Silent Night (Luke 2:1-20)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:06.040 Well, I said I'd preach on this what passage I just read, but 2 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:11.349 I changed my mind. Sorry. Instead, I'd like to read now from 3 00:00:11.349 --> 00:00:19.309 Luke Chapter Two, versus went through twenty, and will consider this and another 4 00:00:19.350 --> 00:00:26.300 Christmas carol tonight. Silent night. So let's give our attention to God's word 5 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:32.740 and seek his blessing in it. Luke's Chapter Two one through twenty. And 6 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:36.530 in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should 7 00:00:36.530 --> 00:00:41.969 be registered. This was the first registration when queerness was governor of Syria, 8 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:46.570 and all went to be registered, each to his own town, and Joseph 9 00:00:46.570 --> 00:00:50.240 also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, 10 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.200 to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of 11 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.880 the House and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, 12 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:03.280 who was with child, and while they were there the time came for 13 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.709 her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped 14 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:14.109 him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place 15 00:01:14.230 --> 00:01:18.390 for them in the end. And in the same region there were shepherds out 16 00:01:18.430 --> 00:01:22.700 in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of 17 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:26.099 the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and 18 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:30.739 they were filled with fear, and the Angel said to them, fear not, 19 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:34.769 for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be 20 00:01:34.969 --> 00:01:40.290 for all the people, for unto you is born this day in the city 21 00:01:40.329 --> 00:01:45.090 of David a savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a 22 00:01:45.209 --> 00:01:49.599 sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in 23 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:55.640 a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly 24 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:00.799 host, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth 25 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:06.310 peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from 26 00:02:06.310 --> 00:02:09.229 them into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, let us go over 27 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:13.789 to Bethlehem and see the thing that has happened, which the Lord has made 28 00:02:13.870 --> 00:02:17.979 known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and 29 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:23.219 the baby lying in a manger, and when they saw it, they made 30 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:27.099 known the saying that had been told them concerning the child, and all who 31 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:31.449 heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them Mary, but Mary treasured up 32 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:37.770 all these things, pondering them in her heart, and the shepherds returned glorifying 33 00:02:37.969 --> 00:02:40.289 and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it had 34 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:54.280 been told them. You may be seated. This scripture, which is given 35 00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:00.590 to us here in Luke Two, one through twenty is described in part and 36 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:04.590 some other things as well, and the song silent night, holy night. 37 00:03:06.430 --> 00:03:15.659 This is a beloved song and is somewhat personal for me. It was my, 38 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:20.419 it was my grandma's, my grandmother's, favorite song. This is the 39 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:23.939 first Christmas of my life that I will have without her. She died this 40 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:28.530 year. We actually sang silent night at her memorial service in the middle of 41 00:03:28.569 --> 00:03:34.530 the summer because she loved this song so much. Of all the Christmas songs, 42 00:03:34.650 --> 00:03:38.810 this was her favorite. My grandpa told me that when they were first 43 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:42.400 married, at all times of the year, she would play it over and 44 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:47.639 over and over. He thought that she'd break the record player and I remember 45 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:52.639 her singing it off and we would play it for her at Christmas time, 46 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:55.870 which is why this brings back a lot of memories when I think about this, 47 00:03:55.949 --> 00:04:00.030 this song, and in fact, just before she died, when she 48 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:02.469 was in a hospice. I brought my cello and said, you know, 49 00:04:02.669 --> 00:04:05.430 you want me play anything for you, and she wasn't speaking very much, 50 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:09.310 but she asked for this again. Of course I knew she would, and 51 00:04:09.909 --> 