The Shepherd and the Angel Candle - December 24, 2024 - Christmas Eve - Text: Luke 2:8-20

So far during this Advent season we have been reminded of God’s promise to send a Savior to be born in Bethlehem through the lighting of the first and second candles on the Advent Wreath. This evening as we have lighted all five candles we move on to hear more about the third and fourth candles in particular. The third candle is  the rose colored candle. Yes, it looks pink, but it is rose colored. The rose-color signifies joy and reminds us of the joy of the shepherds who were the first to hear the good news of the birth of the Savior of the world. And not only were they the first to hear the good news they were the first to come and see the new born King. And we light the fourth candle which is the angles candle, reminding us that it was the angel who came to bring the good news of the birth of the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior to these shepherd. And lest we forget, it was the angel who also announced the news to Mary of her being chosen to be the mother of God in flesh and who assured Joseph that it was okay to take Mary as his wife. Indeed, the angels were very busy during these days.
 

So, what is it about these shepherds? Why were they the first to hear the good news of the birth of the Savior of the world? The work of the shepherd was a work of service. They were not out in the fields being served but serving by tending the flock of sheep. The work of the shepherd was that of caring. They took care of the sheep. They would lead the sheep out into the green pasture so they might eat. They would lead the sheep by the still waters so they could drink. They would lead them back in at night into a safe place so they might sleep and then next day they would do it all over again. The work of the shepherd was at times a dangerous job. The shepherd would guard and protect the sheep even placing his life in danger to keep them safe. The work of the shepherd was a life giving job. The shepherd’s job was a 24/7/365 job, a twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year job. The job of shepherding was a life.
 

King David speaks of the Shepherd in what is a favorite Psalm of many people, Psalm twenty-three as in the Lord is my Shepherd. The Gospel writer John quotes Jesus speaking of Himself as the Good Shepherd. Just as the work of the shepherd was to serve, care for, watch over and protect the sheep, so Jesus is our Good Shepherd, He is the Lord who serves us, watches over us, cares for and guards and protects us. And the way preparer for Jesus, John the Baptists pointed to Jesus and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
 

Perhaps these shepherds were the first to hear the good news of the birth of the Messiah because they were a type of Jesus. Jesus, the Good Shepherd came to serve, not to be served. Jesus, the Good Shepherd came to care for us, His sheep. He watches over us as His sheep. He cares for us, feeds us and protects us. We are born into this world with nothing and we will take nothing with us when we leave this world. All that we have while we are in this world is on loan to us from God, thus all that we have may be attributed to Jesus caring for us. God gives us life, gifts, talents and abilities. He gives us work, jobs, perhaps a career wherein He gives us the abilities to take care of ourselves, so that we have clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, and all that we need to support this body and life.
 

And the greatest gift Jesus gives as our Good Shepherd is that He lays down His life for us. The very reason Jesus was born as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as John the Baptists points to Him and says, is so that we might have forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness, life and salvation. Thus, we might agree that it was indeed fitting, mete, right, and salutary that God would send His angels, His messengers, to these shepherds to be the first to hear the good news.
 

This evening, we hear the proclamation of the birth of the Messiah by these angels. However, let us not give glory to the angels. Remember, God created angels for the work of proclaiming His message to those to whom He would send, as well as their work is to watch over us as God’s people. Personally I believe we each have at least one or two angels watching over us and I am sure that oftentimes children can actually see their angels. During the time of preparation for the birth of the One promised back in the Garden of Eden, the time of the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world the angels did a lot of work. One of the first works of the angels was to deliver God’s message to Zechariah that he would be the father of the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah, the one who would come in the spirit of Elijah, that message of the birth of John the Baptist. This proclamation came about six months before we hear of the work of the next angel.
 

The next work of an angel, namely the angel Gabriel was to deliver God’s message to Mary, the one favored by God, that she was favored by God, that she was chosen by God to be the one who would be the earthly mother of the One promised. Because of her youth, her not being married, and her understanding of the biology of the birth of children the angel went on to explain to Mary just how this immaculate conception would take place, that is that she would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit so that the child to be born would be truly God in flesh. And as we know, she consented to be the mother of Jesus.
 

