Hark! The Angels :: 1 John 1:1-4
When we read the Christmas Gospel according to Saint Luke, as we did on Christmas Eve ...
1. We are reminded how much we need the interpretation and proclamation of angels to herald what has just happened.
Had it not been for an angel enlightening the night sky, the shepherds never would have thought to go to the bump in a road in Galilee called Bethlehem to see the baby. Even if they had, they never would have thought they could see in the swaddling clothes a Savior, let alone the savior of the entire world.
A baby? ... from Bethlehem? ... is going to save us???!!!
They never would have thought to look into a manger of all places, a smelly sheep stall, thinking that God Incarnate would be found there ... in the midst of our darkness and decay. They never would have thought that a virgin from Nowhere Nazareth would be the mother of God.
How could they? What good comes out of Nazareth?
Think about this for a moment ... If it hadn’t been for the angels ... how else could we have ever known God had come to us?
Yes, I am talking about The God. The only God. The one true God. ... who is so much bigger than we can imagine. You know the one who created everything out of nothing .... the one who terrified us just last week every time he spoke from the mountain, his voice shaking the foundations of this sanctuary from the world. ...
Yes, that God! He ....... is with us.
He ...... has come to save us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the news being heralded today ... this first Sunday after Christmas by none other than an angel. God has come to save us.
As Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist reminds us ... we have seen him, heard him, and touched him. And we are telling you this news to you so that you may have fellowship with us, and that together we may have fellowship with God who has come to us. ... In him is light. There is no darkness at all. In him is life. Your life.
Now because he has come to us in this way, to a virgin, in the midst of our decay, to suffer, to die, and to rise again, we don’t have to fear God any longer.
Fear not, the angels proclaim. God is with us.
2. We know this now because an angel told us.
What are angels anyway? To be clear, angels are most certainly real. They are distinct spiritual beings created by God to serve him. Psalm 104 tells us that God makes his angels spirits (Ps 104:4). Luke 24 reveals they possess no physical bodies, for spirits do not have flesh and bones (Lk 24:39). In Isaiah and Luke we discover angels have ranks and names ... They are cherubim and seraphim and one is called Gabriel. The delight of the angels consists in praising and worshiping God (Lk 2:13-14; Isa 6:2-3), heeding his voice, promoting the work of the church, and protecting God’s children (Dan 6:22; Acts 5:19-20).
But the Greek and Hebrew words we translate as angel also mean a herald, a proclaimer, one who has been given a divine message from God, The Only True God.
So you see Saint John is our angel. Listen to the angels.
It’s clear from the scriptures that nobody would pay attention to otherwise.
Who has ever listened to God any way ... even as he feeds and leads us daily through the darkness. The people of Israel didn’t listen to him as the wandered the desert for 40 years. The priests and kings to come didn't listen. Few of us ever listened to the prophets.
Finally, Christmas comes. And God enters humanity.
Do you think we would hear the mother of God?
No. She is silent.
The way Matthew and Luke describe Mary, she is one of the most insignificant people around ... She’s a young woman, a pregnant teen ... a stranger in a strange place. Do you think you would have listened to her ... if we aren’t going to hear Moses?
I know we like to assume that Mary had a donkey to ride on the night she arrived in Bethlehem ... but the Gospels certainly don’t tell us this. In fact, it may be more likely Mary ... nearly nine months pregnant ... walked to Bethlehem alongside Joseph and the donkey, which was carrying their stuff.
Nobody was paying attention to Mary.
When they arrived in Bethlehem, they had to settle for sharing a room with beasts of burden. She gave birth that night, and placed their newborn son, Jesus, in a feeding trough. Oh, how the world was passing by as God entered the world.
But then an angel of the Lord appeared and all the heavenly hosts sang out ...
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, He is here with you here. We have seen him, heard him, and touched him. Do not fear. The Lord is with you.
Saint John is our angel this morning, proclaiming ...
AN ETERNAL GOSPEL THAT OPENS OUR EYES AND EARS OF FAITH TO THE WORD OF LIFE IN CHRIST
3. There is certainty in this precious news the angels have told us.
Revelation is often treated with great skepticism by our world. By revelation, I don’t necessarily mean the epistle that was part of our readings, although that is treated skeptically too. I mean just the news of revelation itself.
We need a special certainty here today ... a divine certainty ... because of the astounding news that has just been proclaimed to us. So our angel is making sure you hear the news, so that you have certainty that this news is most certainly true.
Every word he breathes out is from heaven. John writes ... That which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed upon, which our hands have handled, concerning the word of life ... the life was made manifest, and we have seen, and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which is with the Father, has appeared to us.
Said another way, Saint John is a living witness to the historical fact that Jesus is who he says he is ... the Great I Am ... that he has done and is doing what he said he would do ... that he is the way, the truth, and the life ... that he has lived for you, died for you, risen from the dead for you, and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for you before he comes again for you.
4. How did he know this was the Word of Life he was called to proclaim?
Throughout the ages Christians have studied the Bible, searching especially for what is said about Jesus ... what Jesus said specifically ... how Jesus lived ... the things Jesus taught ... searching the scriptures and praying for the secret to living better lives. Many of them got it terribly wrong ... trying to convince you that you have to give your life to Jesus, give him your heart, make a decision for him.
But they weren’t listening to the angel.
John proclaims the true Gospel. He says, Jesus came to serve not to be served. Jesus came to give not to receive. Jesus came to you ... for you. Jesus came to open your ears and your eyes to the truth of the Gospel ... that God is faithful to us and just and will forgive us.
The apostles knew that Jesus was the Word of Life because he provided it by his miracles ... making us whole, in his transfiguration, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. Now we can be certain too that he is The Christ, the son of the Living God ... as well as our Lord and God.
More than that, we have heard, and seen, and beheld, and even touched not only the man they called Jesus but the very Word of Life, who makes all of us new.
God is revealing his very life to us through his angels and sharing his life with us. God didn’t send his only begotten son, our Lord Jesus, into the world to befriend the world and show you a good way to live a good life. God didn’t send his son into the world to show you how to be a social justice warrior or a purveyor of the golden rule. God didn’t send Jesus into the world so you can live like Jesus, per se.
John proclaims that in Christ, God came to execute judgment and wrath on our behalf through Christ.
Look to the cross, he said. God sent his son to suffer and bleed and die for you so that you wouldn’t have to bear the punishment for your sin ... death. God sent Jesus so his divine messengers like John could see him and touch him and hear him and tell you about him, so that you will go tell it on the mountain too.
God sent us so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing you will have life in his name.
Jesus was born for you so that you could be united with him in his baptism.
Jesus died for you so that you could be united with him in his resurrection.
Jesus was baptized for you so that you could be washed clean of your sin and to be raised into eternal life.
Jesus gave us the living bread of life and the cup of salvation so we could have fellowship with him through the forgiveness of sins. This is what the angel is proclaiming to us today.
Unlike you and me, we can know with certainty that John is a real witness to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus. And because of it we can believe his testimony that in Jesus, we have eternal life.
Behold, it is God’s gift to us in Christ, who is our advocate with the Father. He is the propitiation for our sins. Now won’t you go tell it on the mountain what we have seen and heard too ... God has sent us his salvation ... In the name of Jesus.