The Joy of the Shepherds (Rev. Dr. Charley Reeb)
If any of you are country music fans, you may recognize the name Travis Tritt. Like many country music stars, Tritt spent many years playing in run down beer joints before he made it big. Many of those bars were dangerous places, with drunk fans throwing punches all over the place.
But Tritt found a unique way to keep the peace in such situations. Anytime things would get too rowdy, he would begin singing “Silent Night.” Here is how he put it, “‘Silent Night’ proved to be my all-time lifesaver. Just when [bar fights] started getting out of hand, when bikers were reaching for their pool cues and locals were heading for the gun rack, I’d start playing ‘Silent Night.’ It could be the middle of July I didn’t care. Sometimes, I swear, they’d even start crying, standing there watching me sweat and play Christmas carols.”
There’s power in Christmas. It can bring peace and healing to the hardest of hearts. You know why, don’t you? Christmas means we don’t have to search for God anymore. At Christmas God searches and finds us. Christmas means that God put skin on to show us how much he cares for us. Christmas means that God became one of us in Christ so that we would understand the depth of his love and be changed by it. And that love is the greatest power in the world.
So, if you are someone struggling to find and understand God, look no further than the manger in Bethlehem. It is the power of Christmas.
Getting Back to the Power of Christmas
Today, I want us to experience the power and joy of Christmas. I want the message to penetrate our lives and change our hearts. I want us to look beyond the glitter and wrapping and get to the true joy of Christmas.
How do we do it? We find the power and joy of Christmas in the most unlikely way. Through the shepherds.
Most depictions of the shepherds in the Christmas story make them look dignified. There appears to be a warm glow around them. The truth of the matter is that there was probably a stench emanating from them. At the time of Jesus’ birth, shepherds were the lowest people in society. They were outcasts and misfits. They never bothered to bathe and were considered untrustworthy. To the religious community, they were spiritually unclean and not allowed to participate in sacred ceremonies and holy days. And these are the ones God chose to announce the greatest event in history?
So, what is it about the shepherds that is so special?
God chose to reveal the gift of Christmas first to the shepherds because they were the most receptive to the message. They did not have anything to prove. They had no reputation to protect. They had no fear of being called crazy. More than anyone they were open to the impossible.
You see, the shepherds had ears to hear.
The Shepherds Had Ears to Hear
The shepherds heard the angels speaking and singing, but not everyone heard it. The Bible does not say that anyone else heard an angelic choir from heaven. But the shepherds did. They were in the fields, far enough away from bustle of the city to hear the sacred sounds.
We live in a noisy world. Just stop for a moment during your day and listen to all the noise around you. We get so used to noise that we can’t stand silence. Most of the noise we hear drowns out the sacred sounds of God.
There is so much noise that we don’t hear very well. If we want to hear from God, we must find the silence that the shepherds found. God will not compete with noise. When people ask me how they can hear from God, I tell them to get away from noise.
Did you know there is a little mechanism in our brain stem that is a filter for our brain? It allows us to filter through all the stimuli around us and receive only what is important to us. Some wives are very familiar with this mechanism in their husbands. They call it selective listening!
There are three types of information that get through our built-in filter: Things that are unique, things that we value, and things we find threatening. This means that to hear the power of Christmas we must reprioritize what we value.
The great preacher James Moore remembers gathering with his large family at Christmas one year. He writes, “A month or so before Christmas that year, my sister had given birth to her third child. Most of the family were seeing the baby for the first time, and were so excited about this new addition to the family.
“Early in the evening they put the pack and play in the back bedroom of the house and put the baby to bed. All the travel and excitement had tired her out. She fell asleep almost immediately. They had their Christmas dinner and later exchanged gifts. Then people got involved in a variety of activities. Some were talking and visiting, others were playing electronic games, some were singing carols, and still others were watching a football game on television.
“There was a lot of noise. But in the midst of all the chaos, I noticed my sister quietly slip out of the room. Where do you think she was going? She was going to check on the baby. She heard the baby cry out.
“Isn’t that amazing? In all the commotion, no one else heard the baby, but she did… and you know why, don’t you? Because she was tuned in to hear the baby. She was listening for the baby. Her ears were trained to hear her baby’s cry. That was her number one priority.”
In the same way, the shepherds were ready to hear the joyous sounds of angels singing. Do you hear the sacred sounds of joy around you? Are you tuned in to hear from God? Above all the chaos, can you hear God? Is that a priority for you?
To experience the power of Christmas we must have ears to hear, like the shepherds.
But also like the shepherds we must also have eyes to see.
The Shepherds Had Eyes to See
After the shepherds had heard from the angels, they said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and SEE what has taken place…” They got there and saw the scene. There was nothing spectacular about it. It was a feeding trough with smelly animals. But the shepherds were amazed because they had eyes to see. They were able to see the Christ.
