Unto You This Night

December 24, 2025

Luke 2:1-20

            “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”  These are the words spoken by the angels as they announced the birth of Jesus.  But this announcement wasn’t made to kings or royalty.  The angels didn’t hover over the temple or make this announcement to the high priest or to the Sanhedrin.  The angels didn’t appear to the wealthy merchants or to the Biblical scholars.  They came to the shepherds.

            When the twenty-first century English speaking world thinks about shepherds, there is a tendency to view them in the light of Jesus’ description of Himself as the Good Shepherd.  We think of one who knows their sheep by name, who protects them from fierce predators, who brings them to good pastures to eat, who brings them to safe water to drink, and who seeks and saves the sheep who become lost.  In ancient times though, shepherds were not viewed in quite the same rosy light. 

            In ancient Israel, Shepherds were known for being unconcerned about whether they were leading their sheep to graze in areas that might have been other people’s property.  Those of us who were fans of cowboy movies and the wild west when we were kids, know well of the difficulties that existed between ranchers and sheep farmers.  You see, cattle and sheep both eat grass but when sheep eat grass they eat it down to the roots and cattle don’t do this.  When sheep graze in a field they exfoliate the field; the grass will not grow back because they have eaten the roots also. 

This is why the cattle ranchers hated the sheep farmers and why the ancient Israelites resented the shepherds who trespassed on their lands.  But there was more.  The reputation of shepherds was so poor that a shepherd was not permitted to be a witness in a court of law.  And worst of all, the nature of the shepherd’s job made it impossible for a shepherd to be ritually clean according to Jewish law.  And if you were not ritually clean… you were a sinner.

            And so, shepherds were perpetually unclean and their unclean condition separated them completely from the Jewish community.  They were not permitted to worship in the temple or in the synagogue.  They were not permitted to live with or to eat with their ritually clean neighbors.  In short, the shepherds were outcasts.  They were the insignificant, the unimportant, the looked down upon, the marginalized. 

            Until Christmas Eve. 

The appearance of the angels declaring the birth of Jesus to the shepherds was revolutionary in ways that we can only begin to understand.  To his first century audience, Luke’s statement that the first announcement of the birth of the messiah was given to shepherds would have been shocking… unthinkable.  And now, understanding just how revolutionary this act was, the message that this sends to us today becomes something quite different from what we may have originally thought that it was. 

            And I have another thought.  Who thinks that if Joseph and Mary had been wealthy that there may possibly have been found room for them in the inn?  Those who understand the ancient ways of hospitality know that to turn away a guest; any guest, would have been a giant breach of the unwritten rules of hospitality.  You see, in ancient thought, any visitor could potentially be God in disguise and so visitors were always treated with extreme respect.  And yet here, when God actually DID appear as a visitor in the form of the unborn Jesus, hospitality was denied.  Nazareth, Joseph and Mary’s home, was a backwater town; small and unimportant.  We get a glimpse of Nazareth’s reputation in the first chapter of John when Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth”.  The master of the inn almost certainly recognized the Nazareth accent in Joseph’s voice.  And so, Joseph and Mary were turned away almost certainly because they were nobodies and possibly also because they were from Nazareth.

            Since we were all children the story has told to us of how Jesus was born in a manger and laid in a feeding trough.  This manger wasn’t the pretty little wooden structure with gentle animals milling about like we see on fireplace mantels and communion tables and sometimes front lawns.  It was almost certainly a cave, hollowed out beneath the inn, filled with animals indeed, but also filled with the accompanying things that anyone who has ever been among farm animals knows all about.  It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t clean, it wasn’t warm, it wasn’t pleasant smelling, and it certainly wasn’t befitting a king.

            And yet, here lies the whole point of the Christmas story.  The announcement to the shepherds, and the lowly birth, send us the message that Jesus is entirely one of us.  The simple truth is, if Jesus was willing to be born in that manger, in the cold and the filth and the smell, then there is no heart into which He will be unwilling to be born.  God comes to even the least of us with humility and accessibility.  He comes to us not as a king demanding fealty, but as a humble servant, earning our faithfulness with His love and His devotion to His beloved children, every single one of them.

            Tonight, we hear the story once again.  But tonight, perhaps we understand just a little bit better what this story has to teach us about the depth and the inclusivity of God’s love, about His willingness to meet us where we are, and about how His grace and His forgiveness extend to all who will choose to follow Him; no matter who they are, no matter where they are from, no matter what they have done.  The greatest of gifts to be given this night is the gift of redemption.  The gift that God Himself gives that reconciles us to Him and makes us all actual members of His family.  My dear friends, this Christmas Eve… tonight, let us all open that gift of redemption and dedicate ourselves to the God who announced Himself to the humble shepherds and choose birth in a lowly manger.

