What Would We Know Without Angels :: Luke 2:1-20

[Introduction]

We began this evening with a beautifully sung contemporary song that you will never find in our service book. I have had mixed feelings about this song for a long time ... not only as a pastor, but as a Christian. They’re mixed because honestly it’s a fun song to listen to. It has a catchy tune and poetic form that employs some interesting rhetoric and gives you something to ponder. But I find it theologically wanting. Mary, did you know ... the songwriter asks.

Really? 

As a Christian, I want to ask the songwriter: Have you never heard the Gospels of Matthew and Luke? Of course, she knew! 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t question for a second what Mary knew. The mother of God knew her baby boy would save our sons and daughters. She knew that he would make you new. She knew this child would soon deliver you. She knew ... the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again! The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb! 

Yes, Mary most certainly who Jesus was from the beginning that Immanuel, God with us. 

1. She knew because angels had told her, and Zechariah, and Joseph. 

The Greek word for angel ... ἄγγελος ... is closely associated with the word message ... ἀγγελία. One of the primary jobs of angels in scripture is to deliver messages. Their messages come directly from God, and frequently come in the form of the Gospel ... εὐαγγέλιον. Angels are heralds of making good news known. Thank God for the angels.

Maybe this is why Americans are infatuated with angels: They proclaim good news. Today you can find stores dedicated to angels. You can listen to podcasts about angels among us, read newsletters and magazines about angels, watch movies and TV shows about angels, take serious academic courses focused on angels, and sing songs that either herald the work of angels or question it. 

The chairman of Notre Dame’s theology department believes that Americans moved angels to the centerstage of their lives because few people know much about them and, therefore, they can be made in our image. 

Normally, though, whenever the angels show up in scripture, they project an image we don’t otherwise know. They are frightening. Seraphim, for example, are fiery beings. Cherubim have four faces. The voices of angels often sound like thunder or rushing water. Their appearance often overwhelms us. Even Balaam’s donkey ... when it saw the Angel of the Lord with a drawn sword in his hand ... fell to the ground out of fear. That would explain why the first words the angels most want you to know is ... Don’t be afraid. 

2. For Zechariah, and then Mary, and years later for the women at the tomb on Easter Sunday, the angels brought exceedingly good news of great joy we all need to know. 

First, the angel told Zechariah that his son would prepare the way of the Lord. Then the angel announced to Mary and Joseph that she would give birth to Immanuel, and therefore, you will call his name Jesus ... because he will save his people from their sins ... He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. 

So, yes, Mary most certainly knew who her son was and what he would do. He is the Great I Am. The prophets had long foretold this good news.

And because the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord was shining around those shepherds, now you know too. The shepherds also listened to the angels and went with haste to see one of God’s greatest sights to behold. 

Should we not do the same?

As the angel told them, Behold, I announce to you great joy which is for all people, because to you is born today a savior, who is Christ the Lord in the city of David. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. ... Then suddenly it happened, with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host was praising God ... singing their hearts out about this Savior who became a little lower than the angels, just like you and me. 

3. They sang the song that all the world needs to know. 

It goes like this ... Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.

There is not a better song to sing on Christmas and every Lord's day than this Gloria. Jesus has come from heaven above to earth below to bear good news to ev’ry home. ... This little child of lowly birth shall be the joy of all the earth. ... This is the Christ, our God Most High, who hears your sad and bitter cry. ... He will himself your savior be, from all your sins to set you free.

[Conclusion]

Yes, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Mary most certainly knew.

So let us join the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven lauding and magnifying God’s glorious name, until we get to join the chorus in heaven, singing ... Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!