Let a Weary World Rejoice - Christmas 2025

Luke 2:8-14 (NRSVUE)

8 Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

An extraordinary thing about the shepherds was that they were, in fact, extremely ordinary. But this small detail about these shepherds, while often overlooked, is crucial to the story. The good news that these ordinary shepherds was given, that Christ was born, did not first come to the powerful, the wealthy, or the elite. It came to them, ordinary people far from the center of importance. But that shouldn’t surprise us. God doing extraordinary things in and through the lives of ordinary people is what God does. It’s woven throughout the scriptures and throughout history. And the reason for that is because when hope is given to ordinary people, anything in this world can change. But the story for these shepherds didn't begin with hope; it began with fear.

Now, the phrase that we translate as terrified or afraid is literally the phrase they feared a great fear. And what this means is that they weren’t a little bit scared. Their experience in that moment was absolute, existential fear. But in response to this fear, the angel didn’t say they were being dramatic or that there was nothing to fear. Instead, the angel told them that they didn’t need to be afraid because what was to be feared wasn’t for them. They, the ordinary shepherds, were about to receive good news. But there’s also a tension in this and a question that we have to wrestle with: if it's good news for them, doesn't that mean it's potentially bad news for someone else?

Now, I know what you're thinking. You've heard me say it's good news for anyone because it's good news for everyone. But I’d like to offer a clarification that could make this story very uncomfortable for some people. And this caveat is found one chapter previous to this.

Luke 1:26-38 (NRSVUE)
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”[a] 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He 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. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”[b] 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[c] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

As the story continues, Mary hurried off to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant with a baby who played an important role in the story of Jesus. Her son, John, a few years later, would identify Jesus as the Messiah. But he wasn’t the first one to do that. It was his mother. When Mary entered the house, the baby in her womb reacted to the moment.

Luke 1:41-45 (NRSVUE)
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

What comes next is one of the most incredible passages of scripture as Mary, this young, unmarried mother, takes the role of prophet, and joins Elizabeth in announcing who Jesus is and why his birth is good news for some people, and potentially bad news to others.

Luke 1:46-55 (NRSVUE)
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name; indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

There are several words for rich in the Greek language, but the one used here helps us interpret the rest of this song. The word is πλούσιος, and it’s never used in a flattering way. πλούσιος was almost always connected to exploitation and injustice. Mary was saying that the structures and systems that propped up this injustice were coming to an end. The birth of Jesus, Mary said, would be a seismic shift that would bring down the powerful, lift the lowly, fill the hungry, and cause those who made them hungry to be sent away empty-handed. And the proud would be scattered, unable to continue their systems of injustice.

Now, I want to be clear here. This isn’t some add-on to the narrative. This isn’t a new idea from Mary. She knew her scriptures, the promises, and the commands God had given his people. She saw the thread that revealed God had always sided with the overlooked, the marginalized, and the forgotten. The injustice of the world is a sinful affront to the goodness God intended. And Mary was fully aware that what was taking place was to change that.

A popular song asks if Mary knew anything about Jesus. The answer is, you bet she did. Mary was keenly aware that her son’s arrival meant the dismantling of the systems of injustice built on the backs of the poor and the marginalized. When Mary heard "do not be afraid," she understood: this is good news for me, and this is good news for a weary world, but she wasn’t the only one to hear it. Which brings us back to the shepherds in the field.

The shepherds were terrified as God’s presence showed up that night. They didn’t know if God had come to them or for them. And then, the angel clearly answered their questions.

Luke 2:10-12 (NRSVUE)
10…“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

What the angel was saying to the shepherds was that you have nothing in this news to fear, for this good news is FOR you. And if they were uncertain, the song of the angels that night clarified this for them.

Luke 2:13-14 (NRSVUE)
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

This wasn’t a call for a vague sense of peace. Peace in this context was about God’s shalom, which was about setting the world right, the breaking in of the kingdom of God in a way that brings the outside to the center and repairs all that had been broken. This is what is at the center of the good news of this story, but it’s sadly been forgotten among the noise.

