty, an angel of the Lord provides a special revelation in a dream (1:19-20). The next verse supplies a more full resolution of the problem (1:21), along with an etymology of the name Jesus. Joseph’s obedience and the accomplishment of the angel’s instructions complete the story in 1:24-25. There remains 1:22-23, a somewhat extraneous intrusion into the story, a use of Isaiah 7:14 from the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible to provide another, different name for the child, a name not used elsewhere within the Newer Testament.

2. The text is in a story genre, a narrative with considerable human interest. It is similar to other stories about the origin of a founder of a religion through a human mother and some type of divine action or manifestation. It is similar to the story of the origin of Zoroaster, the founder of the Zoroastrian religion, whose mother was said by his followers after his death to have been impregnated by the Spirit of Ahura Mazda that came over her. This Matthean account is closer to the Zoroastrian theological explanation of how Zoroaster came to be the Divine Son of Ahura Mazda than is the Lukan account in which the Holy Spirit of God is said to have come by means of the angel Gabriel, the chief angel in Daniel 8 and 9. The Matthew 1:18-25 account has much interest in etymologies, both of the name Jesus and of the name Emmanuel. The narrative in Matthew explains how a parthenos (a designation in Greek for a virgin woman) could become pregnant for a very special purpose, to bear the divine-human founder of a great new religion. To put it another way, the question of how Jesus could be both human and divine was answered by developing and using a virgin mother story, and the Septuagint translation of the Isaiah 7:14 text was used to provide a biblical basis for the story. The wife of Joseph and mother of Jesus and of his brothers and sisters (Mark 6:1-6a and Matthew 13:54-58) was thus “virginized” theologically. Theologians can do things like that.

3. The life situation in which this story was developed and told was the Matthean church, perhaps in Antioch, Syria, approximately 80-85 CE. For the members of the Matthean church the Risen Christ was perceived to be much more than a man. They expressed what they believed about Jesus as the Risen Christ, his origin and his nature, by using this storytelling method, employing a motif of conception caused by the Divine Spirit known in the Near East during this period. Therefore, the story would be accepted readily in that life situation as typical of the origin of a great religious leader. The Isaiah 7:14 text was utilized to provide the biblical proof text for authenticity, even though it brought a different name, Emmanuel, into the picture. As elsewhere in Matthew, the Israelite Scriptures were used to suit the purposes of the Matthean church, with little regard for the context from which the portion was lifted or interest in the original setting of the Israelite Scriptures text.

4. The meaning or purpose of the text is to indicate that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is the Son of God and the Son of man, God with us. The text provides what was considered in that life situation to be a rational explanation of how this occurred. It provided one explanation, with no intent to exclude other explanatory possibilities. The Lukan account provided a somewhat different story, an explanation in a more fully developed literary drama genre, with many more scenes of Mary and Joseph on the road, at the inn, in the feedlot with the animals, of shepherds in the fields, the appearance of angels, and the visit of the shepherds to see the baby.

This Matthew 1:18-25 narrative provides the same meaning and serves the same purpose for us as it did for the Matthean church. It helps us to express what we believe about Jesus and about God. It challenges us to tell stories also by which we express our faith, to prepare and to share sermons, messages from God about what we believe about the Risen Christ. Matthew 1:18-25 provides a biblical basis for us, a basis on which we can tell other people about Jesus our Risen Savior. It provides a biblical basis on which we can and should tell others about how God in the Risen Christ is with us and will be with us in our future. With these four texts for the Fourth Sunday of Advent we can tell others about how God in the Risen Christ is with us in our joys and in our sorrows. The message of next Sunday is that God is coming in new and surprising ways. The story includes an important element of suspense, of anticipation. It is a message that there is still more to come.

THEME OF THE DAY
The difference the coming baby makes. The texts prod consideration of new behaviors and attitudes that having Christ in our lives provides. New insights are gained about Jesus, the virgin birth [Christology], Justification, and Sanctification.