00:04:13.219 despite not being able to talk very much, she sang it again, even 52 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:18.019 little the first verse or so. So it's a it's a special song to 53 00:04:18.139 --> 00:04:21.139 me, but it's I'm not the only one, as it turns out. 54 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:26.850 According to Time magazine, it's the most popular Christmas Carol of all time. 55 00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:30.529 Maybe many of you here are going yeah, it's my favorite one too. 56 00:04:31.250 --> 00:04:34.970 It's an interesting thing to think about. Why. Why is that? Why 57 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:41.199 is this song so love so popular, that people would want to hear it 58 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:47.639 even all year long? I think it has something to do with a need 59 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:54.829 that expresses and it connects with us, a hope and a longing that all 60 00:04:54.910 --> 00:04:59.189 the world would be set right, that it would be peaceful. It's a 61 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:02.069 kind of a Lullaby, right. The song as this sort of quietness to 62 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:05.189 it and, and at least I thought, always think of it that way, 63 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:09.899 and especially as you, you know, sing those lines about sleep and 64 00:05:10.019 --> 00:05:15.259 heavenly peace and these kinds of things. But there's something funny about the song 65 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:19.339 that I think often goes unnoticed, and it relates to this passage that we 66 00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:24.810 read. If you pay just attention to just the title, you might think 67 00:05:24.810 --> 00:05:30.490 that silent night paints this perfect picture of stillness and silence at the birth of 68 00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:38.319 Jesus, like a Glowing Nativity scene, frozen and wax that you kind of 69 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:43.199 just walk around and observe. But this is, of course, wasn't the 70 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:47.879 case. Yes, Mary and her child were are described as calm, and 71 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:53.430 Jesus is pictured in the hymn is sleeping in heavenly peace, and I have 72 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:57.910 no doubt that at some point that happened. Right even the most fussy newborns 73 00:05:57.949 --> 00:06:02.990 eventually conk out go to sleep, even the ones that don't actually descend from 74 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:10.100 heaven. There are there is a moment when they rest finally and mom and 75 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:15.459 babies get the sleep they need. But if you remember the other verses in 76 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:18.250 this song and, even more importantly, the scriptures themselves, which the song 77 00:06:18.410 --> 00:06:25.089 testifies to, there's a lot of other things going on. It's not just 78 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:31.610 this perfect picture of stillness, of the baby Jesus being sort of this perfect 79 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:38.079 child. No, if you think about the other verses we read about shepherds 80 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:43.000 quaking, angels singing and, as we know from the scriptures, there were 81 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:48.230 other various guests, shepherds, wise men. The little drummer boy is not 82 00:06:48.350 --> 00:06:53.629 in the Bible, that's not part of it. But there were activity right, 83 00:06:53.709 --> 00:06:57.029 there were visitors, there were people coming. And then, of course, 84 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.579 remember that if human nature holds true, as it must in the case 85 00:07:00.660 --> 00:07:09.180 of Jesus, if we are to be saved, then Jesus cried, Jesus 86 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:15.180 got hungry, Jesus needed to be changed. He was fully human, just 87 00:07:15.379 --> 00:07:23.290 like you and me. You don't want to come away from Christmas denying the 88 00:07:23.410 --> 00:07:28.329 incarnation. That would be exactly the wrong thing that you would want to have 89 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:34.480 happened. Jesus became man so that we men can have our sins forgiven who 90 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:41.720 have fallen into sin. And it wasn't it wasn't all quiet either, not 91 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.509 only in terms of the visitors and the animals and the baby and the birth, 92 00:07:48.269 --> 00:07:50.990 but we might remember, there was a lot of darkness in this night 93 00:07:51.149 --> 00:07:59.500 too. Herod was plotting the murder of Jesus. Kill squads were being instructed 94 00:07:59.620 --> 00:08:03.980 and marshaled and sent out. So what is the silence about? Right the 95 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:13.129 way that this Christmas Carol describes this, the silence of this hymn, and 96 00:08:13.649 --> 00:08:20.930 is describing not a literal silence but something else, what we might just simply 97 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:28.199 call peace, the very peace that the angels joyously and maybe even noisily proclaimed 98 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.960 when they flashed onto the scene with the shepherds. Peace to men, they 99 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.879 cried. They proclaimed peace to men because, through the son of God that 100 