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The story of the birth of Jesus as told by Luke is the most familiar to most people. The familiarity of the story can be a frustrating thing for the preacher. Who is capable of rising to an occasion on which the most beautiful text of the Bible is read? It makes the preacher turn pale and stammer.


However, the familiar can be the preacher's delight. That the text and message are familiar means they already belong to you, the listeners. There is power, enjoyment, and an occasional 'amen' when we hear what we already know and believe.


The record of Jesus' birth is straightforward. It is told as a historian would relate it, citing date, place, and circumstance. It is an earthly event which came straight out of heaven.


It opens with the decree of Augustus that his whole empire should be taxed. Before the tax could be imposed, there must be a census. Everyone was directed to go to their ancestral home for enrollment. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. Joseph was a descendent of King David, whose home had been Bethlehem.


Jesus is to be the fulfillment of prophecy. Luke weaves the old and the new together as one fabric. The Bible tells one story -- the salvation of God.


The innkeeper had no room. The Child is born in a manger. And, the shepherds are the first to hear the good news from an angel:… behold I bring you good news of a great joy… for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.


What a nice touch God adds to the Christmas event. The shepherds were not only poor and powerless, they were despised by the religious orthodox. Their occupation took them into wilderness where they were unable to regularly observe ceremonial religious laws. Yet the temple authorities needed the shepherds. According to the Law they had to sacrifice the unblemished lambs daily. Those who looked after the sacrificial lambs were the first to know and the first to see the true Lamb of God, who 'taketh away the sins of the world.'


The news of the birth comes first not in a palace hall but in the fields, to the poor shepherds. The shepherds acted immediately. They went with haste to the manger. There they found the babe -- a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.


Jesus was born to be the Savior of the world. That was the first Christmas message. It is the Christmas message today. That's what we all really need -- a Savior! We want to know forgiveness, salvation, peace with God. A longing both universal and personal. It is ancient and modern. Our whole world needs the Savior.


You have received many invitations during this season but none is more important, or equal to the one sent by God at Christmas. In Jesus Christ each of you has a personal invitation from God with an RSVP. There is evil in the world, but we can rise above it. There is much that is ugly and indecent, but it is possible to live a good life. Death is still with us, grief and sorrow, but death no longer has power over us. New life begins in Jesus Christ.

That night when in Judean skies
The mystic star dispensed her light
A blind man moved amid his sleep
And dreamed that he had sight.

That night when shepherds heard the song
of hosts angelic choiring near,
A deaf man stirred in slumber's spell
And dreamed he could hear.

That night when in the cattle stall
Slept child and mother cheek by jowl
A cripple turned his twisted limbs,
And dreamed that he was whole.

That night when o'er the newborn babe
The tender Mary rose to lean
A lothsome leper smiled in sleep,
And dreamed that he was clean.

That night when in a manger lay
The Sanctified who came to save
A man moved in the sleep of death,
And dreamed there was no grave.

-- Author unknown


Not only 'that night' but every night since his birth people of faith have been able to dream and live with new hope. It's what makes the good times great and the bad times bearable.


Fred Craddock tells about a trip to his home state of Tennessee. He was in a restaurant in the Smoky Mountains. It was one of those informal places where the proprietor is the waiter, the cashier, and the greeter. He moved from table to table, visiting with the diners. He introduced himself to Dr. Craddock and wanted to know who he was and what he did. Craddock confessed that he was a preacher. The cafe owner pulled up an empty chair and sat down, and began to tell his whole life's story.


The man said that he was born in a little town in Tennessee, not far from where they were. He was born to a mother who wasn't married. It was the kind of town where everybody knows everybody else, what they've done, all the gossip and scandals. They had a name for someone who was born to an unmarried mother, and the boy got used to hearing that name before he even knew what it meant. It followed him to school. On the playground he would hear it from other children. When he went downtown, all looked at him as if he were somehow different from others. His mother wanted him to go to Sunday school, but even the church people seemed to look at him as if they were afraid he might be a bad influence on their own children.


One day a new preacher came to town. The boy went to church. When the service was over he tried to hurry out. The preacher stopped him at the door. He said, 'Who are you, son, whose boy are you?' He felt that he would like to crawl into a hole somewhere. The new minister had obviously already heard about him. But before he could answer, the preacher said with a warm smile on his face, 'Wait a minute! I know who you are.' He leaned down and looked closely into the boy's face and said, 'I can see a family resemblance. You are a child of God.' Then he put his hands on the boy's shoulders and straightened up and said, 'Boy, you've got quite an inheritance. Go out and claim it.'


God made Christmas for us. But there is a sense in which all of us have to make our Christmas. All the salvation of God is finished and complete, but it is not mine until I claim it.

No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in.


'A Savior for you is born this day.' Tonight, as you take the bread in your hands, let it once again be the sign of your salvation. We are saved, through the life, the death and the resurrection of One born so long ago in a little town called Bethlehem.


You are forgiven. You are loved. Peace on earth and goodwill to everyone. Merry Christmas!