A Giant Concern for God's Honor--Life of David Series (A First-Person Sermon)

(Note: In a first-person sermon, I speak as if I am the character whose story I'm telling. In this sermon, I spoke as if I were King David himself.)

            Good morning to all of you! I’m so glad to be here with you today. I was flattered to hear that you are studying the story of my life in the Bible. I praise God for all that he has taught people through my life – both my good times and my bad – and if he teaches you something as well, I will praise him all the more!

            I was thrilled when I heard that I would get to come here today and talk to you about one of the most significant stories from my life – the story of God and the Philistine. Ah-- you thought I was going to say David and Goliath, didn’t you? I know that’s what people call it these days, but I’ve never really liked that title. It makes it sound like this story is all about me, but I don’t want anyone to get that impression. This story is about God and his honor and how great moments can come when we care more about God’s honor than anything else.

            I also don’t quite understand why people have made this out to be the ultimate underdog story. The whole reason I marched out there was because I never thought of myself as an underdog! I had God on my side, and I knew this puny little giant was no match for him. But I suppose that everyone else who was there that day did see me as an underdog, so I suppose that description kind of fits.

            I get kind of nostalgic whenever I get to tell the story, and I suppose there are a couple of reasons for that. First, this was the moment that God used to put me on the public stage among my people. Even after Samuel the prophet had told me that I would be the next king of Israel, I couldn’t help but think, “How could that possibly happen? I’m a nobody – the youngest son in my family!” Well, this battle became the springboard that launched me into the public eye.

            Second, this story is one of the highlights of the good old days for me. Before long, you’re going to read about some moments in my life that I would rather forget. Later on, I would commit some sins that would stay with me for the rest of my life. My actions would hurt so many people; my own family would come almost to the point of ruin.

            But this story was one of the shining moments, and it wasn’t because I was so brave or so courageous. It was just because at that time, I cared more about God’s honor than anything else. I hope you’ll remember that lesson from my story today:

The most significant moments of your life will come when you care more about God’s honor than anything else.

            When you forget about that, you’re asking for trouble. But when you live to honor God rather than just make yourself happy or to build up your own reputation, then you will always be in the right place.

            Well, let me get to the story. The Philistines lived to our West, between the land of my people and the Mediterranean Sea. We had been enemies for hundreds of years, and one day, they marched their army into the Valley of Elah, which was a very strategic place to control because one of the main roads went through that Valley for people who were traveling east and west.

            King Saul marched our army down there to meet them, and my three oldest brothers joined the ranks. You might remember that I had already served King Saul with my music, and I had been appointed as one of his armor bearers. But at that point, I was still so young and small that when real battle looked likely, I was left behind. So I was back with my father’s sheep and I was also acting as a messenger between my dad and my brothers.

            One day, my father asked me to take some food to my brothers at the battlefield and to bring back word of how they were doing. So the next day, I got up earlier than before to make the trip, and that turned out to be a fateful decision.

            The trip from my home in Bethlehem to the Valley of Elah was around 13 miles. I had gotten to know the path pretty well, and I even knew some shortcuts that allowed me to save some time on my walk. Before I even arrived in the valley, I could hear the commotion of our army mustering in their ranks and shouting our war cry. I ran down the rest of the path and got to our camp first, where I left all of the food with the man who was in charge of the supplies, then I ran out to the front lines where our army had positioned themselves.

Seeing and Hearing Goliath

            When I got to the ranks, the air itself was thick with tension and suspense. The two armies were positioned across from each other on opposite hillsides with the Valley in between, and down in the middle of the Valley was one solitary man – a giant of a man, over 9 feet tall. His body was covered in bronze armor from head to toe. All that armor must’ve easily weighed over 100 pounds, but he paced back and forth in that Valley as if he was wearing nothing at all!

            But it wasn’t the sight of him that astonished me the most – it was the words that came out of his mouth. This man looked up the hillside at us and bellowed, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together (vv. 8-10).”

            I could hardly believe the arrogance of this man! What you must understand is that at that time, we all thought of battles as not just contests between armies but also as showdowns between the gods – their god versus our God, and the armies were just the method of confrontation.

            This Philistine’s boasts made it clear that he had no fear of our God whatsoever – our God, who had humbled the Egyptians and drowned their army in the sea; who had stopped up the Jordan River and made the walls of Jericho come tumbling down!

            I couldn’t believe this man could think so much of himself and so little of our God. I halfway expected our boys to fight each other just to see who could take the first crack at this man, but to my surprise, our soldiers were moving backward, not forward. No one wanted to give even the impression that they were volunteering to fight this man.

            Then I thought, “Perhaps they’re just clearing the way for King Saul to come out.” Yes, surely that had to be it. Surely our king would go out before us and fight our battles! But Saul was nowhere to be seen.

            What was wrong with my people? Did they care so little about the honor of God that no one would even try to defend it? Did no one believe that God could once again do a mighty deed?

Conversing with the Soldiers and Eliab

            Instead of the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath, I heard the sound of talking among our ranks. One soldier was saying to another, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel (v. 25).”

            When our soldiers had retreated, they had come back far enough that I was now standing among them. I wanted to make sure I had heard these words correctly, so I asked, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God (v. 26)?”

            When I spoke those words, all the soldiers around me turned and stared at me with disbelief. One soldier came pushing and shoving his way through all the others, and when he got to me I discovered that I was staring right into the face of my oldest brother, Eliab!

            I was happy to see him, but it became clear right away that he wasn’t very happy to see me. His face was red with anger, and he said to me, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle (v. 28).”

            Friends, let me tell you – that’s when I began to realize that when you, in your own heart, put a concern for God’s honor above everything else, some people just won’t understand the way you act. They’ll misinterpret your motives; they’ll think you’re trying to act “holier than thou” or that you believe you’re better than them. Until someone has come to put God’s honor ahead of their own, it’s hard for them to understand why you do the things you do. Don’t let that stop you! Remember – the most significant moments of your life will come when you care more about God’s honor than anything else.