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

This Psalm is a group lament in prayer for deliverance from national enemies. Reference is made to this being a Psalm of Asaph, who was one of David’s chief musicians (1 Chronicles 6:39; 15:17; 16:5-7). Although it is unlikely, the tradition has been that either this well-known musician composed it or the guild of singers associated with him did.

Ruling out the likelihood of Asaph’s authorship is that the tribes of Israel mentioned in the Psalm (Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh) suggest that the song may have developed in the Northern Kingdom of Israel after its secession from the Davidic line of kings in 922 BC, and perhaps after being conquered by Syria 200 years later. Reference made to a nation’s shepherd was often associated in the minds of the people of the ancient Near East with kings and rulers (Jeremiah 23:1-6). Of course, Yahweh was also identified as a shepherd (Psalm 23), and Christ is the good shepherd (John 10:11). The fact that this shepherd is said to be upon the cherubim (winged guardians of sacred areas) (v. 1) suggests that the reference here to the shepherd can also be construed as referring to God or Christ. The shepherd is exhorted to come and save the people (vv. 2-3). After a lament (vv. 4-6), a song refrain pleading for restoration follows (v. 7), completing the Psalm later (v. 19). A reference to God laying his hand on the one at his right (v. 17) may be a personification of Israel, but the text could also be read messianically. The Psalmist pledges that when this transpires the people will never turn away from Yahweh Elohim (vv. 18-19).

Application: The Psalm provides opportunity to bewail, condemn, or analyze our contemporary situation (Sin), noting that only God in Christ can deliver us (Christology and Atonement). Another possibility might be to take an occasion to praise God for saving us (Justification by Grace), using such praise as an occasion to note how having been saved with such love we can never turn away (Sanctification) and relating these themes to the coming Christmas.

Isaiah 7:10-16

Located in the context of a book that is an editorial compilation of two or three distinct historical strands of prophecy, we consider in this text what is likely a genuine prophecy of the historical Isaiah, an eighth-century BC prophet to Judah (the Southern Kingdom). This text emerges in the context of Judah’s Syro-Ephraimite War (734-733 BC) (v. 2). The Jewish King Ahaz is addressed by Yahweh (as mediated by Isaiah) in the midst of turmoil and concern about the future. He commands the king to ask for a sign to verify the earlier prophecy of the demise of Ephraim (one of the tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel now aligned with Syria) (vv. 9-10). In a pious-sounding response (perhaps not the reality), Ahaz refuses to test the Lord (v. 12). Isaiah responds by challenging him, suggesting that Ahaz does not trust the Lord (v. 13). The prophet proceeds to proclaim that the sign is that a young woman (almah in Hebrew, though its Greek equivalent parthenos might be translated “virgin”) would bear Immanuel (God with us). This offspring is prophesied to eat curds and honey (choice foods for the newly weaned, but hard to obtain in a city like Jerusalem at this time under siege) (vv. 14-15). The prophet adds that even before the child gains the ability to discern good and evil (is weaned) Judah will be liberated (v. 16). This last point indicates the failure of Jesus to fulfill the prophecy, as Judah remained under Roman bondage throughout his life. But it could also be taken as testimony to the fact that even as an infant his incarnation saved us.

Application: The text affords an opportunity either to explore the prophetic roots of the virgin birth or God’s overflowing kindness in sending Christ to save us (Christology and Justification by Grace).

Romans 1:1-7

The opening verses of Paul’s self-introduction to the church in Rome were probably written between 54 and 58 AD. The great evangelist introduces himself as a servant of Christ, called to be an apostle of the gospel concerning Christ who was promised through the Hebraic prophets, descended from David, and declared Son of God according to the Holy Spirit by his resurrection (vv. 1-4). Through Christ, it is asserted, we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles, including Roman recipients of the letter (vv. 5-6). (Obedience [hupakoe] in faith is not to be understood as a work we do, but literally connotes a submissiveness to God, which is the essence of faith or trust [pistis].) Greetings to the church are offered at the end of the salutation. Recipients in Rome are referred to as saints. References to peace and grace in the greeting were common Greek and Hebraic greetings (v. 7).