When You’re Not Really Sure

December 21, 2025

Matthew 11:2-11

            When I was in high school I was convinced that I was going to become a professional trombone player.  My goal was to play trombone in Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show Orchestra.  And so, while I was busy pretty much neglecting all of my academic subjects, I was practicing my trombone six hours a day.  Needless to say, I never did become a trombone player in the Tonight Show Orchestra.  When I got into college I became really interested in songwriting and so I switched my major from instrumental performance to composition.  After I graduated, I actually ended up signing a recording contract with one of the major record labels; and I was certain at that point that I was destined to become a rock star.  Needless to say, I didn’t become a rock star either.  The contract fell apart when the gentleman who signed me passed away unexpectedly.

            I’ve spoken before about that period in my life when I misplaced my faith for a year or two.  As you might well imagine, this record deal falling through was a part of that process.  I just couldn’t understand why God would abandon me in my pursuit of rock stardom.  You see, at that time I already considered myself to be a Christian and I really thought that what I was doing was that I was claiming God’s promise that He would do “whatever I asked in His name”.  It came as quite a shock to me when He didn’t.  And I seriously doubt that I am alone here.  In fact, our story today is about someone else whose faith wavered when God didn’t meet his expectations.

            Now, I need to approach today’s story just a little bit backwards because there is something from the end of today’s reading that will be helpful for us to keep in the front of our minds as we look at the beginning of today’s reading.  Today is the second Sunday in a row that our story revolves around John the Baptist.  And in the end of our reading today, Jesus talks about who John the Baptist is.  When Jesus describes John in this passage, He says that “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist”.  Not Moses, not Elijah, not David, no one.  And so, we are talking here about a man of extraordinary faith, a man who dedicated his life to God’s plans and purposes is a way that few in all of history have ever done.  And so, when we think of John the Baptist, we tend to think of him as the stalwart of the faith that we read about last week, and the martyr that he was.

            But in today’s story, John has been arrested and imprisoned by King Herod.  And as he is languishing in prison, according to Josephus, for more than a year, it appears that John has developed some doubts.  John the Baptist, possibly the most faithful person who had ever lived, according to Jesus’ own words, reached out from prison, to ask Jesus if Jesus is the one, or if maybe John and his followers should be looking for someone else.  And so, the question that presents itself is WHY is this person of incredible faith and commitment suffering from a crisis of faith?

            Why is this person who had the privilege of seeing Jesus’ power up close and personal, who saw the dove descend on Jesus and heard that voice from heaven, who personally witnessed miracles, and who was fully aware both of the miraculous nature of his own birth to elderly parents, and also to the fact that he had been born for the specific purpose of preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah, why is it that he is all of a sudden asking if Jesus is the One, or if there is someone else?

            And I think that, for us to understand this, we need first to take a look at John’s theology; what did John say that expressed what he believed?  In looking at his preaching, we see a heavy emphasis on judgement.  “The axe is at the root of the trees” John said, “and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  He said, “He who is to come will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire”.  And he said that, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  John ended up in prison because of his uncompromising rebuke of Herod for having married his brother’s ex-wife.  Given John’s words and his tenacious refusal to temper his message of judgment for the king, might it be reasonable to think that John was expecting that the Messiah would bring justice and swift and final judgment on the sinners and the evildoers of his day?

            In our Bible study on The Chosen last Sunday, our study guide said, “We humans have deep-seated, fleshed-out ideas regarding what we think God should be doing for us, which means we also tend to measure His character, power, and love, by our own circumstances”.  [1]  And so, when circumstances in our lives don’t meet our expectations, we could conceivably find ourselves questioning God’s goodness, or God’s faithfulness, or God’s love.  And if those kinds of questions can arise for us, then there is no reason why those questions couldn’t have arisen for John the Baptist as well.  And it appears that they did.