Conversing with Saul

            Well, as my older brother was doing what jealous older brothers sometimes do, some of the other soldiers had sent word to King Saul about the confidence that I had expressed through my words. The king sent for me, and I was taken to him. I’m sure he was rather surprised to see my face, but I said to him, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

            If I’m not mistaken, Saul was trying to suppress a laugh when he replied, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”

            But I had more experience with battle than he realized! “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father,” I said. “And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

            I hope you can understand from my words why I felt so confident. It’s not that I was just naturally more brave or courageous than anyone else. I just had complete confidence that God would help me take down this arrogant Philistine. When my people had first marched into the land of Israel, God had promised that he would drive out the Philistines before us if we would simply trust in that promise and take action to do it. And besides, the Lord had also proclaimed through Samuel the prophet that I would be the next king of Israel. I can’t tell you why he chose me, but he did, and as I stood there among the army that day, I just chose to believe that if God made a promise, then the matter was settled. I knew I could live and act as if his promise had already come true.

            Saul could see that I was raring to fight, so he gave me permission to go. He offered to let me wear his own armor, and he even had me try it on, but you have to remember – King Saul was the tallest man in all of Israel. With his armor on, I looked like a boy trying to walk around in his dad’s shoes! I was going to trip all over myself if I tried to fight with that stuff on, so I declined as politely as I could, and I decided just to go out with the tools that had always allowed me to defend my sheep before – my staff and my sling.

The Battle

            Now you have to understand – my sling truly was a deadly weapon in the right hands. It was an overhead style sling, and I could sling a stone out of it at about 150 mph! That didn’t impress this Philistine however, because when he saw me walking out there to challenge him, he just about fell over laughing!

            “Am I a dog,” he said, “that you come to me with sticks?” Then he said something about his great and mighty gods, and I thought, “Just you wait, buddy! Your statues of stone couldn’t hurt me unless you threw them at me!” Then he said, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”

            I had had enough of him insulting my God, so I said, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

            I wanted to make sure that everyone knew what this encounter was really all about. It wasn’t about me or anyone else who was on the field that day. This was about upholding the honor of God and giving him a chance to put his power on display.

            I apparently got under the giant’s skin with my words, because that was all he wanted to hear from me! He started to walk toward me, and I was more than happy to oblige, so I ran toward him and got a stone loaded into my sling. I twirled it over my head and aimed it right at that big, ugly head of his, and the Lord made it fly true. The stone struck him in the forehead with such force that it sank in and lodged there.

            I don’t know if the Philistine really was this arrogant or what, but he acted like he never even saw my sling. He just kept coming at me, so when the stone struck him, his momentum caused him to fall forward onto his face. He almost crushed his own armor bearer, and when that guy saw what happened, he took off running for the hills.

            I marched right up and true to my word, I took the Philistines own sword and cut off his head. Now please don’t think of me as some brute or butcher. You might think differently about it today, but that was standard warfare back then.

            With that, the battle was on! The Philistines turned tail and started running back home, and our army chased them all the way there before they came back to collect the spoils of victory.

            As I looked out over the ranks of my people celebrating, I prayed to God that they would remember that God could be trusted and that His honor is worth defending. We are His people—and you, today, are His people—so the way we act reflects directly on Him. When we act in confidence that His promises are true and His commands are right, we bring great honor to Him.

The Lessons

            As I thought back on that day over the years, it dawned on me that in just that one event, the Lord highlighted some of the most significant lessons that he kept trying to teach my people over and over again. I wonder if you noticed any of them.

            The first was this – do not see merely as man sees. Don’t live your life based on nothing more than what you can see! King Saul and the rest of the people – all they could see was Goliath’s stature. They couldn’t see that the real battle that day was not physical but spiritual. God’s honor was being called into question, and what were they going to do about it? If they would’ve acted for the sake of his great name, he would come through for them!

            Second, do not trust in the strength of man to save you. So many times, my people got into trouble and danger because of their own sins. But rather than just confess those sins and return to the Lord, we thought, “If we just make an alliance with the Egyptians or the Syrians, then we will be okay!” We thought we could make all of our problems go away through our own strength or our own wisdom, when all we ever needed was to stop running away from God and just obey him once again.

            Third, the God of Israel is the living God; all other so-called gods are lifeless and powerless. Time and time again, we gave our worship and affection, our money and our resources to these things that could not help us at all. They held out nothing but a false hope, when all the while our God – the living God – promised to give us all we would ever need if we would just obey him.

            Fourth, God delights to work through unexpected channels. How often has God chosen the most unlikely person to accomplish something great for him! If you think there’s something about you that would prevent God from using you, think again! You might be the most likely person for him to use, so just prize his honor above anything else and get ready to see the great ways that he can use you.

            Fifth, the people of God represent God. The most shameful thing about that day was not the Philistine’s insults but the cowardice of my people. Their actions betrayed a very small view of God. Never forget that your actions reflect on the God you claim to love. Everything you do reflects on him either for the better or for the worse.

            Sixth and lastly, God acts on behalf of his people for the sake of his great name. God didn’t give me victory that day just so we could control a strategic valley, even though that did happen. He didn’t give me victory just to catapult me to fame, although that happened, too. He won the victory that day so that all the earth would know that there is a God in Israel. Everything he does for us he does ultimately to put his glory on display. God highly values the honor of his name, and so we should, too, more than anything else in life.

Jesus Through the Eyes of Pontius Pilate--First-Person Sermon for Easter

(This sermon is a first-person sermon, which I like to do at Christmas and Easter. A first-person sermon is one in which I speak as if I were one of the characters in the story.)

            Good morning, my name is Pontius Pilate. I think most of you know about me from my role in Jesus’ death. I must admit, it is rather awkward for me to speak to you today because I did play a part in crucifying the man whom you worship as God. But I’m not afraid to be here, because I have always received an unusual kindness from Christians that I really don’t understand. Even the men who wrote the Gospels in your Bible were very careful to point out that I believed Jesus was innocent and did not want to sentence him to death. So why did I allow it to happen? That’s what I’m here to explain.

            During the last years of Jesus’ life, I was the governor of Israel for the Roman Empire. Our Empire had conquered the entire area around the Mediterranean Sea, and each time we conquered new territory, we tried to maintain a delicate balance between local government and oversight by the Emperor. We weren’t very interested in spreading culture like the Greeks did, so we allowed people to keep their local customs and some form of local government. As long as they paid taxes to us and remained loyal to the Emperor, well, that was good enough for us!

I had been appointed as the governor of Israel after a successful career in the Roman military. As far as governorships were concerned, it was not exactly a glamorous position. For one thing, I was off in the far corner of the Empire, and I believe you have a saying that sums it up well—“out of sight, out of mind.”

