Joy at Christmas

Preached on 25 December 2024 @ 10.00 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading John 1v1-14; Luke 2v8-20

Prayer

Christmas Cracker

As it’s Christmas, I’m going to start by pulling some Christmas Crackers.  They are very old, so, if you pull a cracker, you might like to shout ‘bang’.  I’ve primed each cracker with a topical joke – a typical cracker one, on a theme from our readings.  From these, perhaps you can work out what I’m going to talk about.

[Volunteers to pull the crackers and read the jokes]

My mate works as a shepherd, but he keeps getting in trouble for showing up late.
Doesn't seem like he's lost any sheep over it, though.

How many sheep does it take to knit an entire sweater?
None — sheep can't knit.

How do you put a lamb in orbit?
On a space sheep.

Detective’s Answers

[Get answers to theme of jokes]

Christmas Cards

We also have four Christmas cards, that I will use as prompts to talk about the passages, So let's see what the First Christmas card has on it.

Shepherds

Card 1 - Shepherds

The picture of the shepherds visiting the baby Jesus makes a lovely scene, but in reality the Shepherds of the time had a difficult job.  They were out on the hills day and night for nine months of the year.  For November, to February, the sheep would be in pasture that was better protected because it was too cold for them on the hills.  That’s too cold for the sheep, not the shepherds. 

Not 25^th December

This is what give us the clue that perhaps Jesus wasn’t born on 25^th December.  It doesn’t matter, because He is king, and this is his official birthday. 

Bears & Wolves

Up on the hills, the shepherds would have to protect the flock from bears and wolves, so they would have to be ready day and night.  They would also have to deal with the occasional dead animal, and search for lost sheep.

The result was that they were ritually unclean and were not allowed to join in the religious services of the town’s folk.  They were also rarely in the village, so were seen as outsiders.  This gave them a poor reputation – they were thought to be thieves and liars.  Therefore, they were not allowed to be witnesses in a criminal trial because they were not trusted to tell the truth.

Angels

Card 2 – Angels

So, there are the shepherds, minding their own business, or perhaps I should say minding their own sheep, when an Angel appears.  If that wasn’t scary enough, the glory of the Lord shone around them.  The picture does a reasonably good job of showing how they are in the spotlight.  Angels are primarily God’s messengers, and given that their appearance is frightening, it’s not surprising that the first part of the message is “do not be afraid”.  The angel makes an incredible announcement:  Christ the Lord is Born TODAY.

Every faithful Israelite has been hoping for this for centuries.  Here it is, happening today, just down the hill.  That would be unbelievable, if it wasn’t for the detail that the angels include in their message.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds now find they have the best seats in the house, as a great company of the heavenly host praises God. 

Their song says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

We will see why that message is important later.

The test of the Angel’s message comes when the shepherds leave their sheep and head into town.  Bethlehem isn’t that big, but there will be a lot of strangers around, who have come back for the census.  Maybe they heard the baby crying, or just caught a glimpse through the doorway, of people in the downstairs part of the house that is usually reserved for animals.  Putting a baby in a feeding trough would be VERY unusual at any time, so they can be sure that the message was true if they find one. – and they did.

Spread the Word

Once they had seen the baby, they knew that it was all true.  They then went out and told all who would listen about their amazing night.  They were praising God for the miracle of the saviours birth.

Dead Robin

Card 3 — Dead Robin

Well, that’s a strange picture, a dead robin – a bit distasteful for Christmas.  In Victorian times, a dead robin was a sign of good luck, that why it appeared on their Christmas Cards. 

For us, it reminds us that Jesus was born into a hostile world.

We are celebrating the birth of the Saviour, but in many ways His birth is less important than what He did.  This baby is described by John as the Word.  He says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  He also says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”.  John also tells us that not everybody recognises Him for whom He really is.

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  He came to the Israelites, God’s chosen people, but they did not recognise Him.  It shows how far they had moved away from God.  In the end, they arranged for Him to be put to death. 

What Jesus did

Card 4 – Mother and Baby

Some people though, like the Shepherds, did receive him, and it gave them great joy.  These are the ones on whom God’s favour rests, and for those John says:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” 

To be a child of God, is a privilege and a joy. It’s only possible because of the death and resurrection of the son of God, Mary’s child, that we see in the picture.

Mary, too, had great joy at the birth of her baby, but also at the things that happened around that birth.

Our joy comes from accepting the man that the child became. 

I wish you all the joy that Jesus brings this Christmas, and in the year ahead

Amen.

Sermon recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXAF16JNEE, starts at 19:30 to 35:30

References

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2015/12/24/what-is-your-christmas-story-a-christmas-sermon-on-luke-21-20/

John for Everyone, part 1

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-shepherd-39-s-perspective-on-christmas-rich-o-toole-sermon-on-christmas-277310

https://www.paulbeasleymurray.com/2017/12/21/the-shepherds-a-christmas-day-sermon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtgyT6z25U

https://upjoke.com/shepherd-jokes

https://www.childfun.com/articles/general/hilarious-sheep-jokes-for-kids/

https://kidadl.com/humor/pets-animals-nature/best-sheep-jokes-that-ewe-will-love

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-war-on-christmas-cards/