Do you like to throw birthday parties? IF money was no option, name one thing you would want to have to throw an awesome birthday party for anyone of your choice. Would you want to have games? pictures? gifts? a cake for blowing out candles and making wishes? What about celebrities? Would you be surprised that several of these things and more were all at Jesus’ birth?
You can read about the awesome birthday of our Lord in Luke 2:8-21. Focus especially on the angel’s message in verse 14. Can you name another birthday party with the appearance of angels? Name just one other where the angels were praising God for a birthday to [Spoiler alert!] the shepherds! No wonder at all of the Christmas plays kids want to be shepherds!
Games: The angel of the Lord said, “You will find.”
The angels sent the shepherds on a scavenger hunt! The Magi were sent on one about the same time. This is a great game to have at birthday parties! They had to search for this baby.
Gifts: The baby came wrapped. How else do presents come? And the baby was lying in a manger--where else should a lamb, THE Lamb, be born? Perhaps you were thinking, "Under a tree?"
Wishes:
The baby would be Savior, Christ, and Lord. The three offices of Jesus were prophet, priest, and King--the positions that encompassed the everyday lives of the Jewish people. What a gift! Jesus would be their all in all! Everything they needed … and wished for as Savior, Christ/Messiah, and Lord.
Celebrities:
Imagine your birthday party interrupted by awesome celebrities! But these celebrities turn your birthday party into a birthday party for everyone else! They start giving all of your gifts away, cutting up your cake and singing for everyone else. What would you think about that?
You might think it was pretty cool of it was all a set up--I mean, if you would actually were the pone who planned it that way. "Hey gang, when everyone arrives to my birthday party, let's turn the tables and make a reverse party and put it all back on them! They'll be glad they came to MY birthday party because it was totally for them!"
In verse 11, who was the party really for? The birthday announcement was for Jesus, but the party was actually meant to be for you! -- for everyone, regardless of social status or where they have come from! Better than Prince’s 2000-zero-zero party!
More Wishes: What were the birthday wishes the angels passed on?
“Peace…on earth…with those whom God is pleased.”
This wish was not just to Jews, but for all whom God’s favor rested upon. We don’t know who these are, but we believe it can be anybody! So we share the good news as if it were anybody! However, the message is a dividing message--Peace is offered to all universally, but will only be extended to those who receive and accept God’s gracious gift--the one wrapped up that day and lay in a manager.
The angel’s proclamation is worthy of writing songs about! In fact, Charles Wesley interprets the angelic message as “Peace on earth and mercy mild, / God and sinners reconciled.” You might have sang this before!
Perpetual Bliss:
And the gift kept on giving! The shepherds believed the word of God and ran in haste to search for the baby until they found him [fun fun!]. They testified about the angelic message and witnessed to people about the baby. They left the scene transformed by the experience and praised God together and probably every night since watched the skies a little different.
There were no photos then, but there had to be mental pictures--snapshots you remember for a long, long time. I wonder if the shepherds continued to remember their angelic mental pictures from that night? Those pictures were testimonies to share with children and grand-children!
Here is the thing about this baby Jesus: the wrapped up baby will be unwrapped by those who believe for the rest of their lives!
Jesus could have been born to a single mother. But he was born into a family--a devout Jewish family who followed the Jewish customs and the Mosaic law. v21
STEAL MY SHOW:
How often do you find God showing up with his glory when we also find ourselves at the most humblest times in our lives? God is at work around wrapping presents for you to receive if you just remain faithful! Many give up and leave JUST BEFORE the gifts arrive.
No room for Yosef and Miriam to give birth to little Yeshua inside --as a guest. He was born in the open air, in a manger stall, and nothing else is given an account for. The angels really steal the show … for now. How is the anticipation of the presents under the tree and waiting for the day to open them a part of the meaning of the Christmas?
We are left to assume many things about this scene: who was there, the animals present, how she had the baby, did Joseph know what to do, how did God supply for the birth, how was the celebration in town paralleled or contrasted to this one in the country? What are your thoughts about this?
When the angels were through, they went “away from them into heaven.” INTO HEAVEN! A mysterious place where angels live and cannot be seen, but is still there. Oh how the sky must have seemed different! The legacy those shepherds left for their children and children’s children! To see an angel as a Jew was the epitome of blessing. Better than a Superbowl ring! Better than winning the lottery! Better than anything you can imagine. For the shepherds, it was a change in status in their hearts whether any other Jew recognized them or not--YHWH, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob recognized them THAT night!
The baby Jesus was a sign, did you get that? What was he a sign of?
How will your legacy of Christmas be left behind? How are you communicating the meaning of Christmas to those who come after you? What do you hope your children’s children will remember about Christmas the most? Is Christmas a reverse party somehow?
What are you doing to prepare for the birthday party of Jesus? Have you prepared? Have you prepared yourself? The good news is for you, you know. Have you received Him? Have you unwrapped him in your heart? Are you sharing him with others? There is glory in your humblest moments for God to show up and change the whole scenery around you.
This is a lot like George Bailey. What made his life wonderful was when everyone he loved showed up to make a difference and save the day. The angels did. The shepherds did. Jesus did. And you can too.