I began my preparation for this year's Christmas Eve sermon as I begin the preparation for all sermons. First comes a prayer for God's guidance, then a reading of the text, then some devotional reading from the Church Fathers on the text, and then the more difficult work of examining the text in its original. A regular companion on this textual study has long been The Rev'd. Dr. Marvin R. Vincent, who was the Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature at Union theological Seminary in New York from 1888 until his retirement. I was intrigued by his comment on the Shepherds in verse 8 of today's Gospel Lesson from St. Luke chapter two. "Luke's Gospel is the gospel of the poor and lowly. This revelation to the shepherds acquires additional meaning as we remember that shepherds, as a class, were under the Rabbinic ban, because of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance wellnigh impossible." (Vincent's word Studies in the New Testament Volume I p. 269.) This statement brought to mind something I had read just a few minutes before from the Venerable Bede's "Homilies on the Gospels 1.7" "The shepherds did not keep silent about the hidden mysteries that they had come to know by divine influence. They told whomever they could. Spiritual shepherds in the church are appointed especially for this, that they may proclaim the mysteries of the Word of God and that they may show to their listeners that the marvels which they have learned in the Scriptures are to be marveled at." (Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture: New Testament III. p. 42.) Then I began considering Dr. Vincent's regular citing of John Wycliffe's 1395 translation of the New Testament, which he says is noted for its literal rendering of the Latin Vulgate. Wycliffe translates the angel's (or the "heuenli knyythod) message as "Y preche to you a greet ioye, that schal be to al puple. For a sauyoure is borun to dai to you, that is Crist the Lord, in the citee of Dauid." And again "Glorie be in the hiyeste thingis to God, and in erthe pees be to men of good wille." The translator here points out that the Heavenly Army is proclaiming peace to the world. Already our categories are being turned on their heads. But a closer examination of Wycliffe's translation is even more astounding. Instead of our beloved "I bring you good news..." he translates "Y preche to you a greet ioye." The phrase in Greek is "euangelidzomai humin karan megalain" and literally means "I evangelize to you a great joy." Is it any wonder that at the end of the day the shepherds made known the saying concerning this child? Having been evangelized themselves, they were compelled by what they had experienced to share the great joy with others.
Now explore with me the implications of this brief exegesis. I would submit to you that we are not that different from the shepherds. We believe in God and seek to serve our Lord faithfully, but like them, our lives seemed filled with realities which prevent us from serving God they way we might like to. There are probably those who think that we could do a lot better in the spiritual department, and they might well be right. But for reasons of his own, God dispatched his heavenly Army, his "heavenly knighthood" to bring us to the awareness that Jesus came to us in a way which changed everything, and which refuses to fit into our categories and expectations. This is not a sentimental message delivered by Victorian angels taken from the cover of a Hallmark card, but a fearful, and yet peace bringing proclamation delivered by heaven's most fearsome warriors. It says that Messiah is come among us, in a way that we can verify, and that God is glorified as our darkness turns to light and the peace of God is offered to all of us who will seek him in good will. Surely this is great joy, the kind of joy that none of us can keep to ourselves. It is the kind of joy that the English Evangelist Rico Tice says causes us to dance in the street and hug strangers. It drives us to evangelize the world just as it drove those shepherds to tell everyone they met that Christ was come into the world!
At the beginning of this short exegesis, I read a selection from Bede's Homilies on the Gospels. "The shepherds did not keep silent about the hidden mysteries that they had come to know by divine influence. They told whomever they could. Spiritual shepherds in the church are appointed especially for this, that they may proclaim the mysteries of the Word of God and that they may show to their listeners that the marvels which they have learned in the Scriptures are to be marveled at." Let me take this a bit further now. Not only are we like the shepherds in our degrees of separation from what we might wish to be, but we are all shepherds, or examples, or guides to someone in this world. It might be a child, or a student, or a relative, or a friend, or a neighbor. Whoever it is, someone is there to notice and hear all of us. As shepherds, we are all called "to proclaim the mysteries of the Word of God..." We are all called to "evangelize to you a great joy." It is a good thing, and a Christian thing in this Christmas season to be kind, and to help the poor, and to comfort the afflicted. But the greater vocation, the primary vocation which God gives to all of us is to share the good news of the coming of Jesus to be our example, and our Saviour, and our Lord. I hope that all of us might be able to share that good news with the people to whom we are shepherds during this most holy season. Might I suggest that when you get together with your friends and family between now and the Feast of the Epiphany, or "Auld Christmas" on January 6th, you suggest that as a group you read together the Gospel of Luke, chapter two, verses 1-20. The sharing of this good news is true evangelism, and it is at the very heart of what God calls us to do. It is as radical today as it was then, and it still brings peace into our troubled and notoriously busy lives. It is the first enabling step of our acceptance and healing by God in Christ, and it has already started the transformation of our world. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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