Most of us don’t see this well. We see what we want to see. We go about our lives passing by holy events and we don’t even notice. We rush through life and are unaware of where Christ is in our midst. We walk right by situations where God is active and working. We just don’t see it.
So often we don’t see the most important things in life.
Fred Craddock tells of a time when he and his wife had a guest in their home who was spending the night. As Fred read the paper, this guest played with their kids and taught them a new game. Fred thought to himself, “How long has it been since I [came] home from work, got down on the floor, and played with the kids and taught them a new game?” He felt himself judged by his guest’s actions.
Following dinner, the guest said to Mrs. Craddock, “I certainly appreciated the meal. That was just a wonderful meal.” Fred tried to remember when it was that he had said that to his wife following dinner. He thinks it was in 1949. And he was judged again.
The guest went out for a walk and came back in and said, “Oh, those are nice folks next door. I met Mr.Yung and his wife from Seoul. Very nice young couple.”
Fred says, “Well, I had heard some Koreans moved in down there, but I didn’t know. When he said their names, I was judged.”
Just a familiar pattern, says Fred Craddock. “Come home, read the paper, and eat supper. Then here comes someone strange. Everything looks different, and I think, ‘Where in the world have I been?’”
What are you missing? What are you not seeing that could bring you joy? A smile, a little baby laughing, a sunrise that brings you hope?
To experience power this Christmas we must have eyes to see. But we must also have a heart to believe.
The Shepherds Had Hearts to Believe
Later in our passage the shepherds went back and praised God and told everyone what they had seen. The believed. They boldly proclaim at the risk of looking foolish. They were committed to their belief. They were so filled with joy they could not contain it. They had to share it. Their hearts were filled with belief and hope.
The Christmas story teaches us to believe the impossible – to believe that with God all things are possible – to open our hearts to the possibilities and ignore the cynics. After all, the angel did tell Mary, “With God all things are possible.”
Joey, age 8, was very sad. It was just a few days till Christmas and Joey was down in the dumps. His friend, Tommy, age 10,asked: “What’s wrong Joey? Why so sad?” Joey answered: “It’s Christmas… and I asked for a puppy, but my parents said ‘No!’”
Tommy said: “That’s no problem you just have to use the right strategy.” “Strategy? What do you mean?” Joey asked.
“Well, it’s really very simple,” said ten-year old Tommy. “If you really want a puppy, all you have to do is ask for a baby brother!”
Two days later Tommy saw Joey coming down the sidewalk with a huge smile. holding a soft brown puppy in his arms.
Sometimes I think we use the wrong approach. We go about life all wrong. We live each day with closed hearts, unwilling to believe that God can do far more than we are willing to believe – we are unwilling to see the good in people – we are unwilling to experience the joy God wants to give us.
We don’t start off bitter and cynical. As children, Christmas was filled with wonder and delight. But something happens when we become adults. Life wears us out! It becomes exhausting. And it doesn’t take long for our hearts to become hardened to the life, joy and peace God wants to bring us. Many of us stop believing in what God can do. Many of us stop believing in the power of Christmas and the darkness overcomes us.
Is that you today? Has the darkness overcome you? You are in the right place, for the message of Christmas is that God refuses to be God without you. He can lift you out of the darkness.
Many years ago, there was a serious coal mining accident in the Allegheny mountains. Many miners escaped, but three men were trapped somewhere deep in the earth. No one knew if they were alive or dead. As the hours passed, intense heat and noxious gases built up within the mine itself. Two days passed before a search expedition was allowed to enter the mine. The camera teams from the local news station interviewed the three-man rescue team as they prepared to enter what could be their grave. A reporter asked one of the men if he was aware of the noxious gases and the extreme danger of the mine. When the man said yes, the reporter asked, “Are you still going down?”
The man replied, “Those men may still be alive.” Without another word of explanation, he put on his gas mask, climbed into the elevator, and descended into the mine.
“Are you still going down?” I imagine a similar discussion taking place in heaven before Christ descended to darkness and pain of earth. I can hear the angels asking, “Are you still going down into that world where darkness reigns: where might makes right and people value temporal things and ignore the eternal? Are you still going down when you know that only a few will listen and even fewer will heed your message of peace and good will? Are you still going down when you know that you will be despised, rejected and finally die a most cruel of death with nails in your hands and feet and a sword thrust into your side? Are you still going down?”
We know his answer. Jesus said yes. The result is that you and I are here today worshipping Christ. He has come down and changed this world and offers hope, peace, joy and love to anyone to who embraces his love. That’s the power and joy of Christmas, and we can experience it if we have ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart to believe.