Introduction:
Do you remember visiting a newborn infant? The first words that came out of your mouth were: "What a cute baby!" but really? Many of the newborn baby pictures I had seen, including my two sons, were baby with wrinkle skin, it was more like monkeys than anything else. But don't you dare to say that to the mothers, because it doesn't matter. Her baby is always cute and she expects you to say so. Or have you ever caught yourself saying in a wedding ceremony, "What did she see in him that is so attractive?" Ah, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. People see what they set out to see.
When our friends return from the orient, Taiwan, H.K. and China, we ask, "what did you see there?" Some say, "Its so dirty, so crowded. I just can't stand their hygienic standards. Boy, am I glad to come back." They see thru the American way of life and the eye of comparison. Others will say, "Things are so cheap there, "they have seen thru the eyes of U.S.$. Still some will say, "I see so many people there. I'm greatly touched by the spiritual needs. My life will never be the same again. Maybe I'll go back there one day."
When I was in high school, we had to study Francis Thompson's great poem, "The Hound of Heaven",'........' At that time, it was long and boring, and meant little to me. But almost 20 years later, when I had a crisis in faith, this poem came back to me with a totally different meaning.
What we see and perceive depends on what lie in us. Isn't this what this passage tells us? Look at the shepherds.
What if the angels had not appeared to them? They would still have passed by that manger on the way home. Seeing the baby they would probably say, "how unfortunate that he is born in such a place. Poor mother. Hope everything will be alright, good night." The innkeeper treated Joseph and Mary just like any other travelers. He probably told himself," were they lucky, they had a manger to stay.' If the angels had appeared to him, things would definitely be different. The innkeeper might even let them use his own master bedroom.
Instead in this brief passage we read, "Let's go...and see...which the Lord has told us about. v17,..they had seen him...they spread the word concerning what had been told...v20, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." In other words, the shepherds saw what they're told. If the angels had not told them, what they saw would be totally meaningless. Yesterday, what did you see in Christmas?
Let's take a look at some of the characters in this passage to find out what they saw on that first Christmas; maybe this will help us with our perspectives.
I. The angels saw Jesus joyously.
The angels were singing. What did they see that caused them to sing? They saw more than just an infant. They saw him as part of God's salvation, the beginning of the end of God's plan in human history. We must remember that the angels were there when God created the heaven and the earth. They witnessed men's creation, and subsequent disobedience and corruption. They saw the power of sin's dominion over men. Ever since then, they were actively involved in God's plan to restore men back to himself. The angels were God's spokesman to the patriots, prophets and kings. They were there when Isaiah was inspired to write, "A virgin shall give birth to a son, his name shall be called Immanuel. He is the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and prince of peace." It was the angel who appeared to Mary and then Joseph, telling them that Mary would give birth to the Messiah.
Now they saw the baby. After all those years of preparation, God's plan of salvation has come to a climax. God has finally come into the world in the form of man. He had come not to condemn, but to save men from sin's rule, and reconcile men to himself. This is the good news.
This was what the angels saw in Jesus. The result? They were joyous, and they sang. Imagine the multitude of angels, the harmony and majesty of music. They had to put into music what they saw. Can you imagine if they would make a doctrinal statement, a creed at this time? If they started to say: I believe in God the father almighty.......... It would have been mighty dull. Only music can bring out the greatness of this truth.
Shortly after Handel completed the Messiah, he was going blind, yet he said, "I saw the gates of heaven opened." This must be how we felt when we listened to that Hallelujah chorus.
This is why Christmas is always singing and musical season. Even in the secular world, music is an integral part of the Christmas holidays. You see, only music, choruses, and cantatas can bring out the greatness and joyfulness of this truth: that God has come into the world to be with men.
II. Joseph and Mary saw Jesus with faith.
Imagine just 9 months ago, the angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would give birth to the God's son. Her response? Fear, how could this happen? But she believed in the angel's words. She was obedient to God.
More so, she had faith that the angel would be able to convince Joseph that this child was from God. How could any man in his right mind believe this, its impossible.
Look at Joseph, the angel appeared to him at night, telling him what would happen to Mary. They were not married at that time. The next morning he must have asked himself, could this be a dream? Could I really trust Mary? What if....? What would others think of us, of me? Try to put ourselves in their place, and then we'll begin to apprehend what faith they had.
Now the baby is before them. They've witnessed the reality of their faith. This infant is actually God himself. Yes, there is joy, but also bewilderment. What now? What's going to happen? Therefore as the shepherds came and left, Mary kept all their words within her, she turned them over and over to think about them (v19). They saw this baby with faith and wonder, anticipating what God would do next.
