Because I haven’t posted in more than ten days and because I don’t have anything else, you get to read my Christmas Eve sermon.

“They Always Say ‘Do Not Be Afraid’ “

 

Fear.

Fear is not an emotion typically associated with Christmas. We don’t send cards saying “Have a wonderful, fear-filled Christmas” or “Wishing You All the Fear of the Season”. There are no Christmas Carols whose main theme is fear. “Fear to the world, the Lord is come!”

“Silent Night, fearful night…” “There is fear in the air, there’s a star in the sky…” Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it.

If it’s so ridiculous, then why, at every single appearance of an angel in the Christmas story, does that angel feel compelled to say first, before speaking his message, “do not be afraid.”

When the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, he says “Greetings, favored one!” and Luke tells us that she was ‘troubled’ so the angel says “Fear not, Mary.”

When the same angel appeared to Zacharias, father of John the Baptist some months earlier, the reaction was even more dramatic. Zacharias fell on his face, trembling in fear, prompting Gabriel to say “Fear not, Zacharias.”

And when the angel appears to the Shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, the shepherds do like Zacharias and fall to the ground in fear, to which the angel responds once again, “Fear not!”

For the major players in the biblical accounts of the events, Christmas begins with fear.

Now, these angels that keep popping up, Gabriel and the unnamed herald who appears before the shepherds, not to mention the heavenly host that accompanies him… these angels must have been quite a sight. Maybe it was just their appearance that frightened people.

We’re not talking about cute chubby creatures that look like babies with wings, here. It’s more like Gabriel the 5 star general and a battalion of troops, armed for battle.

These angels may have been Seraphim, or perhaps Cherubim, two different type of angels that are described in scripture. Isaiah describes seraphim in chapter 6 of the book that bears his name. Here’s what he says: each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Or if that’s not scary enough, Ezekiel describes cherbubim like this:

they had the likeness of a man. they were of human form. Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another; each of them moved straight ahead, without turning as they moved. As for the appearance of their faces: the four had the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle; such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. Each moved straight ahead; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.

So, you know, take your pick of which type of angel you want to have visit you, unannounced, at midnight, in the middle of a field with yards and yards of open ground on every side. But there’s more here than just scary supernatural creatures appearing out of nowhere.

Human beings are fear-filled beings. It was so at the time of Jesus’ birth and it is still true today. To be human is to, at least to some extent, be afraid. Some fear is good; it can keep us from going where we shouldn’t or doing things that are dumb. But this natural instinct makes us easy prey for those whose stock in trade is fear. Politicians and the news media, even the weather channel capitalize on the innate fear that comes with being alive.

Tomorrow’s gonna be cold! Worry! Snow will fall at some point and stick to the roads. If not today, tomorrow and certainly in your lifetime! Be afraid!

Terrorists are out there in the world… be afraid.

There are people who want to take away your stuff and leave you with nothing…. Be afraid!

There are messengers from God out there! And they have something to tell you! Tremble!

It was deep in the core of their beings, these ancient people, to fear the God of power and might who flies on a cherub like one might ride a horse, who throws thunderbolts and lightning and breathes fire from his nostrils. The warrior God, the mighty king!

So when the angels in the Christmas story all show up with news from this mighty king, Mary worries and wonders what kind of greeting she’s just been given. The shepherds don’t even wait for the greeting, they tremble and fall to the ground right away.

God’s messengers are here. This can’t be good news. And even more than the frightening appearance of the messengers, it was the God who sent the message… that’s what Mary, Zacharias, the shepherds, and we are really afraid of.

Yet the angel says “Don’t be afraid!” that’s not an introduction to the message. It’s actually a central part of it. “Fear not.” They weren’t expecting this. They were expecting that God, when he came, would lay down the smack. He would come to put us in our place. To administer justice; fearful justice, ruthless justice! They were expecting that their fears of being sinners in the hands of an angry God would all come true, when God showed up.

But when God did show up… well they weren’t expecting him to show up like he did. We aren’t expecting him to show up like he did: God himself entering the world, not as a mighty judge to bring fire and destruction, but as a helpless infant? The king of the universe, sleeping in the straw? What could it mean? It couldn’t possibly mean that the God of Power and Might, the Maker of the Universe isn’t coming to annihilate us, could it? It couldn’t mean that God has come to save us and not destroy us, could it?

It’s as if God wants us to move beyond the instinct of fear, at least as far as our thoughts about him are concerned. The message of Christmas is that God comes not as our superior, to judge us, but as helpless as an infant.

The angels say “do not fear.” They always say, “do not fear.” Because when God, the Lord, mighty in battle comes down to earth, he comes not to be against us but for us. God the unchangeable comes as a baby who needs changing. God the unsearchable comes as an infant who is readily found by all those who earnestly and honestly seek him. God the immortal was born in order to go the cross and die for us.

God our judge comes and does indeed pronounce his judgment… on fear and sin and death and anything else that has ever separated him from the creatures he formed and loves. Tonight we can look long into our judge’s infant face and see his final verdict on all that we are and all the we’ve been and said and done; and we are able to face him without fear because the verdict is “I love you.”