Application: Several possible sermon themes emerge from the text. In keeping with the theme of the upcoming virgin birth, one could use the reference to Christ being designated Son of God by his resurrection to note that the virgin birth does not make Christ Son of God, and that Christmas must be understood in light of Easter (Christology and Atonement). The nature of faith as submissiveness to God (Sanctification) is another possible sermon theme.

Matthew 1:18-25

This account of Mary’s pregnancy and Joseph’s reaction to it has no parallels in the other gospels, just as the Matthean author’s attempt in the preceding verses to link Jesus to David through Abraham and highlight his Hebraic-Davidic roots (vv. 1-17) is unprecedented. This agenda is of course in line with the gospel’s attempt to make clear that Jesus is the messianic fulfillment of the Torah in order to strengthen Jewish Christians in Antioch who are no longer in full communion with Judaism.

In purporting to describe Jesus the Messiah’s birth, the author first notes that Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before living together she found she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit (v. 18). Her fiancé Joseph is described as righteous, addressed by an angel as a son of David. Originally planning to dismiss his apparently promiscuous fiancé quietly when her pregnancy was revealed, Joseph changes his mind after an angel reveals to him in a dream that the child was of the Holy Spirit (vv. 19-20). The angel also reveals to Joseph that the son Jesus (the Greek form of Joshua, meaning “He saves”) would save people from their sins. This would be in fulfillment of the prophetic utterance of Isaiah 7:14 regarding the virgin conceiving a son called Emmanuel, that is, “God with us” (vv. 21-23; see the discussion above regarding the Isaiah text). It is reported finally that Joseph did as the angel commended and took Mary as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she bore Jesus (vv. 24-25).

Application: The text provides occasion to offer parishioners an appreciation of the early church’s insights that the reason for the virgin birth is to make clear that Jesus had a human mother and so is fully human. His humanity (Christology) may be elaborated into reflections on how amazing it is that God finds our human nature good and beautiful enough to make his own. Another possibility is to proclaim Justification by Grace on the basis of the Savior’s names — “God with us” and “He saves.”

THEME OF THE DAY
Christmas matters! The texts continue to testify to how Christmas provides new insights about God, Christ (about Justification), and daily life (Sanctification), even concerning Social Ethics.

Psalm 96

Psalm 96 is a hymn celebrating God’s kingship, speaking of him as Yahweh. Along with Psalms 47, 93, 95, and 97-99, this may be an Enthronement Psalm originally used on a festival occasion when God was declared to be a king. Much of the Psalm reflects the Hebraic poetic style of Parallelism (in which rather than rhyming lines, successive lines of the poem repeat the same idea in different words, the succeeding line intensifying the previous one). This song is said to be a new one (v. 1), most liturgically appropriate given the new thing that God has done at Christmas. After exhortations to praise God (vv. 2-3), the Lord is extolled as a powerful creator above all the gods (vv. 4-6). We are called to ascribe all the glory due God (vv. 7-8). All the nations and the universe join this praise (vv. 7-13). Yahweh is said to come to judge the world with righteousness [tsedeq] (v. 13). Although in its original Hebraic context this could connote legal, judgmental actions on the Lord’s part or a legalism, most Old Testament scholars note that this attribute of God is not in any way punitive but more about relationship. Indeed, it has to do with God’s loyalty to his covenant in saving us, and even at times later in the Old Testament era the righteousness of God construed as something bestowed on the faithful (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, pp. 373, 376ff) in a manner not unlike Paul teaches happens to Christians in Christ (Romans 3:21-26). This point along with the reference in verse 13 to the Lord coming, could also be interpreted as pointing to Christ.

Application: The Psalm enables proclamation on how much praise we owe God for the events of this holy day, how the whole earth rejoices, and how idolatry has no chance now that God has become incarnate in a creature (Christology and Justification by Grace). The reference to the praise offered by the creation opens the way to sermons devoted to Creation and Ecology. And the concept of God coming to judge in righteousness suggests the possibility of a messianic interpretation so that we can proclaim that we become righteous through the righteousness of God come to us in Christ (Justification by Grace).

