CHRISTMAS EVE – SERMON OUTLINE – DECEMBER 24, 2010
Titus 2:11-15; St. Luke 2:1-14
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
I. Introduction: The Promise of Peace
a. “…peace, good will toward men.” So often during this time of year, we hear all these wishes for “Christmas peace” but what about Baby Jesus in the manger so excited the angels to make this proclamation of peace?
i. Come to the crèche a first time and it might not make sense; it just seems like delight over a little baby, which is a common phenomenon in our world
ii. His Mother Mary might look almost impossibly serene, which might puzzle or frustrate us because we cannot understand her peace; perhaps we might even find her tranquility unsettling
iii. But just maybe Mary knows something that we don’t know
b. You see, Baby Jesus didn’t appear out of a vacuum; God had a plan behind all this
i. The manger scene is not the memorial of the world’s most famous newborn
ii. Nor is the Babe in the manger a fortunate accident
iii. Mary has so much peace there in the stable because the whole thing didn’t even start there
c. God was making peace through His Son the day He became incarnate in Blessed Mary’s womb
i. We have to remember how this began: Mary didn’t start out at peace, but puzzled as well
ii. St. Luke writes near the beginning of his Gospel that she was a little troubled when Gabriel first appeared to her out of nowhere (you might be, too, if an angel suddenly appeared in you room!)
iii. But what does Gabriel say to Mary? “Fear not, Mary.” In other words: ‘Be at peace.’
iv. This is usually way in icons or paintings of the Annunciation, Gabriel is extending to Mary either an olive branch or a white lily—a symbol of a peaceful greeting
v. Even before Jesus’ conception, God was working to make peace with men; which is why it should come as no surprise to us that on this night, God’s peace was being born into the world
II. Knowing the Peace of Christ
a. Now come to the crèche a second time and perhaps Mary doesn’t seem so eerie; perhaps we would like the join her because we want her peace
b. You see, all of us, especially at Christmas time are searching peace, but we frequently leave the holidays more hurt because we can never find it
i. Peace about ourselves – about our identity, about our vocation; we want to feel confident about our future; sometimes we just want the pain, doubt, and loneliness to go away
ii. Peace among others – we want to be accepted and be loved; we want to feel secure (in these troubled times) about our community and nation
c. But we never get to be like Mary because we find that our quest for personal peace isn’t successful
i. Making peace is hard when other people don’t cooperate (bitterness, grudges get in the way)
ii. Finding peace is even harder when our culture forces us into its fast-paced “sink or swim” mold
iii. On the other hand, Mary makes us face the truth that real peace can only be given to us
iv. When we look with her at the Child sleeping in the manger, we can hear God was telling us, ‘We don’t have to strangers with one another anymore. You may have rejected me, but I never completely rejected you. Stop trying to find peace on your own—HERE IT IS.’
d. The most important peace we can know is peace from God and with God – not that God would finally make it easy for us to get what we want, but that He would make us like Blessed Mary:
i. Giving ourselves up to what He wants us to be and what He wants us to do: letting Him choose our destiny.
ii. As Mary found, that is the only way to know His peace: when His will and ours are ONE-and-the-same
iii. This is why we pray in one of the last Collects of Evening Prayer:
“Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give.”
iv. Peace is not about finding a feeling, fitting in, or crossing our fingers for a miracle
e. Instead, like Mary, peace is about accepting God’s plan that has been thousands of years in the making.
i. In fact, it was 1000 years before Christ, King David finished the 29th Psalm in this way:
“…the LORD shall give his people the blessing of peace.”
ii. What we really need is peace where God forgives us and let’s us start know Him on normal terms again
iii. In David’s time, the Jews routinely offered “peace offerings” in the temple to atone for the peace that Adam and Eve ruined when they disobeyed in the Garden; these offerings looked forward to that peace God would provide
iv. With the Babe in the manger, we find our peace offering. Jesus was born to be a living sacrifice.
f. Which means that since His peace didn’t start at Christmas it didn’t stop there, either. Jesus didn’t remain a child and the peace that Jesus brought didn’t stay in the wood of the manger: He became a man and took that peace to the wood of the Cross, as well.
i. In the stable, Jesus was born to announce peace
ii. But at Calvary, He died to make peace—to reconcile God and men through His blood
g. About this, St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one…that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross…And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.”
h. This peace is more than an idea. It’s more than a feeling. It’s more than peace of mind.
i. Put all together, Jesus has brought us back to God
ii. Adam and Eve fell short of the tree of life and lost Paradise, but (as our Christmas tree represents) we have tree of life again and Paradise is still within reach
iii. In the Church, we know that life can be peaceful and that life after death will be eternally peaceful
III. Experiencing the Peace that Jesus has Left with Us
a. Jesus might not be here tonight in the body as He was with Mary and Joseph on that Christmas, but we can still know His peace
i. Remember that nearly 700 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah the prophet foretold that Jesus would be called the “Prince of Peace.” He would usher in a Kingdom where people could find peace with God and peace with one another.
ii. And here in the Church where we find His Kingdom, Christ’s peace remains: through Baptism His Holy Spirit gives us peace; in the Holy Communion, Christ personally gives us peace through His own self-offering as the Host of the Supper
iii. Jesus has promised us that His peace would never leave. At the Last Supper, He told His disciples:
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
b. No matter what anxieties we might have; no matter how crazy the world seems sometimes, for Christians, the peace of Christ is never far away
i. If we will just be like the shepherds, and live our lives in adoration of Him (worshiping Him, praying to Him, loving Him with heart, soul, and mind)
ii. If we will just be like St. Joseph, and be willing to commit all of our cares and worries to Him, HE WILL GIVE US PEACE
c. As you hear in every liturgy: “The peace of the Lord be always with you.” AMEN.
Leave a comment