Preached at Christ Church, Billericay in church and on-line on 27 Dec 2020
The on-line service is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxcBnnBdJvo
Introduction
These readings are appropriate for the time of year, not just because they are talking about Jesus’ birth, but because they have lots of new things in them, and we all love getting new things at Christmas. I’m going to talk about new cloths, new names and new or at least renewed hope.
Isaiah
Our reading from Isaiah seems to be split between two voices. Verses 10 & 11 of chapter 61 are spoken by a personified Zion from the point of view of Isaiah’s readers. I’m not going to go into the arguments for or against this in the commentary, as that is too technical for a Sunday morning. In chapter 62 the Lord is talking.
Zion dressed up
Zion, Israel, if you like, it makes no difference for our purposes this morning has been dressed in new clothes. He (Israel, the nation) has been clothed in garments that look like salvation and righteousness.
Effect of Clothes
How we dress has an effect on how we behave.
(It certainly does when I am wearing my robes, because I can’t walk fast without fear of falling over) You can see that from the very early days, when small children dress up in adult clothes, or put on the clothes of their favourite TV character. Then they can ‘be’ the character they’re dressed as. Later on, if they are involved in the theatre at all, they may use the costume to help them become the character they are playing.
This is at the root of the discussion about how we should dress for work – in the office. Very formal dress should make for a very professional approach, or at least a more professional approach. You may think that works or maybe it doesn’t, but it speaks to the understanding that the cloths we wear affect the way we behave.
Wedding Clothes
In our reading the clothes mentioned are those for a special occasion – a wedding. Both the bride and the groom are expected to dress a certain way, that’s as true in our culture as it was in Isaiah’s. Once suitable attired they become the person that they desire to be – the bride and the groom.
Now, with Zion correctly dressed, looking to the world as salvation and righteousness, we see the expectation that they will grow into the image they are now portraying. Zion will become a righteousness nation, praising God and all the world will see it.
Bride & Groom Image
The image of the bride and groom is picked up in the next chapter, just after our reading ends, where Hephzibah means “my delight is in her” and Beulah means “married”.
Zion’s Hope
That is Zion’s hope, their expectation about how their fresh start with God will turn out.
Isaiah 62:1-3
Then the Lord replies, supporting everything that Zion has said. He will speak for them and vindicate then. He will be sure that the nations will see what He has done. He will re-brand them – give them a new name, so that the nations can see that there is a difference.
Names
Names are powerful. A name is an indication of a character trait. Choosing a name for a baby is fraught with problems, and most of us parents spent ages looking at name definitions and meanings before we made our final choices, even when those were the ideas we had at the start.
When writers choose names for there characters they are doing essentially the same thing. Trying to understand what the readers will understand about the character. It’s the same for actors picking a stage name.
Names and new names
It’s much more important in the Bible though, where God has a reputation for changing the names of those he calls. Once God calls them and they accept the call, they are new people, so its appropriate to change their name. Think of Abram and Abraham, Saul and Paul. Here the promised new name will change the way the nation is perceived forever, it will play a big part for them in reflecting God’s glory to the world.
Luke
Before we look for similar messages in the Luke reading (and they are there) let’s take a look at some of the details.
Shepherd’s reputation
I expect you all know the story of the shepherds, we only heard the last part of it this morning, the first part starts at verse 8. Shepherds in first century Israel have had a bad reputation among 20th century preachers, who considered them the lowest of the low, and despised by the good citizens around them. That may be a bit of an extreme picture, the shepherds certainly represent the poor, because they have a difficult job and often live away from the rest of society. In our reading it says “all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them”. It doesn’t say “all who heard it were amazed that the shepherds had such a message”.
Excited Shepherds
Like pretty much everyone in Israel, the shepherds were expecting the Messiah, that doesn’t mean that when the angels appeared with the announcement they weren’t terrified, but the message that they were given meant that something they had hoped for for generations was now beginning. The baby is the sign of that beginning. So it is understandable that they are getting excited.
The Angels leave
After delivering their message the angels go back into heaven. This is a similar description to the ascension, where Jesus is taken up into heaven. They didn’t just fade away, they went back where they came from.
Now, the shepherds have to find the baby. Bethlehem is a small village in the first century, the likely population is in the low hundreds. It’s unlikely to have an inn for general travellers because almost all the people who visited would be related to residents.
Inn or guest room
The word translated as Inn is the same word used as guest room in Mark 14:14
“Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks:
Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my
disciples?’”
So the new baby would be in the house of His earthly relatives. When they arrived it was already full of other visiting relatives due to the census. Mary, Joseph and the baby would be in the room normally reserved for the animals – hence the feeding trough used to put the baby in.
Finding the baby
All the shepherds had to do was go from house to house, looking for the full and busy ones to see if there was a new born in the manger.
Jesus may well have been the only new born in the town.
However difficult or easy it was they found the baby – and the sign was confirmed. Now their excitement goes to another level. They go about telling everyone what they have seen, at every opportunity, for at least the next few days, and probably much longer. It’s easy to imagine that they lived off this experience for the rest of their lives.
Hope of redemption
God has come to earth to make peace with His people, redemption is at hand. They have seen evidence that their hope is not misplaced, and now it is strengthened.
You probably wouldn’t have wanted to meet any of those shepherds more than once.
Mary
Mary was not able to get up and be excited and announce her baby to the entire world. According to Jewish law she was unclean, and would have to self isolate for the next 41 days, with the exception of 1 day (the eighth day) for the circumcision. So, Mary takes it all in, and tries to make sense of it all. This time and these memories will serve her well when things get difficult later on.
Eighth day
When the eighth day arrived, the baby was taken to the temple, and circumcised and named Jesus, just as Mary had been instructed.
Renewed Hope.
Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the name Joshua which means “the Lord saves”. Much is expected of this baby, but for now He simply renews the hope that the Israelites have that God will intervene and rescue them.
Hope delivered
We know that Jesus, when he was fully grown, shook up things in Israel, spent 3 years teaching 12 disciples and gave His life for the sins of all of us, so that we could have peace with God. He completely fulfilled the hope that the shepherds had put in Him that night when they were visited by a heavenly host.
Our Hope
Our hope is in Jesus’ promises that our sins are forgiven, and that we will spend eternity with God, because we have accepted what Jesus has done for us. Part of that hope is also a new name and new cloths.
In revelation 2:17, He says “To the one who is victorious I will give a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” and in revelation 6 the martyrs are given a white robe (new cloths) while they wait for more martyrs to join them.
Remember / renew our hope
So lets remember the hope that we have, and looking at the events of that first Christmas night more carefully, renew our hope. All things will pass, but the hope we have, is based on the unshakeable promises of Jesus.
Amen