Isaiah 9:2-7

As has been the case in almost all the First Lessons through Advent, this text is a prophecy of the historical Isaiah, working in the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the eighth century BC. The text is a prophecy about the messianic king. It may have originally celebrated the accession of a new Judean king. This king is described as a great light [or] for those who had been in darkness [choshek], that, is in oppression (v. 2). Based on verse 1, presumably this is a reference to the liberation of the Israelite inhabitants of areas annexed by Assyria. Darkness is standard biblical imagery for oppression, and light is an image for relief from such oppression. This observation was readily applied to the Babylonian Exiles of the sixth century BC addressed in chapters 40 to the end of the book after this chapter pertaining to the earlier prophet is combined with the later chapters. Their exile was interpreted as having been contrary to God’s covenant aims.

The new king will make the nation more abundant, increase its joy, and break the oppressors’ rod, just as the great war hero of the tribe of Manasseh Gideon conquered the Mideanites (vv. 3-5; Judges 7:23–8:3). Reference is made to a child born for us, followed by comments about the mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (v. 6). These titles were customarily coronation names given to Egyptian kings at their accession. Read as prophecy the verse could refer to the Christ Child, who is identified with a loving God. This child is said to have authority to give endless peace, with justice and righteousness. He is identified with the Davidic line (v. 7). Peace [shalom] in this Jewish context refers not just to a state in which there is no combat, but to a state of well-being and thriving, to social justice (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, p. 130). For the meaning of God’s righteousness [tsedeq], see the discussion above on the Psalm of the Day.

Application: Interpreted messianically the text sanctions sermons on the work of Christ giving light (royal relief from oppression), as he bears all our sin, removes our guilt, and ushers in an age of peace and social justice (in the Hebraic sense). Christology, Atonement, Justification by Grace, and Social Ethics are central themes.

Titus 2:11-14

This book is one of the Pastoral Epistles, along with 1 and 2 Timothy, so named because of their concern with pastoral leadership. It purports to be a letter of Paul to Titus, a Gentile colleague in ministry (Galatians 2:1-3). Likely, none of the pastorals were written by Paul. They differ from his authentic letters in vocabulary, style, and treatment of concepts like faith, law, and righteousness, characterized by more emphasis on good works, godliness, and church order. Also, many of the historical circumstances described in the Pastoral Epistles do not seem readily accommodated to Paul’s ministry described in Acts. This in turn suggests that they may not have been written until the second century as circular letters, written not to Titus or Timothy but to a general audience. While the other Pastoral Epistles address ascetic Gnostics (1 Timothy 4:3, 7; 2 Timothy 2:17-18), Titus engages debate more with leaders still maintaining fidelity to Jewish traditions (1:10, 14).

This text may be a fragment of an early Christian liturgy. It moves from an assertion of the grace of God and salvation given to all (vv. 11, 14) to a declaration that we have become a people of God zealous for good works (v. 14). This new life is described in terms of self-control and godliness, not being caught up in worldly passions of the present age (v. 12). These images are compatible with Hellenistic moral philosophy and in some sense remain in dialogue with the Gnostic asceticism critiqued in the other Pastoral Epistles. References in verse 13 to Christ’s coming [parousia] and his glory borrow the terminology of the imperial cult. We have in this text one of the few times a New Testament writer actually speaks of Christ as God.

Application: The text affords opportunity to proclaim the incarnation (Christology — God in Christ) and that he makes possible salvation for all (Atonement and Justification by Grace), a reality that makes us freely want to do good works and deny our selfish passions (Sanctification).

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

This unique and most detailed account of Jesus’ birth emerges from the most Gentile-oriented of the gospels. Originally combined with Acts as its companion volume, it seeks to stress the church’s universal mission to all people (Acts 1:8). As such, the books collectively defend Paul’s ministry. Usually they are attributed to Luke, a physician and associate of Paul (Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24), whom tradition claims to have been Gentile. Addressed to Theophilus (1:1), which means “lover of God,” it is not clear if this means the work was written for a recent convert or for a Roman official from whom the church sought tolerance. It is also possible that the author addressed all the faithful under this name.