            And so, how did Jesus respond to John’s question?  Jesus didn’t admonish him for a lack of faith.  Jesus responded by sending a message to John, reminding him that the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and that even the dead are raised to life.  All of the Old Testament prophecies that spoke about how the coming Messiah would do all of these things would have been thoroughly familiar to John the Baptist.  And Jesus is pointing to His actions as the fulfillment of those prophecies.  Jo Anne Taylor tells us that, “Seeing is believing. Believe what you see. The problem isn’t with the kingdom, it’s with our view of it. John’s disciples were looking for the wrong thing. John was expecting military power and swift judgment, but Jesus came offering forgiveness.”  [2] 

            The message that Jesus sent to John was a message that asked John to set aside his expectations and to place his trust completely in God and in God’s plan.  This is a message for us as well.  People cannot; must not; allow their expectations to prevent them from seeing God’s plan in action.  Our text today tells us that Jesus said, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”  Osborne tells us that, “[This] means that God’s blessing rests on those who make a decision for Christ and stick with it.”  [3]  God blesses those who trust Him and believe that His plan is right and just even when there appears to be evidence to the contrary.  Even when our expectations aren’t being met, we need to believe with all of our hearts that God’s plan is good and just and right, and perfect… even for us.

Prior to last week’s Communion Sunday, we had been reading an Affirmation of Faith, a part of which comes from Romans 8 and says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  The Bible tells us over, and over, and over again that God loves us and that God cares for us.  In that same 8^th chapter of Romas we read, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  If we are to believe what the Bible is telling us here, if we are to believe that God is who He says He is, then we need to trust Him implicitly.  We need to trust that His plan and His purposes ARE indeed designed with our own best interests at heart, even when we don’t understand what it is that God is doing and even when His plans don’t meet our expectations.

            Back when I was claiming that passage about God doing for me whatever I ask, I was seriously missing the context of that promise.  Because the promise contains the presupposition that we are living and acting within God’s will and trusting in Him to do THROUGH us things that will glorify Him and work towards accomplishing His purposes.  My Friends, it is this to which we are called.  It is so easy for us to forget that our lives are not our own.  That we have been called to something greater than personal achievement.  We have been called to something of eternal significance. 

            And that call is for us to live lives that glorify God and that make His name known.  When I was praying for rock stardom, that wasn’t a prayer that was designed to glorify God.  My quest to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter wasn’t designed to glorify God.  And not that it couldn’t have, but clearly, that wasn’t in keeping with the plan that God had for me and for my life.  It took me years to come to the realization that the path on which God has led me is a good one.  But that is the result of age and experience, and certainly not a perspective that I held as my fondest dreams crashed and burned around me.  But the fact that I was angry about that lost opportunity did prove one thing… that I was worshipping God not for who He is, but for who I wanted Him to be. 

            Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome tell us that, “[Jesus turned] out [not] to be the kind of Messiah John expected”… “[He] would prefer to wait for another in hopes of finding a leader more to [his] liking.  Jesus alone, however, defines His own messiahship”.  [4]  As we strive to grow into our faith, abandoning our expectations of God and allowing God to be exactly who He chooses to be is one of the most difficult things that we will ever have to do. 

            Platt says that “The reality is that even for those who seem to be the most faithful, faith is sometimes hard, particularly when the burdens of life feel heavy.  But the good news is that even in our doubts, the God whom we seek to be sure of is certain to meet us where we are.  He desires to assure us of His faithfulness”.  [5]  And we can take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in our occasional doubts because the person that Jesus described as the most faithful person who ever lived had them too.

            God’s loving plan for us is for us to be by His side for eternity.  Everything that He does is geared towards that purpose… to give us the JOY of belonging to Him and worshipping Him and loving Him and BEING loved by Him… forever.  Whatever challenges that we face in this life are designed specifically to prepare us for that eternal life with Him.  Let us trust in His plan.  Let us trust in His love.  And let us be faithful to follow wherever He leads.  Because where He is leading… well… that’s where we want to be, isn’t it?

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[1] Dallas Jenkins, Amanda Jenkins, Douglas S. Huffman, The Stronghold of the Chosen, Pg. 15

[2] Jo Anne Taylor, APastorSings.com, “When Seeing is Believing”

[3] Grant R. Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Pg. 414

[4] Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV – Year A, Pg. 26-27

[5] David Platt, Exalting Jesus in Matthew, Pg. 144-145

Produce Fruit in Keeping with Repentance

December 7, 2025

Matthew 3:1-12

            I learned something really interesting this week.  I never knew that, in ancient times, scrolls were enormously expensive.  In our world where books are commonplace and often inexpensive (I’ve bought books on Kendal for 99 cents) it is hard to imagine that, in the first century, just the parchment and ink required to produce one copy of the Book of Romans would have cost about $3,000 in today’s money, and that is not counting the expense of the scribe who had to write out the entire book by hand.  And so, in ancient times, Biblical scrolls were incredibly valuable not only for their content but also for the expense involved in producing one.