Also, the Jews were a notoriously difficult people for the Roman Empire to govern. They had their peculiar religion that only allowed them to worship one God, and the way we honored our Emperor was far too close to “worship” for their liking. They also had a strong hatred of statues and pictures of gods—“idols” they called them—and this caused me no end of headaches when my soldiers would display their shields with images on them to honor the Emperor. The Jews also had these “prophecies” in their holy books about a king who would one day come from among them to rule over the whole world. You can imagine what kind of conflicts that lead to when people would speak up from time to time, claiming to be that king!

I tried to keep the peace with these people, but honestly, I never did understand their ways. One time, I made some significant improvements to the aqueducts that brought water into the city of Jerusalem, but they were mad at me because I used money from their Temple treasury to do it! I also tried to be a fair and impartial judge, but as you can imagine they didn’t always agree with my rulings. So, as a gesture of goodwill, I made it a custom to release one of their prisoners to them during their Passover Feast.

All in all, I felt that I was very generous to the Jewish people, but they didn’t see it that way, so, on several occasions, I had to maintain law and order with the sword. The Jewish people remember me in a very negative light because of it, but please believe me when I say that I just wanted to maintain peace for the Empire.

Well, I know you’ve been thinking about Jesus’ death this last week, so let’s get to the details surrounding that incident. It happened at the time of the Jewish Passover Feast, when they celebrated their escape from slavery in Egypt. During this feast, all of the Jewish people would congregate in the area around Jerusalem. Normally, I lived north of there in the town of Caesarea, but I always made sure I was in Jerusalem during the feast because there were so many people there. The possibility of a riot or a rebellion taking place was just too great to ignore, so we always increased our troop presence, and I made sure that I was on hand to give orders.

The feast lasted for seven days, and on one day toward the beginning of the feast, the Jewish leaders came to my palace very early in the morning to ask me to hold a trial for a prisoner who was in their custody. Normally, I would have conducted the trial inside the palace, but the Jewish leaders thought they would become “unclean” by coming into my home, so I went out to speak to them in the courtyard. I knew that I wanted no part of this trial when I asked for the charges against the man (who was Jesus, of course) and they said, “If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have brought him to you.” I thought they must have had some kind of conflict about their customs, so I said, “Take him yourself and judge him according to your own law.”

But the situation took a more serious turn when they mentioned that they wanted to seek the death penalty against Jesus. In Roman law, we did not allow conquered peoples to administer that punishment, so if they sought that penalty, I would have to be involved. So I asked again for the charges, and this time they said, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”

Obviously, that statement got my attention, so I asked Jesus, “Are you the King the Jews?” To my surprise, he said nothing in His defense. He just calmly said, “It is as you say.” As you might suspect, this was very unusual behavior for a man who was facing the death penalty. He was strangely calm, and he did not possess any of the arrogance or defiance that you might expect from a man who wanted to lead a rebellion.

The Jewish leaders began to press me for an immediate verdict, but I needed to hear more from this man, so since the leaders would not come into my palace, I ordered that Jesus be brought inside so I could speak to him alone. As I suspected, He was willing to speak freely once we were alone. I asked Him again, “Are you the King of the Jews?” and to my surprise, He began to question me! He asked, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” I thought He was about to put me on trial!

I replied, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” I expected Him to talk about some dispute over their religion, but instead He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

I will admit that I was a little confused about His statement, but He made one point loud and clear—if He were leading an armed rebellion, His servants would have been fighting to save Him. But they weren’t, so I had to agree that He seemed to pose no threat to Rome.

I still don’t know what to make of His words about His kingdom, so I simply said, “So you are a king?” He replied, “You say that I am. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

I was taken aback by that reply, too. This trial was quickly becoming the most unusual case that I had ever heard. I could tell that Jesus was a man of lofty ideals and convictions and that He was willing to hold to His convictions even though the leaders of His own people were calling for His execution! I confess, part of me was envious of His courage. In my world of politics, it seemed that principles were easily set aside for whatever felt “practical.” “Truth” normally meant whatever I needed it to mean at the moment to keep my head! I admit that this had fostered some cynicism within me, so I simply said to Jesus, “What is truth?”

I don’t know why the religious leaders hated Him so much, but I could tell Jesus was not guilty of treason, so I announced to them that I found no guilt in Him. This decision did not sit well with them, and they began to accuse Him again, saying that Jesus was stirring up trouble all over Judea and Galilee. When they mentioned Galilee, I thought I had found a way to wash my hands of the whole ordeal. Galilee was under the jurisdiction of the Jewish king Herod Antipas, and I knew he was in Jerusalem at that time, so I ordered them to take the case to Herod. This was a perfect solution! Herod knew more about their customs, anyway, so he was in a better position to hear this case.

I was just beginning to move on to the rest of the day’s business when I received word that Herod was sending Jesus back to me—and worst of all, he’d done nothing to settle the case! Now it was back in my lap, and the whole ordeal seemed more foolish than ever. Neither Herod nor myself were very interested in the religious leaders’ case, so I just told them again that I found no guilt in Jesus.

But the leaders would not be pacified, and they became more vehement than ever. In the midst of their accusations, I overheard some others in the courtyard calling out to me about my custom of releasing a prisoner at the feast. Aha! That was the perfect way to get all of them out of my sight. I decided to offer Jesus as one of the prisoners for release, and to tip the scales in His favor, I chose a notorious criminal named Barabbas as the other option. Why I hadn’t I thought of that before? I could dismiss the charges against Jesus and make it look like it was the people’s own doing!

But what happened next was something that I did not bargain for. The religious leaders started to encourage the people to ask for Barabbas! What had possessed these men? They would not give up until they saw this man’s blood, so I decided that I might be able to pacify them by having Jesus flogged. Surely the sight of Him after that would be enough for them.

But when I brought Jesus out to them again, the situation just spiraled out of control. They demanded that He be crucified, saying that He had portrayed Himself to be the Son of God. That statement struck fear into my heart, because my wife had already told me that she had suffered in a dream because of Jesus and that He was a righteous man. Who was this man?

I took Jesus into my private quarters again and asked Him, “Where are you from?”, but He wouldn’t answer me. This whole situation was trying my patience. I was trying to help Him, and now He wouldn’t even speak to me! I lost my composure and shouted, “Don’t you know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Then Jesus calmly looked at me and said, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

The greater sin? Now this man was claiming to have the right to judge the severity of sins! I can’t tell you who this man was, but I knew that I didn’t want to have anything to do with condemning Him. I went out to the leaders again and announced my intention to release Him on the basis of the flogging He had already received. But the leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!”