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:46.669 had come into the world, God would reconcile himself to men. The Bible 101 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:52.629 says that when we are born, we are born into death. It's a 102 00:08:52.750 --> 00:08:58.220 remarkable thing to say, but it's true. Says that we're born in our 103 00:08:58.259 --> 00:09:03.820 but we're born dead in our trespasses and sins, effusion too, and effusions 104 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:07.220 to it. In fact. It even says that we are without peace in 105 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:13.210 the world. And of course you know what it's like to not have peace, 106 00:09:13.570 --> 00:09:18.169 to be filled with anxiety and trouble and worry and noise and clamor and 107 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:24.009 we just can't get away. You feel the world closing in on around you. 108 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:30.080 Jesus came into the world to do away with all of that. That's 109 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:35.200 what the angels proclaim. Peace on earth, peace to all the world. 110 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:41.710 Sin Strife, everything that stands between us and God, Jesus came to put 111 00:09:41.750 --> 00:09:50.389 aside. He accomplished that. The Bible says that Jesus made peace by the 112 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:56.659 blood of the cross, and it's because of that blood, blood that was 113 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:03.259 fully human, that we celebrate and we think about this night as being so 114 00:10:03.580 --> 00:10:11.409 peaceful, not because it was inhuman, but because it was divine, because 115 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:15.129 when Jesus came into the world, he came to do something that no human 116 00:10:15.289 --> 00:10:20.850 could do. No mere human. Jesus is fully God and fully man. 117 00:10:20.330 --> 00:10:24.440 Brings this good news, good news that, in the midst of a world 118 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:31.399 of filled with suffering and death, grief and loss of family members, friends, 119 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:39.549 important relationships, wealth, honor many things, God is telling us, 120 00:10:39.549 --> 00:10:46.669 the whole world, as he says to the to the shepherds, it's going 121 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:52.740 to be okay, peace on earth. Put Your faith in my son and 122 00:10:52.860 --> 00:10:56.899 you will be saved. Put Your faith in my son and you will have 123 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:03.179 peace. And so that's what this song is about. All is calm, 124 00:11:03.220 --> 00:11:09.610 all is bright. Why? Because light had come into the world, peace 125 00:11:09.690 --> 00:11:15.730 had come into the world. Shepherds are quaking glories or streaming from Heavens Afar 126 00:11:16.129 --> 00:11:22.240 this heavenly host singing Allelujah. Why? Because, as it says, Christ 127 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:31.080 the savior is born. Jesus came into this world to bring peace and in 128 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.389 doing so he brings us all out of darkness, the darkness of night, 129 00:11:35.429 --> 00:11:41.029 and into his light. An amazing thing is is this heavenly peace that is 130 00:11:41.149 --> 00:11:48.620 described here. These glories from heaven are ultimately realized when Jesus ascends into heaven 131 00:11:50.580 --> 00:11:56.620 in his body and promises to come from there again, ushering in a new 132 00:11:56.740 --> 00:12:01.570 heavens and the earth at the end of days. And this place is very 133 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:07.409 remarkable because it is described as a place where there is no night in the 134 00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:13.009 song, silent night, and in the event of the incarnation, Jesus comes 135 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:18.360 into a world and into the darkness to bring light. When Jesus comes again, 136 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:24.440 there will be no more night and that's it. And this is where 137 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:28.720 we live our lives now. We live them by the light of his glory. 138 00:12:30.909 --> 00:12:33.590 The night he was born he brought peace into the world, but in 139 00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:39.429 his mission wouldn't end there. It would end on the cross, but would 140 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:43.940 augurate the Kingdom of God, and it will be consummated when he comes again. 141 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:48.220 Our Lord and our Savior was born to bring peace into this world, 142 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:56.179 pure radiant light, and this he will accomplish finally and once for all when 143 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:01.129 he returns again. So, as we look back, we think about the 144 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:07.129 Lord's working in history, the things would is he has bought about, remember 145 00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:11.330 them as the beginning of things that are yet in the future, things that 146 00:13:11.450 --> 00:13:16.960 we are looking forward to hanging on to and enjoying even in our deaths, 147 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:24.120 to enjoy his peace, and was certainly even more at our resurrections. Let's 148 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:26.549 stand together. Oh, let's pray first, and then we'll stand and sing 149 00:13:26.669 --> 00:13:28.190 silent night.