The next work of an angel is that of appearing to Joseph, but not in person as the angels appeared to Zechariah and Mary rather in a vision or a dream. The angel explains to Joseph why Mary is pregnant even though they were merely betrothed and not yet married. The angel had to explain that Mary had not committed adultery or been unfaithful. The angel proclaimed to Joseph that he was to be the adoptive father of Jesus. And of course, Joseph also consents.
 

Finally, we have the work of the angels as we hear in our text, that of announcing the birth of Jesus to the Shepherds. As we began we heard that it was these humble shepherds who were the first to hear of the birth of Jesus and the first to see the new born king. It was the angels who declared this wonderful news to the shepherds.
 

But why are there all these angels and what are all these angels doing there at the birth of Jesus? The angels were created to be messengers of God, to do His bidding and also to be protectors and defenders. Thus we might rightly understand that the angels, this host of angels, intimating an army of angels, were there at Jesus’ birth to work as defenders of the helpless baby Christ child. The angels were there to protect the vulnerable child, especially from Herod’s execution of the children in Bethlehem. The angels appeared to Joseph just in time for him to escape Bethlehem and flee to Egypt to save the baby Jesus. The angels were also there to protect the baby from any attacks of the devil.
 

Also, the angels were there to protect the child and His parents going to, while in and coming back from Egypt. Although the children of Israel had spent many years in Egypt and had fled from their slavery in Egypt, and while Mary and Joseph may have had other Israelite relatives in Egypt, still they were foreigners in Egypt, thus they needed the protection of God’s angels.
 

So, this evening we say, let the celebration begin. We have been preparing for just this moment, for this evening. We have been preparing for this moment for our celebration of the birth of Jesus which and who is the reason for the Advent Season. The Advent Wreath has helped us count down to this day. The Advent Wreath has reminded us that it was the angels who announced to the shepherds that in Bethlehem our eternal, living God fulfilled His promise, the prophecy to send a Savior, Christ the Lord.
 

We are ready to celebrate and remember we celebrate for twelve days. We do not simply celebrate tonight and tomorrow, but we continue to celebrate. Certainly we have heard the carol of the twelve days of Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas lasts until the day of Epiphany, that is the day we celebrate the visit of the Magi or wise men, the first non-Jewish visitors to see the child Jesus. There are actually some families who celebrate the twelve days by opening a new present each of the twelve days as a reminder to continue on. We leave our lights up to bear witness of the continued celebration.
 

We celebrate and we rejoice in God fulfilling His promise to send a Savior. God loves us so much. We see His great love in the fact that He knew what all was going to happen even before He began creating the world, that is He saw Adam and Eve’s sin, His need to be born in human flesh in order to be our substitute so that He might live perfectly for us, take our sins and pay the price of sin, death for us in our place. He knew His suffering and yet, because of His great love for us He created us anyway. And so we rejoice.
 

We rejoice in Jesus our substitute and His gifts of faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Thanks be to God that Jesus is our substitute. What we could not do, live perfectly He did for us in our place. How can we not rejoice and celebrate.
 

Jesus was born for a purpose, to live perfectly, to take our sins and to suffer and die. Indeed, we do celebrate but we celebrate in the shadow of the cross. For some, the Christmas tree, after it has lost all of its leaves, is taken and made into a cross to remind us that this baby was born to die. That may not be the most happy thought or a thought that would make us want to celebrate, except that this baby is God in human flesh. This baby is one who loves us so much that He was willing to do anything and everything that needed to be done for us to save us. How can we not celebrate such great love for us, His children. So, we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Christ the Lord. We celebrate that God has fulfilled His prophecy, His promise, with the angels announcing to the shepherds that in Bethlehem the One who lives for us, takes our sins, suffered and dies for us, rose from the dead and gives us forgiveness, faith and life and we say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.