            Now, as hard as this may be to believe, and it is not one of the commonly told stories of the Bible, the nation of Judah LOST their copy of the Torah.  They lost it.  In 697 BCE Manasseh became king of Judah.  And Manasseh was a terrible king!  He reigned for 55 years, the longest of any Jewish king and he led Judah away from the worship of the one true God.  Manasseh profaned the temple by putting idols in it, and while the temple in Jerusalem was supposed to be the only center of Jewish worship, Manasseh allowed multiple sites throughout his kingdom to be used for worship and he allowed, and even encouraged the worship of Asherah, and Baal, and Molech.  During his reign the Judahites worship of these idols included the use of temple prostitutes and the sacrifice of children.  During Manasseh’s reign the temple fell into a state of serious disrepair and the Torah was entirely forgotten.  And again, it’s not like things are now… A few months back I bought 8 Bibles to use for Bible study for about 5 bucks apiece and all of you have bibles sitting in the racks on the pew in front of you.  So, we are accustomed to the ready availability of books, but, given the expense of producing those ancient scrolls, it appears that the temple only owned one copy… and it was missing.  After Manasseh’s death, his equally terrible son Amon reigned for two more years before Josiah became king.

            When Josiah became king, he decided to begin repairing and restoring the temple and during the first phases of that repair the high priest found one of the lost  Torah scrolls, presumed to be the scroll of Deuteronomy.  The high priest sent the scroll to Josiah to be read, and upon hearing its words, Josiah tore his garments, a Jewish sign of grief, because he realized that neither he, nor his people had been following God’s law.  Josiah was deeply concerned that God’s judgment would fall on Judah and so he sent priests to ask a prophet of God what would be the result of Israel’s unfaithfulness.  The prophet answered that Judah would indeed be judged for their sin, but because Josiah’s heart was responsive and he humbled himself before the Lord, this disaster would not happen in his lifetime.

            The Tyndale blog describes Josiah’s response, telling us that, “[Josiah] took his place of authority beside the [temple] and renewed [Israel’s] covenant in the Lord‘s presence. He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. He promised to obey all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll. And he required everyone in Jerusalem and the people of Benjamin to make a similar pledge. The people of Jerusalem did so, renewing their covenant with God.” [1]  After this, Josiah worked tirelessly to purge Judah of every trace of idol worship.  He demolished and desecrated the places where the idols had been worshipped, removed the idols from the temple and purified it, and killed all the prophets and priests of the idols.  Worship of the one true God was restored in Judah and Judah remained faithful to God for the rest of Josiah’s reign.

            In today’s reading, Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist.  Our reading begins with a quote from Isaiah, saying of John that he is, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And then there is a curious description of John himself.  We are told that John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and that he had a leather belt around his waist. And while it may seem odd that we are given this description, we need to understand the context into which Matthew writes.  His Jewish audience would have been familiar with the Old Testament prophecies that stated that before the coming of the Messiah He would be preceded by a prophet who would come in the spirit and power of Elijah.  Now, after Moses, Elijah was considered to be the greatest of Israel’s prophets.  Every Passover, at the table of every Jew who is celebrating the Passover, even to this day, there is left an empty chair and place setting for Elijah, in anticipation of his return. 

            Those of us who attended Sunday school as children remember the stories we were told.  We remember the stories of Moses parting the Red Sea, of David and Goliath, of Daniel and the lion’s den…  Well in the same way, Jewish children would have heard stories of the great prophet Elijah.  In one of those stories, Elijah sent a message to the evil king Ahaziah.  When Ahaziah asked who had sent the message he was told that it came from a man who was wearing “A garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist”.  Ahaziah knew right away that is was Elijah.  And so, this description of Elijah would have been well known to Matthew’s Jewish audience, and his listeners would have instantly recognized the connection with John’s choice of wardrobe.  In describing John’s clothing, Matthew is actually making a powerful statement here about John’s purpose.

            In Jewish thought, John’s appearance, John’s methods, and John’s message, all spoke clearly of his role as the One Calling in the Wilderness; the one who would make straight the way for the Messiah, and John quickly became a rock star.  Our text tells us that, “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.”  And people were responding to John’s message too, they were confessing their sins and they were being baptized and there was a growing anticipation about the arrival of the Messiah, and that anticipation was amplified by John’s words as he spoke of the One who is to come. 