I had just asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Well, here was my truth—I had to stay in Caesar’s good graces. Just a few years earlier, a friend of mine in the Emperor’s bodyguard at Rome had been executed on suspicion of treason against the Empire. I had to think that the Emperor was keeping a close eye on me, so if I released Jesus, how could I explain that I released a man who was brought before me on charges of rebellion?

What is truth? Here was my truth—it had come down to Jesus’ life or perhaps my own. I’m not proud of it, but I chose for Jesus to take the fall. But I wanted everyone to know that I did not approve of this travesty, so I called for a wash basin, washed my hands, and said, “Take Him yourself and crucify Him.”

With that, I went back into the palace, feeling defeated. I may have kept myself out of trouble with the Emperor, but at what cost? This man had spoken about sin on the part of those who arrested Him—what did that make my actions? And just who was this man? I couldn’t get that question out of my mind.

A few hours later, a man who was prominent among the Jewish leaders came to the palace to ask if he could have Jesus’ body to bury it. I was surprised to hear that Jesus may have been dead so soon. It wasn’t unusual for a crucifixion to last an entire day, so I asked a soldier to confirm for me that Jesus was dead. Now, let me say something briefly at this point. I’ve been told that some people in your world today have claimed that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross—instead, He just passed out, and then He revived in the tomb, which made it look like He came back to life. You modern people must think that we were a big collection of buffoons! Do you think I would allow a man to be taken down from a cross without making sure he was dead?

The soldier told me that Jesus had already died, but just to make sure, one of the soldiers on guard had thrust a spear into His heart. I can tell you for certain that Jesus was dead, so I allowed Him to be taken down and buried. After that, I thought I was finally done with the whole ordeal, but the religious leaders came to me again and said that Jesus had made certain predictions about His death and said that He would come back to life. They wanted me to post soldiers at His tomb to ensure that His followers didn’t steal His body and claim that His predictions had come true!

That kind of story was the last thing I wanted! I was ready to put that whole memory behind me, so I sent some soldiers to guard the tomb. As for what happened next, well—you’ll have to make up your own mind about that! I began to hear reports that something strange had happened at the tomb. I summoned the soldiers to ask them what had happened, but the religious leaders came instead to speak on their behalf. They begged me to excuse the soldiers because they had fallen asleep at the tomb, and while they were sleeping Jesus’ disciples came and stole His body.

I don’t know how dumb the Jewish leaders thought I was! If my soldiers were asleep, HOW DID THEY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?? Besides, I was a military man myself; our soldiers would not have allowed that to happen. I never did get a good explanation of what happened at the tomb, so I can’t tell you what took place. You’ll have to check out the facts for yourself. But I can tell you this—Jesus was an innocent man who did not deserve what happened to Him. There was no reason that He should have been crucified—He was an innocent man! And yet, He wouldn’t defend His innocence. It was as if He were giving His life—willingly! Why He did it is beyond me, but I know His disciples have written about it extensively in the Bible. You’ll have to examine the facts about Jesus for yourself, and as you do, take this word of encouragement from me—don’t compromise what you find to be true for anything! I knew Jesus was innocent, but I let Him be crucified. Don’t make the same kind of mistake; don’t be cynical about the truth like I was. Find out what is true, and cling to it no matter what!

God Has Remembered!--Christmas 2012 First-Person Sermon

(Note: this sermon is a first-person sermon in which I speak as if I am the character from the Biblical story. In this sermon, I spoke as Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist).

            Baruch Adonai Elohe Yisrael! Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for allowing me to be with you today. My name is Zechariah, which means “God has remembered.” What an appropriate message for the story of my life! Many of you probably don’t know me very well, but you probably know my son John, who became known as John the Baptist because of his ministry. I am so proud of my boy, and I am honored that God chose to preserve the story of his birth in Luke 1. More than anything, that story is a testimony to the faithfulness of God, which teaches us that He will always keep His promises. That is the lesson that I hope you will take with you today.

            As Luke records in his Gospel, my story took place during the days that King Herod reigned over Judea. Our nation was part of the Roman Empire at that time, but with such a vast territory, the emperor needed people to govern for him, so he placed Herod over the land of Israel and gave him the honorary title of “king.” In your language today, you might say that we had a love/hate relationship with Herod. He made some extensive renovations to enhance the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem. As a priest, I was very happy to see the Temple maintained, but Herod only did these things to take attention away from his atrocities. He was a blood-thirsty man, and if even his own wives or children appeared to be a threat to his power, he did not hesitate to have them executed. It was said at that time that it was better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son!

            With such a man in power, you can imagine that we were dying to hear something—anything—from the Lord just to know that He hadn’t forgotten about us. He had not spoken to us for 400 years, since the time of the prophet Malachi. Now, He had clearly been at work to preserve our nation because He did some miraculous things for us during those 400 years. In fact, those events are what Jewish people today celebrate during the holiday of Hanukkah. But we wanted to hear from Him as in the days of old to have that personal contact with Him again. Little did I know that God was planning to speak to us again, and He was planning to start the conversation with me!

            Now, I am rather embarrassed to repeat this, but Luke records that my wife Elizabeth and I “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord (Luke 1:6).” Please don’t get the idea that we were perfect, because we were far from it. We were simply careful to follow God’s commands, and when we failed, we were careful to make amends as the Law of Moses called us to do. We just loved God for all that He had done for our people and for the promises He had made about things that were still to come.

            We did carry a tremendous sorrow in our hearts, however, because God had never blessed us with a child, and at the time that Luke picks up our story, we were well beyond our child-bearing years. If our barrenness wasn’t bad enough by itself, we also had to deal with the attitudes of our friends and family. Since the Scriptures said that children were a gift from God, our people reasoned that if you had no children, then God must have been punishing you for something. We should have known better from the stories of Abraham and Sarah and Samuel’s mother, Hannah. They were all godly people who were childless for a long time, so we should have known better, but you know how a mindset can become entrenched once it takes root in a culture. It was devastating to deal with other people’s assumptions that we were hiding some kind of terrible sin because we had no children.

