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December 24, 2005
A Christmas Eve Meditation
Festival of Lessons and Carols
December 24th, 2005
There are two words in the story of Jesus’ birth I bring before you this evening. These two words are “Fear not.” We hear them not only in the Christmas story but they are important to Jesus’ message afterward. “Fear not.” Don’t be afraid.
When the angel appeared to Zechariah telling him his aging wife was going to have a son, he was afraid. He was afraid because angels were as little a part of his experience as they are of ours. He was also afraid, perhaps, because he was at the stage of life where men are grandfathers, or maybe great-grandfathers. And now he was to be a father, for the first time. The angel’s message to him was not only, “You will have a son and call him John,” but also, “Fear not.” “Do not be afraid.” (Luke 1: 13)
The archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Nazareth some time after this. And she was afraid because the angel told her things peasant girls in the Galilee never heard said about them, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you.” The angel saw this and said to her, “Fear not.” He would say other things too, but first, “Don’t be afraid.” (Luke 1: 30).
Then Luke tells us of the shepherds spending an ordinary night out on the slopes outside Bethlehem on the night of Jesus’ birth. An angel of the Lord appeared to them in the night, with the glory of the Lord surrounding them. They were “sore afraid.” The first thing the angel said was, “Fear not.” “Don’t be afraid.” (Luke 2: 8-10).
These two words would echo in Jesus’ ministry as the ways of heaven were brought near to earth. As Luke tells of Jesus’ gathering His band of disciples this way. Jesus came on Simon, James, and John after a frustrating night of fishing with no success. Jesus said, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Wearily Simon protested that they’d tried all night unsuccessfully. But he did as Jesus said and caught so many fish the nets were breaking. He was afraid because he knew he was in the presence of Someone out of the ordinary—just how much out of the ordinary he didn’t know. But Jesus said to him, “Fear not.” “Don’t be afraid.” (Luke 5: 1-11).
Then Luke tells us again of a moment of anxiety for the disciples. Jesus saw it and said to them, “Fear not.” Don’t be afraid; you are of value to God. (Luke 12: 7).
And God says to us, “Fear not.” A lot of us are afraid.
I spoke with an elderly man this week who is afraid because his wife has Altzheimer’s disease. Beyond the despair of losing his companion of many years it is costing him more than $250 a day for her care. Though he saved all his life, he will run out of money soon. And he is afraid.
Some of you are afraid too. You don’t earn enough to cover the costs of living, much less prepare for the future. Some of us have homes troubled with lingering illness, or with strife, or with concern for children whose lives are going badly. And we are afraid. Some of you have dear ones who are in Iraq where death waits on streets and in marketplaces everywhere. And you fear learning that your loved one has joined the list of sad statistics of this war.
In a time when God’s people Israel lived in exile, a calamity as frightening for them as it would be for us if our beloved land were over-run by powerful enemies and we were taken from our homes and our jobs and taken to other places to do the hard work of our captors, a prophet of the Lord reassured them. What he said to them I want to remind you this evening. It remains central to God’s message to us.
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.” (Isaiah 43: 1-4).
On this Christmas Eve as we look at that manger in Bethlehem, we see beyond it a table on which were spread bread and wine, emblems of Jesus body and blood that are before us again this evening. Each Christmas Eve we take this Holy Meal together as the ultimate reminder of why we should not be afraid. So great is God’s love for us that He gave us this Holy Child Jesus to bear in His body our sin, our mortality, so that we would not have to fear the effects of our sin, or to fear the permanence of death.
Fear not. Do not be afraid. God loves you with an everlasting love. That’s why He came to you and to me in this gentle way, as a baby, and we need not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
Pastor Stuart D. Robertson
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at December 24, 2005 07:00 PM