III. Simeon saw Jesus prophetically.
On the 8th day, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be circumcised. Simeon, a priest came out and met them. What did he see in Jesus? He saw Salvation and the Messiah. How did he see that? He had been waiting for this moment.
He lived in those OT prophecies. He was well versed with the prophecy: "a child is given to us, the government will be on his shoulder, he shall be called the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and Prince of peace." He believed in these prophecies, thus waiting for their fulfillment. The Holy Spirit had also told him that he would not die before he saw the Messiah. You see, Simeon believed in this prophecy, he lived in this prophecy and he was kept alive for this prophecy.
When he saw Jesus, he was able to say, "lord, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." It's like saying, I had waited all my life for this moment. He saw Jesus as the salvation, the great light to the whole world. Simeon was told what to see, he was looking for it, and he faithfully and patiently waited for that day, and he saw what was told. He was not disappointed.
But there's another person we must not forget. King Herod.
IV. Herod saw Jesus judgmentally.
Yes, we know that he didn't see Jesus with his own eyes, yet it was nevertheless an encounter with him. What was his response? He wanted to kill Jesus. Why? Because he also had the right perspective about who Jesus was. He saw clearly what the issue was. He saw him as the king, the righteous one and the light. Thus anything that's opposite to Jesus would have to give way. If he was the light, then anything opposite to him would be darkness. If he was righteous, then anything opposite to Jesus would be sin. If he was the Lord, then no one else could be Lord.
Herod also saw Jesus as the son of God, the one who had come to conquer evil. And being an evil man, Herod knew that he could not co-exist with Jesus. So he wanted to get rid of him.
However we must take notice that what Herod saw in Jesus tells us little about Jesus, but a lot about Herod. You see, in the act of seeing the Christ child, he did not make a judgment on Jesus, rather Jesus made a judgment upon him. In this past few days, what did you see in Christmas? Or, what do you think of Christmas? Some will say, oh, it was a time of love and giving, I spent a lot of money, may be more than I should. But I also got a lot of presents too, plus time for parties and family gatherings, lots of fun. Or some will say, it was a time of worship and quiet meditation.
Yet we must also remember, our answers don't really tell us a lot about who Jesus is, but it sure tells a lot about ourselves.
V. How should we then see Jesus?
Can we really be neutral, as some claim to be? Probably not. Many of us enjoy reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis. Several years ago, our church in Calif. had a weekend retreat. One assignment was to read the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe before the weekend. On the first night there was a discussion on the book. All the adults and children came together. It was amazing to observe what each saw and learned from those stories. We all brought our background and philosophical presuppositions into them. What we saw and understood largely depended upon what was inside us.
The same is with Jesus. There's really no such thing as a neutral attitude when we encounter him. If you're an agnostic, you'll say, I don't know who he is. If you're an atheist, you'll say, he is just another child.
But how should we see him in this season? In order to experience the faith, the joy of Christmas, isn't it logical for us to see Jesus with the same perspective as the angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Simeon? One thing they had in common was that they saw Jesus in a very personal way. They're told and they believed that Jesus is the son of God. He has come into the world to redeem us from the power of sin, to bring us back to God. On that night 2000 years ago, the infinite God became a finite man, He was born to die, so that our sins would be forgiven. They heard and they believed. This was the message clearly revealed in the scriptures.
This is what has been repeated during the last two millenniums. We have heard it many times. And we know for sure that this will again be repeated during the next millennium. But we must also need to take that step and believe what we have heard.
Conclusion:
I want to conclude with a story about Robert Browning, the great poet, as told by Dr. Seamands in one of his tapes. One morning after breakfast, his wife, Elizabeth, tiptoed away from the table and let her husband, Robert, write. She went upstairs and then tiptoed behind Robert. Putting one hand over his eyes, she slipped a manuscript in his pocket. She whispered, "Please read this, if you don't like it, just throw it away." Timidly and embarrassingly she went back up the stairs. Robert Browning then began to read what later come to be known as some of the most beautiful lines love written by a woman to a man. Among them are 2 lines; "The face of all the earth has changed for me, since I heard the footsteps of thy soul."
This is what Christmas can mean to us. A great love story. God loved and gave his only son to us. If we could see him from this perspective in a personal way, then our life, too, will never be the same again.
Rev. William Hsueh
Dec 26, 1999 Houston Chinese Church, Houston,
Texas |