            That was the greatest sorrow of my life, but the greatest honor of my life was serving as a priest in God’s Temple. At that time, there were far more priests than were needed in the Temple on a daily basis, so apart from the major festivals like Passover when we were all on duty, we were on a rotation to work in the Temple for two weeks each year. Even with that schedule, there were still more of us on hand than were absolutely necessary, so for some of the tasks that we all wanted to perform, we would decide who got to do them by casting lots, which would be like rolling a pair of dice, or what you do today when you flip a coin or draw straws.

            One of the tasks which every priest longed to perform was entering the Temple to burn incense at the time of the regular morning and evening sacrifices, and on one of the days of my rotation, I was chosen for this task! I could hardly believe it when my name was called. This was literally a once-in-a-lifetime honor for a priest, and now my day had come! I was so excited I could hardly remember the prayer I was supposed to recite in the Temple, so started to rehearse it in my mind. Some of the other priests helped me prepare the spices and put on the proper clothing, and before I knew it, I was opening the door to enter the House of God!

            Normally, this process did not take long. The priest would stoke the fire that was burning under the altar of incense, and then he would cast the spices onto the altar and come back out to speak a blessing over the people who were gathered outside to pray. But in God’s plan, this day would not be an ordinary day.

            I knew I shouldn’t delay once I entered the Temple, but I almost couldn’t help myself. I wanted to take in all the sights of this place where few people would ever set foot, but I did my best to stay focused on the task. As I walked toward the altar, I was looking down at my feet so I wouldn’t trip and drop the spices, so you can imagine my shock when I came to the altar and looked up, and there, just beside the altar, was a magnificent being clothed in white, looking at me. I was so startled I almost dropped the spices after all of my careful walking!

            A dozen thoughts ran through my mind before this man spoke. Who was this? I knew instantly that he was no mere man, but I had never heard other priests speak of angelic visitors in the Temple. More than anything I was just frightened. Perhaps God really was displeased with me for some reason, and He had sent an angel to do something about it.

            But then he spoke to me and said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.” Now, if you had asked me to guess what an angel might say to me, that would not have been on my list! He said my prayer had been heard and my wife would have a son, but I must confess, I hadn’t prayed that prayer in a long time. Years had passed since we last prayed for a child, but God had heard that prayer, and now, in His perfect time, He was granting us what we had asked.

            But then, the angel went on to tell me that my child would have a very special role to play in God’s plan. He said John would be great before the Lord, and would be filled with the Holy Spirit even while he was still in the womb! And he would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare people for the Messiah’s arrival. Those were words from the prophet Malachi! The last promise God made to us before 400 years of silence was that He would send Elijah to us to prepare us for the Lord’s coming, and now the angel was telling me that in some way, my son would fulfill that prophecy.

            I could hardly believe what I was hearing, and I hate to say it, but I didn’t believe what I was hearing. How could Elizabeth and I have a son? We were too old; it just seemed impossible. I hope you will not judge me too harshly for my lack of faith, and most of all I hope you will not follow my example and doubt what the Lord has said. I would be happy if my story inspires greater faith in you, even if that means my error will be told over and over.

            After I expressed my doubt, the angel identified himself as Gabriel, the messenger of God. I remembered him from the book of Daniel, and already I began to realize the error of my ways. I had asked for a sign to prove the angel’s word, and I got one alright! He told me I would unable to speak until the day that his message began to come true, and from that moment I lost my ability to speak.

            By that time, I had already been in the Temple longer than normal, which created a stir among the people outside, so imagine their surprise when I came out and couldn’t tell them what took me so long! After numerous attempts at making signs, they finally figured out that something miraculous had happened (I always could imitate wings pretty well, so I think that finally tipped them off that I saw an angel!). It wasn’t until I finally got my hands on a writing tablet that I could explain things in detail.

            Well, since you’ve probably heard of my son, John, you know that everything played out just like the angel said it would. Elizabeth became pregnant, and during her pregnancy we received a visit from her young cousin Mary, who told us about her own miraculous conception. How incredible it was that God had chosen our family to bear not only the Messiah’s forerunner, but the Messiah himself! We were not an important family. We had no wealth, no power. My wife and I had the stigma of being childless, and Mary’s family was from Nazareth in Galilee. I think your term for them today would be “hillbillies.” Yet God chose us for such a special honor. It just goes to show you that God doesn’t look at people through the same kind of prejudice that we are tempted to use.

            When our son was born, we named him John, as the angel had instructed me. With that step of obedience, I regained my ability to speak, and all of our neighbors were amazed by everything that was taking place. As Luke records, they all began to wonder, “What then will this child be?” And who should be empowered to speak up and answer their question but me—the one who had been unable to speak for so long! The Holy Spirit filled me, and allowed me to give God’s commentary on the situation.

            It was only proper to begin with a statement of praise to God, so I said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” The Old Testament prophets just loved that image of a horn, because for animals who had them, horns were the means of victory over enemies. In the Messiah, this is exactly what God would provide for us. And the Lord was doing this work through a descendent of David, just as He had said.

            The Lord was being true to His word, so I continued: “as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.” The Lord gave me just the right words, and how I smiled at that word “remember.” That was the meaning of my name, and every time my name was spoken, it was a proclamation that God remembers! He remembers His holy covenant, or His promises to His people.

            And where did His covenant begin? With “the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” God’s promises to my people began with our ancestor Abraham. He promised Abraham a whole nation of descendants, and He told him that his descendants would be enslaved, but that He would save them. My people had to endure 400 years of slavery before they were delivered, but God remembered His promise.

            Later, He told David that one of his descendants would be the Messiah, but we had to wait 1,000 years before Jesus was born. And remember, when Gabriel spoke to me, his message ended a period of 400 years of silence from God. It is so easy to think that God forgets because He doesn’t work by our timetable, but my name—my very life—is a testimony that God remembers His promises, and He will not fail to fulfill them.

            Finally, the Lord moved me to speak about what my child would become: “and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” I remember thinking about the verse from Isaiah 40 that my son would claim for his own: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord!’” And here is why he would do it: “to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins.” Everyone who knew the Old Testament understood that our greatest need was to be forgiven of our sins. My people had no enemies but those who were allowed to trouble us because of our own sins against the Lord. That’s why God empowered the Amalekites and the Philistines and the Edomites and the Egyptians and the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Persians and the Greeks and now the Romans. Above all else we needed a final sacrifice, one which could wipe our slate clean before the Lord forever, and we knew that somehow the Messiah would provide it.