Most of what Christians believe about the Christmas story is drawn from this text. The literary context for the account is said to be a census called for by Roman Emperor Augustus (who reigned from 27 BC to 14 AD) (v. 1). Reference is made to Quirinius, who was Roman governor of Syria. This raises questions about the date of Jesus’ birth or the accuracy of this account, since he was not governor during Herod the Great’s reign in Judah (who according to Matthew 2:1 was on the throne of Israel when Jesus was born). Since Herod died in 4 BC, this seems to move the date of Jesus’ birth prior to the beginning of the Christian era. It is also unlikely that spouses like Mary would have traveled with their husbands to his home of family origin unless she owned property in that town (vv. 1-5). This lack of historical credibility for the account is not surprising, since the birth of Jesus is not even part of the earliest narrative traditions about Jesus (note its omission from Mark’s gospel).

When in Bethlehem (the Davidic home to which Joseph as an heir of David would have traveled [3:23-31]), Mary is reported to have borne her firstborn son and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn (vv. 6-7). It was common in biblical times in Israel for owners to reside with their animals. Next follows the report of the revelation of the birth to shepherds. This is most appropriate in view of the fact that David was also a shepherd (1 Samuel 17:15), and it likewise makes sense given the fact that Luke’s gospel is preoccupied with concern for the poor and lowly (6:20; 14:12-14; 16:19-31). The revelation by an angel is said to produce fear [phobeo] among these shepherds as they encounter the glory of God (they experienced the fear of God) (vv. 8-9). The angel comforts them, bringing the good news of the Messiah, whom they are told they can find in Bethlehem in a manger (v. 12). The angel is then joined by a heavenly multitude, presumably other angels [aggeloi], who praise God and sing of peace among those he favors (vv. 13-14). (See the discussion above in the notes on the Isaiah text about the term “peace” [eirene] in a Hebraic context; that the New Testament continues to employ the term this way is suggested by Rudolf Bultmann [Theology of the New Testament, Vol. 2, pp. 82-83]).

When the angels depart, the shepherds proceed to Bethlehem finding Mary, Joseph, and the child (vv. 15-17). All who heard the story are amazed. Mary is said to treasure these words and ponder them (vv. 18-19). The shepherds then return, glorifying God (v. 20).

Application: Like any Christmas sermon, the incarnation depicted in this text provides an invitation to reflect on the paradoxical character of God’s way of saving us (Christology, Providence, Justification by Grace). The proclamation of peace by the angels also provides an opportunity for a sermon on Social Ethics concerning the biblical concept of peace, that war is not God’s way, or to focus on God’s revelation to ordinary shepherds entailing God’s concern for ordinary people.

Isaiah 9:2-7

The usage of religious traditions affects the form and even the content of those traditions. For example, usage of evergreen trees that are brought into our homes, stores, and churches during the season of Christmas over periods of time has affected the trees themselves. The use of such trees, especially when they are placed into stores and even into homes and churches many weeks prior to Christmas, has mandated that unless the trees are constructed out of materials that are made to look as if they were live trees cut from a forest or tree farm, even though they were not, they will deteriorate to the point that they are no longer useful objects of beauty. When automobiles began to be used not only to transport people slowly from one place to another on gravel roads, but to become portable sound systems transported at high speeds on superhighways, the form and the content of the vehicles have been changed radically. The automobiles themselves have become, in a sense, religious traditions. The time when teenagers are able to drive and to own their own cars or trucks becomes a “religious rite of passage” for them and for their families. Usage affects form and content.

Usage has affected the form and the content of Isaiah 9:2-7 dramatically, and, of course, of other religious texts as well. While the precise details of the environment in which Isaiah 9:2-7 had its origins are unknown to us, it is likely that life conditions had been difficult for the Israelite people and for their nation. Now, however, there was reason to be hopeful. A young man, a descendant of King David, was being acclaimed as the new king. There was an expectation that, unlike their recent kings, this one would be wise, compassionate, strengthened by God, as concerned for them as a loving father would be, a king whose reign would be a reign of justice and of peace. Unfortunately, the hopes and the dreams of the people were never realized. Once the king had power and authority, his power and his authority were misused and lost and the people again suffered, sometimes even more than they had earlier.

