Tonight,
much of what we have been studying, anticipating, waiting for and preparing for
comes to pass. Advent past becomes
advent present as Christ is born, Emmanuel, God is with us. A couple of weeks ago, we heard about God’s
promise of perfect peace from Isaiah 26:3.
We looked into what perfect peace is and isn’t. Tonight we hear angels sing, promising peace
that will affect the whole earth to people of “good will.”
At our first joint Advent service
with St. Christopher’s, Fr. Paul talked about the song that the angels might
have sung. He suggested and sung for us
what is a familiar worship song—“Shalom, Aleichem”, which is “Peace upon you,
ministering angels, messengers of the most high, of the Supreme King of Kings,
the Holy One, blessed be He. Come in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of
the Most High. Bless me with peace,
messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High. May your departure be in peace, messengers of
the Most High.” This is the song sung by
Jews on the way home after Friday night Shabbat synagogue worship or around the
table as the shabbat candles are lit.
This song in its present form dates back to the 17th Century
and is based upon a Talmudic legend. Fr.
Paul wasn’t saying that this WAS what the angels sang, but he suggested that
they would have sung something recognizable that would have quickly transformed
the terror of the shepherds into joy.
Why were the shepherds so
terrified. Well, we’re all startled by
sudden, strange phenomenon. Look at the
chaos the mysterious drone situation is causing. At this point, most people know that the
official story isn’t the real story, but what’s really going on? Notice that a careful reading of the text
does not say the angels appeared in the sky.
Verse 9 says, “an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of
the Lord shown round about them.” It became bright! In our Advent Bible study in November, we
looked at the hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” We looked at artists’ renderings of angels
based off biblical descriptions of angels, from very early in Church history to
many done by AI, depictions that would indeed cause one to be terrified if they
showed up—angels as warriors with flaming swords, angels with 6 pairs of wings,
angels covered in eyes, angels with 4 faces.
The hymn speaks of “rank on rank the host of angels spreads its vanguard
on the way.” Again, although these are
heavenly messengers, it doesn’t say they appeared in the sky. Verse 13 says, “And suddenly there was with
the angel (the one who was standing in front of the shepherds) a multitude of
the heavenly hosts.” This is military
language. Whenever we read of a host of
angels in the Bible, it is military language. It’s not just talking about a lot
of angels, but an army of angels. By the
way, I’m 51 years old. I’ve known this
story from early childhood, and yet, this is the first year that I realized the
angels weren’t in the sky. I went to
tell Jim and he was like, yeah, I know. Yet,
this army comes with a message of peace.
Fr. Paul suggested that some Old Testament saints might have been
included in this army. Perhaps so.
We don’t know the full of the song,
but we know they gave glory to God, using this familiar term for God—“Most
High.” God gets the glory. God is the Peacemaker. I do think the song was one which told them
that what they had heard in the Scriptures was coming to pass. What is the promise? On earth peace. Well, we certainly don’t have world peace,
and they didn’t have world peace, so we need to take a closer look at the
angels’ message. The first angel tells
the shepherds to not be afraid “for I bring the gospel of great joy for all
people.” The gospel is for all
people. The gospel is that the Savior,
the Messiah, the Lord has been born.
Jesus is the Savior of the world, the only hope the world has for peace
and the source of true joy as we saw a couple of Sundays ago. In his commentary on Luke, David L. Theide
writes that Jesus came “to bless and restore humanity.”
Fr. Paul pointed out that the angels
delivered their message, not in Greek, but in Hebrew or Aramaic in which both
the word for peace is “shalom” meaning well-being and wholeness. It is peace between God and people and people
with people. This is a promised blessing
for the world which comes through Jesus and those whom He has chosen. When we live like Jesus wants us to live, we
can bring about human flourishing, which results in peace. The earth is a better place because it is
cared for properly. The needy are cared
for. People are treated fairly.
This does not mean everyone will be
saved, but no one can be saved without Him.
The second half of the heavenly host’s message can have multiple
interpretations. The KJV says, “Peace on
earth and good will toward men.” This
translation is based on very late manuscripts, and is not the best one. Other translations say “Peace on earth among
men on whom God’s favor rests or peace on earth to men with whom God is
well-pleased.” This word “well-pleased”
is unique to the Jews and Christians, and was not used in any of its forms in
secular society. It most often refers to
that which is pleasing to God. The root
word is the same as when God the Father says of Jesus at His baptism, “This is
My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.”
However the form of the word is different. It could mean and has been interpreted as
people of good will or of good pleasure—i.e. those with good intentions or
those who do that which is pleasing to God.
This interpretation goes with Scripture promises like Jeremiah 29:13 in
which God says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your
heart.” St. Augustine said that our
hearts are restless until we find our rest in God. The message of the angels would be that peace
comes upon earth in those whose intentions are right because God will come and
has come to them. And then of course,
the shepherds do go forth to seek the Savior. Perhaps God sent His angels to
these shepherds because they were those with hearts that were seeking God. However, another interpretation is closer to
exactly how God uses it towards Jesus—people who are well-pleasing to God or to
those whom God favors. This
interpretation aligns with our Reformed tradition of the doctrine of election,
that God is in charge of our salvation.
Of course, both of these things can be true at once. God has predestined us for salvation, and
therefore those who are the elect are and will be those who seek God.
Is God pleased with all people? We know that God is not, and yet God still
blesses all people. In Luke 6:35, the
Sermon on the Plain, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend
expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be
sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil. God loves everybody, even those with whom He
is not pleased. More than in any of the
other gospels Luke records calls to repentance by John the Baptist and by
Jesus. We have seen in our Isaiah
studies that God’s blessings as well as God’s judgments are tools God uses to
bring people to a state of repentance.
Part of God’s blessing is bringing shalom to the world—that wholeness
and flourishing, which Jesus brought wherever He went as He walked the earth,
and which God still brings through people whom He has favored who are in turn
dedicated to pleasing God. Friends,
believe the good news—Jesus the Savior has been born for you. God’s favor and peace are upon you. May you live into peace so that the people
and environment around you also flourish and find peace.
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