            This salvation would come “because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” How lost we were—like travelers wandering in the dark! But the Messiah would bring light to show us the way, to lead us safely through the valley of the shadow of death.

            How I wish I could have seen more of His earthly life with my own eyes, but I passed away before His ministry began. But I know what He did because I’ve seen Him in heaven. He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! He provided the final sacrifice for sin through His death on the cross, and He rose from the grave to display His victory over sin, to provide forgiveness for all who will acknowledge their sinfulness to God and accept the payment that Jesus has provided.

            I know that as I speak to you today, the world has been waiting almost 2,000 years for Jesus to fulfill His promise to return. But let my story remind you that God remembers! He is not forgetful; He does not drag His feet. He is patient with us to give us time to repent. Do not doubt the Lord’s Word; just think of my name and be reminded that God has remembered!

A Victory For All People--Easter Through the Eyes of Nicodemus

(The following is my sermon from Easter Sunday. It was presented in a style called a first-person sermon. This kind of sermon is one in which I play the role of a biblical character from the Bible.)

Good morning! It is such a privilege to be here with you this morning. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a day like this—a day where millions of people around the world remember and worship Yeshua ben Yosef, the Lord Jesus, and His glorious resurrection. And to think that people in a land that I didn’t even know about would be worshipping Him—it is all so overwhelming!

My name is Nicodemus, and I am here today to tell you about my story. You may wonder why I am here instead of someone like Peter or John. Many people don’t realize that I became a believer in Jesus because of the events surrounding his crucifixion. Did you know that? Well, if you didn’t, I only have myself to blame, because I was slow to come to faith in Jesus, and I was intimidated to share my true thoughts about Him.

I hope that on this Easter Sunday, you won’t mind listening to the recollections of an old man. I know that many of you have a busy day ahead of you. I’ve been told that many of you will hunt for candy-filled eggs in your yard later today. You must have some strange chickens in your country! And I still can’t believe that many of you eat ham on a day that honors a Jewish man! But if you will bear with me for a little while, I would like to tell you how I came to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who saves us from our sins!

When Jesus first began to make Himself known to the public, I was a member of the Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin. It was similar to the Supreme Court that you have in your country, except we had seventy members instead of nine. Our council was divided primarily into two factions—the Sadducees and the Pharisees. I was a proud member of the Pharisees. Our factions were divided more or less over two issues. The first was our belief in the doctrine of what you call today the “Old Testament.” We Pharisees took great pride in preserving and following everything that God had spoken to our people through Moses and the prophets, but the Sadducees weren’t very interested in what they considered to be “religious superstitions.”

Our second point of disagreement was the way in which we related to the Roman Empire. Our people were ruled by the Romans at that time, and the Sadducees were willing to be more welcoming of their authority. We Pharisees, on the other hand—you might say that we tolerated the Romans, mostly because we felt like we had no other choice. But we longed for the day when God would send the Messiah, whom He had promised in the Old Testament, who would come and set up a kingdom based on God’s rule, not Roman rule.

That is why many of us among the Pharisees were intrigued when we heard about Jesus. He had certainly made a splash when He became a public figure. During the Passover feast that year, Jesus came to celebrate in Jerusalem, as all Jewish men were required to do. But when He arrived in town, He went to the Temple and began to chase out all of the people who were selling animals and all of the people who were exchanging foreign money for Jewish money. He kept saying that the Temple was His Father’s house and that it was supposed to be a place for prayer, not a marketplace.

And if that wasn’t enough to draw attention, He then started to teach people about God and heal them of various diseases. We were very curious about Jesus, but we didn’t know what to make of Him. We knew that He had been praised by John the Baptist, but that was kind of a mixed blessing to us Pharisees. After all, John had called us a brood of vipers when we visited him, so a lot of us were offended by him.

Still, when we considered Jesus, we couldn’t deny that God was with Him because of the power that He had to perform miracles. We decided that we needed to find out more about Him, so I decided to go and speak to Him personally. However, at that time, I didn’t feel like I could afford to be publicly associated with Him, so I went and spoke to Him at night when there was less of a chance that I would be discovered. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was necessarily giving my approval of this man. This is the story that many of you know from John 3.

When I went to visit Jesus, I wanted to approach Him with more than just common courtesy. I wanted to communicate respect, so I addressed Him as “rabbi,” which was the title given to honored teachers. I greeted Him and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with Him.”

He listened to my greeting and He was courteous, but His response made it clear that He wasn’t interested in sitting around and exchanging pleasantries. It was as if He said, “You call me a teacher, do you? Well, then, here’s what you need to learn!” He said to me, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

I have to admit, I was kind of taken aback by these words. I didn’t understand quite what He meant by them, but by the way that He introduced His statement, I knew that He considered this to be a very important lesson. He was clearly talking about the way to find a place in the kingdom that the Messiah would set up, but what did He mean that we had to be born again? I and the Pharisees believed that following the Law and our traditions was the way to enter the kingdom of God, be He seemed to be saying that something totally different was necessary.

An awkward silence hung in the air as I thought about these words. I didn’t know quite what to say, so I tried to break the silence with some sarcastic humor. I said, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

My words were ill-conceived, but I didn’t know what else to say. I was relieved but even more perplexed when Jesus went on to say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus was indeed a good teacher, because He stayed right with the main point! But I was still a poor student, because I didn’t understand what He was saying. Jesus seemed to be saying that a spiritual cleansing was necessary to enter the kingdom of God. It wasn’t until later that I remembered that God had said the same thing through the prophet Ezekiel. He spoke through the prophet about a spiritual cleansing, and He said, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you…And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezek 36:25–27).”

That’s what Jesus was talking about—the need to be cleansed from our sins. But I didn’t understand at the time. He explained it further, but in exasperation I said, “How can these things be?” Then Jesus said something that cut me to the heart. He said, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” He was right—I should have understood what He was saying, but I didn’t. He even connected His lesson to a story about Moses from the Old Testament, but I wouldn’t understand that until later.

I left my conversation with Jesus confused, but with a heart-felt respect for Him. I never personally spoke to Him again, but you can be sure that I followed His every move. All of us Pharisees did, especially as He continued to teach and heal the people. Many of the Pharisees turned against Him because He started to publicly criticize us. He called us hypocrites; He told the people that we said all the right things, but we didn’t do them. We talked about honoring God, but as He put it, we had put our own traditions in place of God’s Law, so we were no longer serving God but simply our own pride.

