Good News for the Lowly
This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan for Christmas Eve on December 24, 2025 at the 4:00pm worship service.
Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.
I'm so glad to have so many of you here with us this evening as we celebrate the second highest feast of the church's year, the festival of the nativity of our Lord, Christmas.
And here tonight on Christmas Eve, I see that we have many guests in attendance, all of you here to worship this evening. Merry Christmas, everybody. It is good to be church together.
The Unexpected Heralds
Our reflection from Luke's gospel this evening, the story of the birth of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke, reflects on the experience of some men who you would not expect to be recipients of great news, of great joy for all the people.
People would consider these men to be of little account. To call them even blue-collar workers would not be to honor them, or it would be to give them too much honor. These are the lowest of the low. These men are shepherds.
I don't know if any of you have kept livestock, but I'm guessing quite a few of you have. If you don't do that as part of your vocation, you certainly know what that's like through 4-H or just through friends who have done 4-H.
But if that's the case for you, you know that after you spend an hour or two among the animals in a barn, what do you come away smelling like? (Don't say that. We're in church! You know exactly what I'm talking about.)
Trapped Shepherds
To be a shepherd was not a glamorous job, a very necessary one, but not glamorous.
To be a shepherd was not a well-paying job. It was barely enough to scrape by.
To be a shepherd was not a job that people would aspire to, but it was often one that was thrust upon them because that's what their fathers and their grandfathers and their great-grandfathers had done.
In a lot of ways, the men who were shepherds, especially shepherds tending flocks by night, would have been trapped in that vocation, in that calling, in that job, and they would not have had any prospects to escape it.
People of God, do you know what it is to feel trapped? Maybe not by your job, but maybe by circumstances, maybe by expectations of other people, trapped by maybe economics or politics or geography, trapped in many ways in this world that is fallen and under the sentence of the law.
Shepherds were not regal people. They do not have the dignity that we accord those who raise our food today. They were smelly men who had to live and sleep outdoors and who had little prospect of improving their future.
Joseph's Role and the Humble Birth
Oddly enough, Joseph was in quite a bit higher a role than the shepherds would have been. You know, sometimes we say he's a carpenter. I think personally that a better translation for the word would be a "builder", or today we would call him a "contractor".
He wouldn't have just built with wood, but he would have built with stone and brick, and he would have constructed homes. Probably a pretty talented guy.
But Joseph, with all his talents and with the money that he had on hand, was not able to prevent his new bridegroom Mary from having to give birth in an animal's place to put her baby wrapped in bands of cloth in a food trough instead of a proper cradle.
As this event unfolds inside Bethlehem, here are these shepherds on the hillside. It's just another night like any other night. Nothing special is happening. Nothing notable. Nothing important is happening. And frankly, to men such as these, nothing important seems ever to happen.
The Angel's Appearance
But then something remarkable happens. The heavens open up. Light shines down on them. The angel of the Lord appears before them, and they are terrified.
Have you ever noticed in the Bible, if you listen to Bible stories, every time an angel shows up, the first thing the angel has to say is, don't be afraid?
Too often, Hallmark has taught us that angels are beautiful little creatures, little cherubs, little babies with wings and a halo. But the biblical record says that angels show up, and it's terrifying.
Angels show up, and they are agents of messengers, but agents potentially of God's vengeance and justice and wrath. The angel appears, and their first reaction is not, oh, how cute! It's, oh my God in heaven! Correct.
The angel stands before them, and the glory of the Lord shines around them, and they are terrified. But he says, "Don't be afraid. Behold, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people."
The Miracle of Christmas
This is the miracle of Christmas: being born of just some random builder and his virgin wife in very strange circumstances, not even in the town where they're going to go live. They're going to go home soon to Nazareth, and that's where Jesus is going to be raised.
Staying the night amongst animals and laying their newborn child in a manger, in a feed trough, can be good news of great joy, not just for the couple, but for all the people.
And the first to hear of this good news are shepherds. Not the wealthy, not the rich, and not the powerful. Not the secular leaders of the government of Rome. Not the high priests in the temple in Jerusalem. Not anybody of any great standing.
Nobody that we have heard of that night heard the good news of the birth of Jesus. But instead, these lowly men hear good news and they are so overwhelmed by that news that they have to share it with others.
The angel gives them a sign. He says, "Here's what you're going to look for. When you get into town, because they're outside of Bethlehem, they're going to go into town, and as they go into town, you're going to be looking for a child that has just been born, wrapped in bands of cloth, and lying, of all places, in a feed trough."
And before they have time to react, they get to witness one of the most glorious things that's ever happened on the face of the earth. Just these shepherds. The heavens open further and more angels appear.
There were with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host. Thousands upon thousands of angels. And they are all singing the praises of this child. "Glory to God in the highest heaven. And on earth peace among those whom He favors."
Glory to God and Peace on Earth
Glory! Glory to God! But He's born in a stable! Glory to God, but He lies in a feed trough! Glory to God, but He is first proclaimed to shepherds! Glory to God, but the glorious people of the world, the rich and the powerful and the ones with authority, they are not there to greet Him.
Ordinary men, undistinguished by the world's standards, are the only ones.
But who is it that He favors? Not the great and the famous, but the humble and the poor. People who are not going to be on Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, but people who are ordinary, living their ordinary lives, and looking for ordinary salvation. Seeking from God that which they cannot grasp by themselves.
That they need to be saved. That they need to have their sins forgiven. And that in the meeting of heaven and earth, in the person of Jesus Christ, they can have that.
And not just them, so long ago, but also you and me. For tonight we celebrate not just a child born, miraculously, in a strange place, long ago and far away.
But tonight we celebrate the birth of the one who will be among us to teach us to follow God. Who is the place where heaven and earth kiss. The body and rational soul of a man with the full divinity of God's own Son.
This man, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, will live a perfect and holy life. And He will, by His innocent suffering and death, bring salvation from sin to all who call upon His name.
So this evening, as we sing our praises to God, let us remember that God has said that He brings on earth peace among those whom He favors. And that tonight, in this Christmas celebration, we have the proof that He brings on earth peace among those whom God favors.
It's us. It's you and me. He favors us because He sends His Son, Jesus Christ, to be with us.
Let us join the angels in singing of that beautiful night. Let us bring glory to God in the highest heaven. Let us hold out the hope of resurrection and new life to all who, like the shepherds that night, needed to be saved.
May you know the peace and the joy of this Christmas. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus our Lord to life everlasting. Amen.
