This week, we have been looking
at another song that was a part of the original Christmas playlist. However,
this particular song is unique in that it was not composed by a human being.
Instead, this song was composed and sung by a group of angelic beings.
Tuesday and Wednesday, we looked at
the context for the event from history that we know as the Christmas story. After
arriving in Bethlehem to participate in a census that was required by the
ruling Roman Empire, Mary discovered that she was not just with child; it was
time to have the child. There was a problem, however. Bethlehem was a small
rural community that was busting at the seams because of all the out of town
visitors that were required to come to register for the census.
Bethlehem was
so crowded that the only place that they could find for Mary to give birth and
stay in was with domesticated animals. Most likely this was in a cave on the
outskirts of town where animals where kept for their safety. Instead of a crib,
all Mary could lay her newborn in was a manger, which was a feeding trough for
animals.
Upon
giving birth to Jesus, Luke explained that God’s personal servant, named
Gabriel, appeared to a group of shepherds to announce the arrival of Jesus into
humanity. The Angel Gabriel explained that they would find their God, their
rescuer, their deliverer in the cave on the edge of town, where He is wrapped
up in clothes in a feeding trough”.
Now, I
want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as
one of the shepherds. You have just had an encounter with a heavenly being.
What would you be thinking? What questions would be running through your mind?
Here’s what I think was running through their mind. “Why would God send an
angel to tell us? Why us?
However,
while the shepherds were frightened and were pondering all that they had heard,
there were another group of beings who were about to enter this event from
history which we know today as the Christmas story. And it is this group of
beings, upon entering this event from history that we know today as the
Christmas story, would compose and
sing a song that would become a part of the original Christmas playlist. So
let's look at that song together, beginning in Luke 2:13:
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
Can you imagine what that must have
looked like? Can you imagine what it must sound like to hear a multitude of angel’s
worship God in one accord without anyone being off key? But this was not just any
multitude of angels. Instead Luke tells us that this was a multitude of the
Heavenly Host. In other words, this was an army of angels. And the chorus line
of the worship song that this army of angels was singing to the shepherds was
this: “glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is
pleased.”
Now this chorus line that was being
sung by this army of angels, if written in the language we use in our culture
today, would have sounded something like this: “may God’s reputation be enhanced to the max and may
those whom God favors experience a state of well being with Him”. This army of angels composed and sang a song of worship to
the Lord in response to God sending His Son as the One who would provide the
opportunity for humanity to be rescued from their selfishness and rebellion
so that they could experience the relationship with God that they were created
for. This army of angels composed and sang a song of worship to the Lord in
response to God sending His Son as the One who would be an agent of peace that
would provide the opportunity for humanity to experience peace with God and
peace with one another here on earth.
And it is in this song that was composed and sung by an
army of angels in response to God’s activity in history that first Christmas
that would become a part of the original Christmas playlist, that we discover a
timeless truth about the very first Christmas and its
place the grand story of God's activity in history. And that timeless truth is
this: The original Christmas playlist contains songs that
celebrate the opportunity we have been given to experience peace with God and
one another through His Son Jesus.
Now you
may be wondering “I mean, there is still so much violence in the world? So how
can you say that Christmas provide such peace? How can you say that Jesus
brought peace to earth when there is still so much violence?” If that question is running through your mind, I just want
to let you know that you are asking a great question.
And my response to that question is this: While
Christmas is about Jesus providing humanity the opportunity to experience peace
with God and others, humanity is responsible for their response to the
opportunity to experience peace with God and others. And unfortunately,
humanity often rejects the opportunity to experience peace with God and others
as a result of our selfishness that chooses to love ourselves over God and
others. And it is that selfish love over God and others that leads us to do
things, often violent things, that hurt God and others. And it is that
selfishness and rebellion against God and others that separates us from God and
the relationship with God that we were created for.
Christmas
is all about Jesus entering into humanity to be the agent of peace between God
and rebellious humanity that selfishly rejected the relationship with God that
we were created for. Christmas is about God responding to the history of
violence that has marred and marked humanity throughout human history by
sending His Son Jesus, who violently suffered at the hands of rebellious humanity
after living the life we were created to live but refused to live, so that God
the Father could treat us as though we lived the life of peace with God and
others that Jesus lived.
And we
celebrate Christmas because Christmas provides the opportunity for every human
being to experience peace, or a state of well being, with God and peace, or a
state of well being, in our relationship with others, through Jesus life,
death, and resurrection. Because, this
is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the opportunity we have been
given to experience peace with God and one another through His Son Jesus.
So may we celebrate the reality that Christmas is all
about Jesus entering into humanity to be the agent of peace between God and
rebellious humanity that selfishly rejected the relationship with God that we
were created for. May we celebrate the
reality that Christmas is all about God providing the opportunity for humanity
to experience peace with God in the relationship with God that we were created
for. And may we celebrate the reality that Christmas is all about God providing
the opportunity for humanity to experience peace with one another as we live in
the community with one another that we were created for…
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