This kind of talk enraged many of my colleagues, so we ordered that Jesus be arrested and brought to us. This story is recorded at the end of John 7. We sent some officers to arrest Jesus, but they came back to us empty-handed. When we asked why, they simply said, “No one ever spoke like this man!” It was clear that they had been impressed by Him as well. My colleagues, however, were not impressed, and they began to insult the officers and the crowds of common people who were believing in Jesus.

It was clear that most of my colleagues in the Sanhedrin had already condemned Jesus. This really did not sit well with me, because we hadn’t even given Jesus a hearing yet. We were disregarding our own Law, which we supposedly cared so much about, so I stood up and said, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”

I saw maybe one or two sympathetic nods in the crowd, but otherwise it was clear that my objection had fallen on deaf ears. They began to insult me as well, suggesting that I was prejudiced and ignorant. I wish now that I had stood my ground, but I was ashamed to be humiliated in front of my colleagues. So, I fell silent.

Little did I know that I would later have another opportunity to speak up for Jesus before that Sanhedrin; that is, after he was betrayed by Judas and arrested. But in that moment, I cowered, and said nothing. I still was not a follower of Jesus, but I knew that whole trial was a sham. An amateur student of our Law could have seen how illegal the whole thing was! But it didn’t matter, because Jesus didn’t stand a chance of getting a fair trial. I still regret that I didn’t speak out against this injustice, but in hindsight, I know that—incredibly—it was all part of God’s plan.

As you know, the trials came to their pre-determined verdict, and after some more shady maneuvering, we got Pilate to allow Jesus to be crucified. I had really had my fill of this whole ordeal, but many of my colleagues went out to watch His crucifixion, and I felt myself compelled to go with them. I could have gone my whole life without seeing another crucifixion, but for some reason I felt drawn to go along.

When I arrived at the crucifixion site—a place called Golgotha—they had already crucified two other men, and they were preparing to lift Jesus’ cross up into place between them. When His cross was set into position, Jesus was lifted up high off the ground, and something that he had said during our conversation came back to me at that moment. He told me that he had to be lifted up, as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. You see, in the Old Testament, there was a time when the people of Israel had sinned against God, and God brought His judgment against the people by sending poisonous snakes into their camp. But God told Moses to make a bronze model of a snake and put it high up on a pole in the camp, and whoever would have the faith to look at the snake would be delivered from God’s judgment—or in other words, they would be cleansed from their sin.

And then I realized—this was what Jesus was talking about! The new birth, the spiritual cleansing, gaining entrance to God’s kingdom, it all revolved around this moment—and it was playing out right before my eyes! Jesus had been lifted up, and He was dying on that cross, but somehow His death would make that spiritual cleansing—that forgiveness—possible, for as He said, whoever believes in Him would have eternal life.

I’m not sure that I could have explained all of that at the moment, but somehow I knew that what Jesus said was true. I needed to be spiritually cleansed; I needed to be born again, and somehow His death was making that possible for me if I would only believe in Him. And so I did. Even though I didn’t know what that would mean for me in the days to come, I believed.

I stayed there at the foot of the cross until Jesus passed away. Most of my colleagues shouted at Him and insulted Him, and encouraged the crowd to do the same. But there were a handful of us who remained silent and watched. One of my colleagues, Joseph of Arimathea, must of seen that something profound was on mind, because he came over and put his hand on my shoulder. I had hesitated to speak up for Jesus in the past, but I couldn’t keep quiet anymore about what Jesus had said, and so I told Joseph about my conversation with Jesus, and that I now believed in Him.

Then I heard something that I never expected—Joseph said that he, too, believed in Jesus. In fact, he had for quite some time, but he had kept quiet because of fear of the rest of the Sanhedrin. But he said he could no longer hide his love for Jesus, and that he was about to make a bold move. He said that he couldn’t stand the thought that Jesus’ body might end up in the common grave for crucified criminals, so he was going to ask Pilate to give the body to him.

This was bold indeed, because then everyone would know that he was a follower of Jesus, but I thought it was a great way to honor Him. I asked Joseph if I could join him, and he agreed. We would have to hurry because it was almost the day of Sabbath, when we would have to cease all of our work, so Joseph went and spoke to Pilate and I gathered up the linen fabric and the spices that we would need to give Jesus a proper burial. You can read about this in John 19.

You know, I love the way that our brother John recorded my involvement in all of this. There in John 19:39, he reminds you that I was the one who had come to Jesus by night, under the cover of darkness. It’s true—I had been afraid back then to associate with Jesus, but I was no longer afraid. I had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He had come into the world to save us from our sins. And when he rose from the dead, everything I believed was confirmed.

I had received new life and forgiveness of my sins from Jesus. I was born again. No, I never re-entered the womb to be born a second time. I was spiritually cleansed, and you can be cleansed as well if you will simply believe in Jesus.

God Sure Works in Funny Ways Sometimes!--Christmas message

(This sermon is a first-person sermon that I preached for Christmas. A first-person sermon is a sermon in which the preacher speaks from the viewpoint of one of the characters in the story. In this sermon, I was speaking as one of the shepherds in Luke 2:1-20).

Good morning to all of you! I’m so excited to be here with you at Christmastime to have the opportunity to tell you about what I experienced back on that first Christmas day. I know that many of you have probably heard about my story before from reading it in the Bible, but hopefully I can help you understand what took place just a little better.

I always enjoy every opportunity that I get to think back on the events of that day. The whole story is so extraordinary, I’m not sure I would have believed it if I hadn’t been part of it. God sure works in funny ways sometimes!

Let me get right down to the events of that Christmas night. My relatives and I were pasturing our flocks out in the fields surrounding Bethlehem. I did a little research on your area before I came today and I discovered that Bethlehem at that time was about the size of a town east of here called Pratt. Its claim to fame was that it was the hometown of King David, and that connection certainly played into the events of that first Christmas.

The whole area was chaotic on that day because of all the people who had travelled to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. Most of my people resented Rome and its census, and especially the taxes that went along with all of it. We had a rather uneasy peace with Rome at that time. They had controlled our land for several decades, but they did keep things peaceful in our area, and they let us practice our own religion. Their puppet-king, Herod, even made some beautiful renovations to our Temple in Jerusalem. That was all better treatment than my people had received under the Greeks, but we still longed for our freedom.

