“Christmas would not exist without them.”

“Homeless the little child Jesus night have been, but his birth would not take place unattended.

Shepherds were out in the fields that night when He was born near Bethlehem. They were keeping watch over their flocks, but what they saw that night has echoed down the years. In the quiet of the night, suddenly “an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.”

 A wonderful time of the year!

 

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

A wonderful time of the year!

 

Simple shepherds came where Joseph, Mary and Jesus were. They knelt and worshipped. Then, departing, they told everyone they knew of all they had seen and heard. They were the first human messengers, the first ambassadors, of this central miracle of history.

A wonderful time of the year!

 

Today, pastors and priests are now often called shepherds. It is a tribute to the miracles told all over the land by shepherds long ago…the first sharing of the Christmas story…

The Star and the Wise Men. To herald the coming of His Son, Jesus, God moved a piece of the heavens. A star blazed a path in the night sky so that three royal seekers could find the hope of all ages – the child Jesus, whom scripture calls “the bright and morning Star.”

 

 To remember them, and the miracle of that wondrous star, we sing the carol, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Its refrain beautifully captures the coming of miraculous portent that announced the coming of our Savior – O star of wonder, star of light, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.

 Simeon and Anna. We have a phrase that describes longing over many years. Someone, we say, has “waited a lifetime.” That is the story, in just three words of Simeon and Anna. Simeon was “just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel.” He had been miraculously promised that “he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

 So when the baby Jesus was presented in the Jewish temple, according to ancient custom, Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit to where Joseph, Mary and Jesus were. Greeting them with joy, “he took Jesus up in his arms, blessed God and said, in part: “ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples…”

 So when the baby Jesus was presented in the Jewish temple, according to ancient custom, Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit to where Joseph, Mary and Jesus were. Greeting them with joy, “he took Jesus up in his arms, blessed God and said, in part: “ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples…”

The Flight to Egypt. When Jesus was yet a young child, and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, Jesus’ foster father and guardian, saying: “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for [King] Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” 

 This evil king feared stories he’d heard of the miracle child, Jesus. It was said this child would one day sit on the royal throne of his father, King David of ancient time, and from there rule forever. This was a promise rich in spiritual hope, but Herod’s only thought was fear for his physical throne. He issued a terrible edict. All male children in Bethlehem and in all its districts, “from two years old and under,” were to put to death. It was a horrific holocaust.

One of America’s greatest poets, notes Belmonte, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, captured the way that hope, in the child Jesus, prevailed – and how hope became our everlasting song. Longfellow wrote: And in despair I bowed my head; "There is no peace on earth," I said: "For hate is strong, And mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men!" Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

  Our peace is put in impossible things, says Belmonte. “That is the hope – these are the miracles of Christmas.”