As the ancient Israelites and the Jews who came after them experienced repeated injustices and hardships, their hopes for an ideal king repeatedly rose and fell. Especially when for long periods of time they had no autonomy as a nation, their hopes and expectations for their own fair and just “king” and “messiah” were embellished by their poets and heroes. The Isaiah 9:2-7 text, along with Isaiah 11:1-9 and others, are evidence of their efforts, and remain useful as expressions of Messianic expectations for Jews today. For many Orthodox Jews, expectations of the coming of a truly worthy earthly ruler sent by God continue, even after countless disappointments. For most non-Orthodox Jews, these texts are treasured as expressions of the coming Messianic Age of justice and of peace, for which they should strive.

For followers of Jesus whose efforts eventually resulted in the Christian tradition, these same texts initially provided expressions of hope that were similar to those of Jews who did not become Christians. Many of these followers of Jesus developed a belief that Jesus was the ideal Messianic King, not merely human, but also divine. Their usage of Isaiah 9:2-7, and of other Israelite-Jewish texts, affected the form and the content of the texts. Long before Handel composed his magnificent “Messiah,” and certainly ever since that time, translations of Isaiah 9:2-7, and most of all of the titles given to the ideal king in the latter portion of Isaiah 9:6 were affected for Christians in ways that departed significantly from the texts and translations used by Jews. As is well known, in most of our Christian translations into the English language we see the adjectives beginning in upper case form as “Wonderful!” “Counselor!” or “Wonderful Counselor,” as “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” “Prince of Peace.” The usage has almost indelibly affected the form and the content of Isaiah 9:2-7, for Christians differently than for Jews.

Does this mean that we should not use Isaiah 9:2-7 as it has evolved for us? Should we use instead the text in its most primitive possible form? Not at all. We should no more do that than we should use only Christmas trees cut live from the forest or make and utilize only automobiles that are like the first horseless carriages. We should use and enjoy fully the text of Isaiah 9:2-7 as we have it, while at the same time fully appreciating and respecting Jews who use it as it has been affected by their experiences.

Psalm 96

This is one of a series of psalms in which the Israelites were and Jews and Christians are called upon to worship the Lord God, the Creator and Righteous Ruler of the earth. In this beautiful psalm even the elements of nature are urged to sing praises to the Lord God. Since we as Christians perceive the Christmas season as the primary time when we give thanks to the Lord God as the Father of the one who is for us God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, God in another form, it is in every way fitting that we, together with all Jews, praise the Lord God on Christmas Eve. Jews praise God in a universal sense at all times; we as Christians, especially during the Christmas season, praise God in a particular, as well as in a more general, universal sense at this time. It is essential that we emphasize that the Christmas season is first and foremost a celebration of God’s unique gift to us all.

Titus 2:11-14

Although this text was written from a post Good Friday and Easter Christian perspective rather than from a festival of Christmas Christian perspective, it is also adaptable to our use here on this occasion. Its emphasis is on the grace of God and on our lives that are to be appropriate responses to God’s grace. This text also from its perspective provides for us an early link to Good Friday and to Easter, which for us are only a few short months away.

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Within popular Christianity, this vivid Christmas drama written by the inspired author of the “Gospel According to Luke” dominates all other texts. We as leaders in public worship services should, therefore, center our proclamation upon it every Christmas Eve. If we were to do otherwise, it would hardly be Christmas Eve for us and for the people worshiping God as Christians among us, so powerful has this Lukan drama become! Here and in the other instances in which the writer of Luke-Acts was not dependent upon written sources known to us, it is likely that the writer researched the subject thoroughly and then composed freely and with inspired creativity, much as we do when we prepare sermons and homilies.

We must read this text with every oral interpretation skill given to us, or perhaps, after memorizing a particular translation of the text, proclaim it with the techniques employed in dramatic biblical storytelling. We can also portray it in vivid chancel drama with parts for children and adults and with the “holy family” of the parents of the youngest child in the congregation and their infant “baby Jesus” seated in the chancel. (We did this in a young mission congregation in which I served many decades ago. During the worship service, the infant cried and the mother discreetly nursed him.) Infants and children should certainly be highlighted during the worship service on Christmas Eve.

