25 December 2021

Sermon: Midnight Mass

 Sermon: Christmas Eve

24 December 2021 – Archdeacon Mark Long

Isaiah 62:6-12, Psalm 97, and Luke 2:1-20; NRSV 

Tonight’s Gospel reading begins with a reminder of the power of secular Government: “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered[,]”[1] a decree that in Luke’s account disrupts the lives of people throughout an entire Empire, and has a peasant population in Galilee and Judea (and doubtless elsewhere in the Roman Empire) needing to use scarce resources to travel to their home region to register. You and I meet online tonight for Midnight Mass because of a Government decree that requires we close any gathering by 11pm in order to ensure the midnight curfew is fully observed, a decree that for a second year running disrupts our worship life as a Parish. There is something particularly beautiful, and again missed, about gathering in-person late at night to welcome the Christ-child as one day ends and a new day begins. 

The disruption to our lives tonight is minor in comparison to the disruption taking place in Joseph and Mary’s life and many of their compatriots in Luke’s narrative, but the broader disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic globally and the variety of National regulations that have governed our lives since March 2020 are perhaps comparative. Such disruption creates uncertainty, even fear, for what this may mean for the future, and what economic impact it will have on our resources. Joseph and Mary would have been in no doubt that the only meaningful impact of the census would be an increased tax burden on their already scarce resources, and we know that Nazareth – their actual home – was a small, struggling village reliant on subsistence farming for any income.[2] It is not difficult to imagine the uncertainty, even fear, and the growing anger of Joseph and Mary’s broader social context. 

We join the narrative tonight as Joseph and Mary reach Bethlehem, not out of choice, but because it is required. It is a costly inconvenience and doubtless also a health risk for a young woman reaching the end of her pregnancy. Luke mentions no donkey,[3] despite the tradition, and it is likely a heavily pregnant Mary has walked the 150km distance. It is no surprise that the Christ-child is born the evening of their arrival. 

While Luke introduces the birth narrative in the context of Rome’s power over the people of a distant land on the edge of the Empire, he also weaves into in another story, a more ancient story, and we hear that, “Joseph … went … to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.”[4] Luke began to weave this story in at the annunciation, the Angel Gabriel informing Mary that the child she will bear, “… will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.”[5] We discover that “God’s story [is] interwoven with Caesar’s power right from the start”[6] and Zechariah, the husband of Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, confirms this when he prophesies after John’s birth and before Jesus is born that “[God] has raised up a mighty saviour for us in the house of his servant David.”[7] “From the might of Caesar to command the whole world, to the swaddling of a newborn in a room shared with the household’s animals, Luke leads us into a world, our world, where we discern God’s power at work to keep all the promises cherished by Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79),”[8] promises as we have heard reflect hope in the midst of uncertainty, and joy in the midst of growing social discontent. In the midst of the harsh reality of life and Empire two children are born: John to Elizabeth and Zachariah, Jesus to Mary and Joseph; John, the prophet of hope; Jesus the Saviour of the world.[9] 

As we continue in Luke’s narrative this hope is reflected in the visit of the angels to the shepherds and the shepherds’ joy in finding the child and discovering the message they have been given is true. I have been quite harsh in my portrait of the shepherds in previous years, indicating that they were considered social outcasts, but in fact more recent scholarship[10] indicates “They were indeed among the “lowly” (1:52), but in their diligent work modeled the way of God with God’s people.”[11] Luke informs us that the “The shepherds put things together well enough to become jubilant. They’re promised a baby, they see a baby, and they recognise that the rest of what they have been told is true.”[12] The shepherds return to their fields and responsibilities, and by implication they return to their social reality, to the uncertainty, the fear, the growing anger among the Galilean and Judaen peasants, with a transformed outlook; they “… returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”[13] 

Our faith calls us to ongoing transformation through our faith in God and our trust in Jesus, the Christ. The temptation is always to spiritualise this journey, to disconnect it from daily reality in order to ease the discomfort of the change it demands of us. The Christmas Gospel, the Christmas Good News reminds us that our faith and daily life are intricately intertwined, and that while a relationship with God includes a deep personal aspect, God is concerned with the fullness of life. Luke’s introduction this evening to Jesus’ birth reminds us that the secular and the sacred are interwoven, and that God is always concerned with the daily nature of life and the human condition. Luke reminds us that despite the disruptive power of the secular, the sacred continues to undergird our lives and gives us a concrete hope for salvation. 

How does this speak to us, to you, in the context of life as we experience it today? What are the anxieties and fears that disrupt and constrict our daily experience? What is the nature of the hope and salvation we require in this moment? How do you see this reflected in the lives of people around you? Are we awake (perhaps not an ideal question close to midnight) to the hope and salvation God may be offering? And even more than this, are we like the shepherds willing to make the effort to look at the salvation we are offered, are we sufficiently courageous to share what we are hearing, and does it fill us with jubilation? 

That’s a lot of questions, and doubtless our answers are varied and even conflicting; and that is ok. Luke reminds us that, “… Mary treasured these words and pondered them in her heart.”[14] We, too,  need time to reflect, and allow what God is asking of us and calling us to to grow in us. Jesus was nurtured in Mary’s womb for a period, and then forcefully ejected into the reality of human life. While we ponder and nurture God’s word in us, a time will come when it is also ejected into the world and into the reality of daily life. This Christmas marks those birth pangs, and 2022 will see its birth. You and I, like Zachariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, bear God’s purpose; and like John we are called to be prophets of hope in our world, and like Jesus we are called to be the source of God’s salvation to others. 

Let us draw strength from Luke’s narrative this evening, let us trust that God always prepares the road ahead of us, that the angels are close, and that God’s Spirt is present. 

A closing prayer by Pádraig Ó Tuama, Irish Poet and Theologian. Let us pray, 

God of fear,
God of the night,
God of the expectation,
You visited shepherds in the night
with songs and sights of joy.
In all our nights, turn us
towards hope, because
hope might just
keep us alive.
Amen.[15]



[1] Luke 2:1; NRSV
[2] Reza Aslan, Zealot: the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
[4] Luke 2:4; NRSV
[5] Luke 1:32; NRSV
[6] Sarah Henrich, Ibid.
[7] Luke 1:69; NRSV
[8] Sarah Henrich, Ibid.
[9] Pray as You Go, Friday: 4th Week in Advent – A Real Hope
[10] Joel Green, The Gospel of Luke
[11] Sarah Henrich, Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Luke 2:20; NRSV
[14] Luke 2:19; NRSV
[15] Pádraig Ó Tuama, Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community (Day 1)

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