I saw a sermon this week where a pastor warned people about having a victim mentality. Somehow the injustices they faced would go away if they would just stop dwelling on them. As I sat there, shocked by what I heard, I kept asking myself: What would that pastor say to Mary? What his response be to her song? Would she be quieted down for being a woman, or for being too young to know better? Would her words be called dangerous and divisive?

And while I can’t be certain how they might respond, I do have a responsibility in our church to ask you how you would respond to Mary. What would you say to her words? And what will you say to her son, as his words and his teaching challenge your way of life?

This week, the performing arts department at Franklin Central put on their annual Sounds of the Season concert. I knew it would be emotional watching my daughter, Emily, her classmates, and students from our church perform in it. What I wasn’t emotionally ready for was to hear them sing the lyrics of this one particular song:

Someday at Christmas
Someday at Christmas men won't be boys playing with bombs like kids play with toys. One warm December our hearts will see a world where men are free. Someday at Christmas there'll be no wars. When we have learned what Christmas is for. When we have found what life's really about, there'll be peace on earth. Someday all our dreams will come to be. Someday in a world where men are free. Maybe not in time for you and me, but someday at Christmastime. Someday at Christmas we'll see a land with no hungry children, no empty hand. One happy morning people will share a world where people care. Someday at Christmas there'll be no tears. All men are equal and no man has fears. One shining moment, one prayer away from our world today. Someday all our dreams will come to be. Someday in a world where men are free. Maybe not in time for you and me, but someday at Christmastime.

As those kids sang that song, I felt the tears in my eyes. These kids were singing about a world where war ends, where no child goes hungry, where freedom is real, and where we finally understand what Christmas actually means. I was working on this sermon that day, and I sat there realizing that these kids were singing about the same hope, the same vision, and the same good news heard by the shepherds and sung by Mary.

I went home that night and looked up the song. As you know, it had been sung by Stevie Wonder and The Jackson Five, but I wanted to know who wrote it. As I read about it, I saw a description that said: This is one of the first Christmas songs with a social and political message. And I thought: that's not true at all. The first one was Mary’s song. And there are a lot just like it that we sing every single year.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is a cry from occupied people longing for liberation, Joy to the World is a celebration of the end of the cruel rule of one king, as we’re invited to receive a good king named Jesus, and O Holy Night was written by an abolitionist inviting people to sing that the slave should be seen as brother. The reality is that every Christmas carol that announces the birth of Christ is social and political. We've just stopped being able to see it.

We've sanitized the Christmas story so thoroughly that we’ve become okay with singing that someday we will finally get it. But that’s not what the angel said to those terrified shepherds.

Luke 2:11 (NRSVUE)
…to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

The Kingdom of God isn't waiting for someday. It broke into the world that night. And joy can come to a weary world when we receive that king as the songs invite us to do. And that is the challenge that we’re left with today.

The Christmas story is wrapped in fear because it should be. This IS threatening news, but not to everyone in the same way. If you are among the overlooked, the vulnerable, or the hurting, this is unambiguously good news for you. You're the one being lifted up. You're the hungry being filled. You don't need to be afraid. This good news is FOR you.

But if you've benefited from systems that keep others down. If you've been comfortable while others suffered. If you've told yourself that the lowly just need better attitudes and the hungry just need to work harder, then yes, this should make you afraid. As Mary’s song says: those systems that have made you comfortable are coming down.

But here's the final thing: this is also an invitation. The good news threatens what we've built at the expense of others, but it also offers us the chance to be part of something better. It will cost our comfort, our excuses, and our carefully constructed justifications for why things are the way they are. But the invitation is real, and it’s not an option to stay neutral.

You simply can't hear the powerful will be brought down and the lowly will be lifted up, and pretend it doesn't apply. You can't hear this story and remain unchanged and be okay with a world that keeps on moving toward injustice.

And that brings me to the title of this series and this sermon.

Let a weary world rejoice is an invitation for the weary to see the hope of change, and it's also an invitation to be people who do the work so the weary can rejoice. And the question as we stand among the shepherds looking down at that manger is this:

Will you embrace, embody, and extend the good news of the birth of Jesus? Will you join in and let a weary world rejoice this season?