But what in addition can we do to make this worship experience as meaningful and as memorable as possible? We all want to sing our favorite Christmas carols, hear well-rehearsed anthems from the choirs, and gaze at the Christmas trees in the chancel. How can we best explicate and apply the message of the Lukan Christmas story? What will God do within us that will be a continuation of what God has done within the Lukan writer? How shall we paraphrase the text with a bit of additional historicizing?

It then, now, and always the Lord comes within the activities of the people of God, as we see in all of the texts selected here, should we not proclaim some specifics about how God comes as Savior, Christ, and Lord (the three designations used in the message of the angel in Luke 2:11) within the parishes in which we serve? We can, also with well-researched and inspired creativity like that of the Lukan writer, proclaim something such as “During the early decades of the twenty-first century, while _________ was the President of the United States and ________ was the governor of ______, within a local congregation in (your location), the Lord God came to a woman stricken by cancer and sustained her and her family and friends in their grief. The Lord came to a young businessman who would not sacrifice his moral principles to gain an advantage over his competitor. The Lord came to an old rancher and his wife who shared some of their land with people who were unemployed, and the Lord was born here, and the angels in the church choir sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace and good will!’ and the shepherds in the congregation told this story, and Jesus was Savior, Christ, and Lord among all of them.”

Are we not the “shepherds” where we are? Can we not repeat what the “angels” have sung about what happens when the Lord comes within the activities of the people of God where we are? This can then be our most meaningful Christmas Eve message, a proclamation and application of the texts selected for this night. Perhaps it would also be a proclamation and application that Jews and Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, and our other non-Christian guests could receive in a Christmas Eve worship service to which they were invited. They may want to be invited to this Christian mountaintop experience, if they know that their religious traditions and practices are respected by us.

I cannot leave this text, most of all Luke 2:7 with its depiction of the mother of the baby Jesus wrapping him in soft material and tenderly placing him into a “manger” so that he and she could sleep, until I share with you an experience that I had during the years in which I was growing up on our small farm in Northwest Ohio. While my friends in town were playing sandlot baseball after school and later going to football, basketball, and track practices and games, I, five miles from town, was doing what my parents wanted and expected me to do, the daily chores of feeding our chickens, hogs, and calves, and helping to cut and husk corn with hand tools. I drove our Farmall H tractor so that my mother could come back to our house to begin to prepare our supper and bring in our 4-5 cows to be milked by hand as well, which she often did so that my father and I could keep the tractor and team of horses going until dark during planting and harvesting times.

We had a calf shed, unlike our other farm buildings, we never painted, in which at any given time, we had one or two calves. There was a narrow walkway along the north side of the shed we used so that we could bring straw to soak up the manure that the calves produced, hay and corn fodder for roughage, water for the calves to drink, and a small scoop of oats, which the calves relished eagerly. Apart from the larger area where we placed the hay and the corn fodder, there were two feedboxes into which I would pour the oats. (There had to be two feedboxes for two calves. If you know anything about animals eating oats, you know why there had to be two feedboxes.)

The relation of all of this to Luke 2:7 is that these feedboxes, built into the feeding area by my grandfather, were raised from the floor perhaps 24 inches, were approximately ten inches wide and eighteen to twenty inches long, with sides perhaps six inches high so that the calves as they licked up the grains of oats would not spill them out of the manger. Many generations of calves, over a period of more than four decades had with their raspy tongues licked the boards smooth, even wearing away with their tongues over the years grooves in the soft wood between the darker bands of hard wood. These feed mangers were just the right size into which a mother could place her newborn child! We did not use these mangers for that, but in the Lukan Christmas story the Virgin Mary did. In Luke’s Christmas story the mother of Jesus placed him into a feedbox like the ones I had poured scoops of oats for our calves. The mangers in the feedlots in Bethlehem were intended for use by the sheep and goats, but in Luke’s Christmas story Mary placed the baby Jesus into one of them, while Caesar and Herod languished in their richly adorned palaces.