Anyway, on that first Christmas there were probably three times as many people as normal in Bethlehem, and we had heard from some travelers that all of the inns in town were full. People were getting shelter anywhere they could find it. It was quite a scene, but for us shepherds, it was a fairly ordinary day. We were settling down for the night, and we certainly didn’t expect any excitement. Shepherding was usually a fairly boring job. Just imagine if you never built fences for your cattle, and instead you had to sit in the field all day and make sure none of them wandered off! The hours passed by pretty slowly at times, so many of us played music to pass the time. Many of us had a flute, or even a lyre, which was a small, stringed instrument. I like to think that I could have played the flute for any king west of the Euphrates—not that a shepherd like me would ever get to meet a king!

That night we were taking turns on watch through the night hours, and during my watch, there was a moment all of a sudden where I was surrounded by a brilliant light. It was like the sun had risen in the middle of the night, and in the same instant I saw a being in front of me. I had never seen an angel before, but I had heard the descriptions of them from the holy men in the Scriptures, so I knew this had to be one of the Lord’s messengers. My relatives had woken up from the light, and we were all terrified! What did this angel want with us?

But quickly after he appeared, the angel spoke to us and said, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.” He had come in peace, and he had come to speak to us with a message of great joy for our people! But why hadn’t God sent him to the Pharisees or the Sanhedrin? Why was this angel here to talk to a bunch of shepherds?

You see, people didn’t have a very high opinion of us at that time. We took great pride in our work, but honestly it didn’t take extraordinary skill. You didn’t need much education or training to be a shepherd, so people weren’t exactly impressed with us. Oftentimes, people would give their children the job of watching the sheep. You might remember that King David was the youngest of all his brothers, and what job did they tell him to do? Watch the sheep! It was a job given to those who weren’t thought to be capable of much else.

Not only that, but the religious leaders like the Pharisees really didn’t think much of us because we couldn’t follow all of the traditions that they said were necessary for obeying the Law of Moses. How could we carefully wash our hands before eating while we were out in the field? How could we avoid diseased things when we had to care for our sick animals? We couldn’t follow their traditions, so they declared us “unclean” and wouldn’t let us participate in worship at the Temple.

I guess they had forgotten that some of the greatest heroes of our nation were shepherds! I already mentioned King David, and there was Moses, too! He was a shepherd when God called him to return to Egypt. The prophet Amos was a shepherd, too. Not only that, but the Lord in the Scriptures called Himself a shepherd for His people!

But none of that mattered—people still didn’t think very highly of us, but that was okay. Still though, I can’t figure out why God would send His angel to announce this news to us! We were pretty insignificant in society. God sure works in funny ways sometimes! I guess it all reminds me of what our brother Paul wrote in his letter to our brothers and sisters in Corinth: “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV).”

The fact that the angel came to talk to us was pretty amazing, but what he said next was even more incredible! After he greeted us, he said, “today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord.” The Messiah had been born! God had promised for so long to send Him to us, and now He was here! God had spoken of Him so many times through the holy men of old. Many years before, our father Jacob had said to his son Judah, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him (Genesis 49:10 NET).” And then God spoke to King David through the prophet Nathan and said, “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12–13 NASB).” And then Isaiah the prophet said, “a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:6-7 NASB).” And then the prophet Zechariah spoke of a time of trouble for Jerusalem, but he said “In that day [the Lord’s] feet will stand on the Mount of Olives…and the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him…and the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day that Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one (Zechariah 14:4a, 5b, 9 NASB).”

We had been waiting so long for God’s chosen One, the Messiah, to come, and now, the angel said, he had been born! And then the angel said, “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough.” Yes, yes, okay—so first we find this baby in a feeding trough, and then where do we find the Messiah? But then it dawned on me—the baby in the feeding trough IS the Messiah!!! Wow! God sure works in funny ways sometimes!

What is the Messiah doing lying in a feeding trough? He is to be the king over all nations, and is this how He is born into the world? I’ll bet King Herod was wrapped in Egyptian cotton when he was born, but a manger, for the MESSIAH!? And what kind of family was he born into? They didn’t even have enough money to pay someone to open their home to a pregnant woman!? I know there were a lot of travelers in town, but a little bit of money will open some space pretty quickly! I guess what our brother Paul wrote to the Corinthians really was true: “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that though he was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9 NASB).”

And how is it that we should see the Messiah as a little baby? We knew from the Scriptures that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), but none of us expected to see Him as a little baby! Our rabbis told us that no one would know who He was until He burst onto the scene as a victorious conqueror. We were told that He would live in hiding until He was ready to reveal Himself, and then on one glorious day, He would reveal Himself with miracles and defeat all of our enemies with one fell swoop, and then set up His kingdom. How was it, then, that we could see Him as a little baby and meet His family? This really confused some of my people later on, after Jesus began to preach. They said of Him, “we know where this man is from; but whenever the Messiah may come, no one knows where He is from (John 7:27 NASB).” At least, that’s the way that people expected it to happen.

Well, it didn’t take us long to decide to go and see this Child. We made our way quickly to Bethlehem and checked the stables until we found this young couple with their baby swaddled and lying in a feeding trough. What a surprise that was! There was certainly nothing royal about this family, nothing stately or majestic. They were just a travel-weary young couple trying to make do with a new baby in a barn! God sure works in funny ways sometimes!

And the Child! There was nothing different about Him. I don’t know what I expected, but I guess I just thought He might be different somehow. But we knew all that the angel had told us, and we believed it. There was a small crowd that had gathered there, and we told them everything that the angels had told us. They were all very excited, but the boy’s mother just remained kind of quiet. She seemed to be glad that we had come, but you could tell she was just thinking about all of this. What a thing to wrap your mind around—that your child was the Messiah!

We stayed as long as we could, but we did have to get back to our sheep, so after a little while we went back to the field, but as you can imagine we didn’t get much sleep that night. We kept talking about all of these things and praising God for everything that He had allowed us to see and hear. I think the feelings of everyone involved with that first Christmas were summed up well by the Child’s relative, Zacharias, when he said through the Holy Spirit: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant--As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old--Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US; To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. [He will] give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:68-79 NASB).”

Every time I think about that first Christmas, the thought that comes to my mind is this—God kept His promise! He sure worked in some funny ways, but He did what He said He would do. That’s the lesson that I will always take away from Christmas.