            And so, even the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to see John.  Now, we have to realize that, at this point the Jewish authorities had not yet encountered Jesus and that the animosity that would develop between Jesus and the authorities still lay in the future.  Because the predominant opinion of the Jews at this time was that the Messiah would come as a conquering hero who would overthrow Roman rule and establish an everlasting Israelite monarchy, it is not in the least bit surprising that the Jewish authorities WOULD come to see John, almost certainly with the idea of placing the Sanhedrin’s stamp of approval on John’s message in anticipation of the coming of this conquering Messiah that they were all expecting.

            So, try to imagine their shock and their surprise when they were greeted by John with the words, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”  Wait a minute!  What did we do to deserve this?  What the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t yet know, was the fact that Jesus came to do and to be something that was just about as far removed from what they were expecting as it could possibly get.  John was not preaching a message of freedom from the Romans; he was preaching a message of freedom from sin.  John’s message was “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”.  And it is in that word “Repent” that we find the essence of what John was teaching.  In the Greek, “repent” is translated from μετανοέω (meta-no-wáy-o) and according to Help’s Word Studies, it means to “think differently after”.  In other words, to be affected by an event in such a way as to change both your thought processes and your actions.  In its Biblical context, repent means to become a different person, to become a new creation. 

            And John emphasized this when he told the Jewish authorities that they needed to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”  Osborne tells us that, “Both the leaders and the Jewish people as a whole believed they were right with God as long as they kept ritually pure.  [But] they were missing two things – repentance… and the new lifestyle that [would result from that repentance].  This follows naturally from the command to repent, since that in itself connotes a changed life.  Moreover, “fruit” refers not only to good works but [also] to good character.” [2]  In other words, as you have heard me say so often, it’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are.

            When Josiah’s high priest found the book of the law and had it read to Josiah, Josiah’s response was the perfect picture of repentance.  We saw in Josiah’s story this morning not just remorse over the fact that Judah had strayed from the Lord’s commands, but a full-fledged, even aggressive, change of heart.  Josiah, and the whole nation of Judah turned away from their previous way of doing things and became a people who lived faithfully.  It wasn’t just that they changed the way they thought.  They changed who they were.  And in the process, they taught us what it means to repent; to think differently after. 

            Matthew finishes this section by talking about the urgency of John’s message.  “The ax is already at the root of the trees”, John says, “and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Are we producing fruit in keeping with repentance?  Are our friends and families producing fruit in keeping with repentance?   Are our co-workers and those who are in our sphere of influence producing fruit in keeping with repentance?  John’s message is critical to each of us individually.  It is an urgent call to repentance and to new life in Christ.  But John’s message is NOT intended only for us.  John’s message is a message to the whole world.  It’s a message for our family and for our friends, it is a message for our co-workers and for those in our sphere of influence.  It is a message that the time for repentance is now.  The day to turn with all of our hearts to God, to live according to the ways that He directs us, and to BE the people that He calls us to be… is today. 

            N. T. Wright tells us that, “The God who came to His people in Jesus will one day unveil His kingdom in all its glory, bringing justice and joy to the whole world.  How can we get ready for that day?  Where do the roads need straightening out?  What fires need to be lit, to burn away the rubbish in His path?  Which dead trees will need to be cut down?  And, equally important, who should be summoned, right now, to repent?” [3]

            My dear friends, I am not a fire and brimstone preacher.  I believe with all my heart in the all-pervasive love of God and I believe the Bible when it tells me that it is God’s fondest desire that every single one of His beloved children be saved and that none should be lost.  But I also believe with all my heart that God is holy and just, and that justice requires a reckoning for sin.  The Good News is that the price for our sins has already been paid and that for those who are in Christ Jesus; for those whose lives ARE producing fruit in keeping with repentance, there is no condemnation.  We have been made right with God by the work that was done by Jesus on the cross.  But for those who are not in Christ, for those who are still following the ways of the world, God’s forgiveness remains a gift that is standing right in front of them… unopened.  And my friends, it is up to us to teach them all how to open that package of God’s forgiveness. 

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[1] Tyndale House Publishers, King Josiah’s Reaction to God’s Law, https://www.tyndale.com/sites/tyndalebibles/king-josiahs-reaction-to-gods-law/?srsltid=AfmBOoomXX8xXAB26szbHLiewxEkSkuxDqLkXvgCz0N-WBYhjjHnLaSp

[2] Grant R. Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew, Pg. 114

[3] N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Pg. 14