Hearing, Seeing, Believing, Telling
Christmas Eve: Hearing, Seeing, Believing, Telling by Rev. L. John Gable
December 24, 2021
In the year 312 AD the Emperor Constantine had an encounter with the Risen Christ which radically changed his life and subsequently that of Roman Empire, and, it is safe to say, the entire course of human history. A decade or so later he gave his mother Helena unlimited access to the Imperial treasury in order for her to locate relics of the Christian tradition, so Helena, set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land intent on discovering and experiencing particular places which were significant in the life and ministry of Jesus. It is not beyond the stretch of our imagination to say that she was successful in doing so. Visit any small town or region today and inquire as to where some significant event took place 50, 75, even 100 years ago and the locals will most likely be able to tell you, with a high degree of confidence and accuracy, who, what, where, when and how that event happened. So, when Helena visited the small towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem and even the larger city of Jerusalem inquiring as to where Jesus lived, worked, slept and performed His miracles she was shown, with reliable accuracy, where those events took place. And in those places she put markers and funded the building of churches, so that others might also make pilgrimages similar to hers. I might add, she had an advantage in her venture to find these holy sites. One of the Emperors, Hadrian, during the pre-Christian era prior to Constantine, was intent on wiping out the memory of Jesus or any evidence of His being in Palestine at all, so he too commissioned a similar expedition. However, everywhere he discovered a place significant in the life and ministry of Jesus he built a pagan temple, so by the time Helena came along all she needed to do was follow the breadcrumbs left by Hadrian, destroy the pagan temples and erect new ones honoring Jesus.
In Nazareth, still today, is the Church of the Annunciation where the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary announcing her having been chosen by God to be the mother of the Messiah; in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity marks the place where He was born; in Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where He was crucified, died and was buried, three days later to be raised again from the dead. All of these places one can visit still today as do pilgrims from around the world, just as Helena did and intended.
And on the out-skirts of Bethlehem is a little village called Beit Sahour which is believed to be the field where the angel announced the Good News to the
shepherds encamped there with their sheep. Try not to imagine a lush Indiana pasture with green grass and flowing streams, but instead a desolate, barren place with the stubble of grass growing amidst rocky crags and open caves, such that shepherds could seek cover for their sheep at night or in inclement weather. That is the setting of Beit Sahour, the setting of our story from Luke chapter 2.
On that site is built a small church, built over a cave, marking the place. Just above the entrance of the chapel is a beautiful sculpture of an angel with outstretched arms. The interior of the chapel is small, with only a lectern and an altar, but the front of the chancel is beautifully adorned with a large, three-paneled painting of what happened there. Earlier this evening at the family service I told the children this story by taking on the part of the shepherd and we showed the paintings on the screen. The panels from the Church of the Shepherd’s Field are the cover art on your bulletins this evening.
As familiar as we are with this story, I’d like to focus for a few minutes on the shepherd’s experience of “hearing, seeing, believing and telling” because I believe it gives a beautiful and powerful example of how we come to faith still today.
The first panel depicts the shepherds out in the field doing what shepherds do, keeping watch o’er their flocks by night. Notice their surprise, the shocked looks on their faces when the angel of the Lord appears to them. They weren’t expecting this kind of angel visitation, this divine revelation; they were simply going about the everyday of their lives when God suddenly broke in to their otherwise ordinary routines.
God continues to act in this same way today. Remember if you can when you first came to faith, how that came to be for you. If you are not yet a person of faith, stay with this story; God is not finished with you yet. Faith comes to most of us in some kind of ordinary way, through some kind of a messenger, mostly likely not an angel, but an ordinary someone, a family member, a friend, who, in a very natural and personal way, tells us about Jesus. Faith comes by hearing which implies that there is a someone who tells us the Good News!
Admittedly the angel terrified the shepherds, so the first words we hear him say is, “Fear not! Don’t be afraid. I bring you Good News of great joy!” We may not have been terrified, or even startled, when someone first told us about Jesus, but still it was Good News and a seed of faith was planted within us. That first bit of knowledge about Jesus is the starting point of faith in Jesus.
The Good News which the angel shared there and then, comes to us, here and now, as well. “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior and this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” That rather formal message of the angel is likely not the way your first heard about Jesus, and my guess is you didn’t experience a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom He favors” when you did. More likely you heard someone tell you about His great love for you, about God’s mercy and grace and forgiveness, about His willingness to give you a new beginning, a fresh start and the promise of eternal life. Faith comes by hearing the Word. And that Good News may come as a shock or surprise to you. That God could love you, even you.
The second step of faith for most of us comes when we explore what we have heard to see if it really is, or could be, true for us. This is still not faith, but it is the necessary next step in coming to faith. We need to see for ourselves whether what we’ve heard about Jesus really is Good News, and the shepherds did the same. This is what we see happening in the second panel.
Luke tells us they decided to go and see for themselves if what the angel said to them was true, saying, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place which the Lord has made known to us.” It wasn’t that they doubted what the angel had told them, any more than you would doubt what your friend first told you about Jesus, but faith is more than simply the accumulation of facts and figures and it is certainly more than the collection of repressed questions and doubts. Genuine faith comes when we explore the truths which have been given to us so that we can examine and experience them for ourselves. For some of us that exploration and examination is easy and happens quickly. We know the truth when we hear it and welcome it easily and gladly; for others, not so much. That which comes instantaneously to some takes years to develop in others. We who are tellers and we who are receivers of this Good News need to be reminded again and again that faith is a gift of God and God works on His own schedule. Faith isn’t something we can manipulate or force; rather it is something we can patiently nurture, encourage and pray for, in ourselves and in others.
When the shepherds finally found the child they also came to believe that the Good News they had been told really was Good News and by accepting it they came to faith. Another word for faith is trust. One can have knowledge about Jesus, that is, they can have heard certain information about Him, but that, in and of itself, is not faith. They can even come to agree with the information that they have been given, that He was born and lived and died, that He was a good teacher and a charismatic leader, perhaps even that He was a miracle worker. They can know all sorts of things about Jesus the man and still not have faith in Him. No, faith is the third and absolutely essential next step in this progression, after our knowledge about Him and our agreement with what we have heard about Him; faith is when we accept the truth about Him, that He really is the Son of God, God in human flesh; that He really does love us with an unconditional love, love even us; that He suffered and died for our sins to show us His love and in so doing that He rose again to be our Savior and Lord. In the opening verses of John’s Gospel we read: “To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave the power to become children of God.” Faith comes when we receive Him and believe in Him, when we find Him, or truer still when He finds us, and we come to trust that He has done something for us which we cannot do for ourselves, namely, save us.
Is that what the shepherds experienced that night long ago in Bethlehem? We don’t really know, Luke doesn’t tell us, but what he does tell us is that, after having seen the infant child for themselves, “they returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told to them.” We are told that the shepherds went back to their everyday, ordinary routines by a different route, as would the Magi who would later visit Him, as do all those who encounter Him up close and personal. Like Constantine of old when we have an encounter with the Risen Lord we are changed and as a result the world around us changes. In the third panel, look closely at the youngest shepherd. He is jumping for joy over what he has seen and heard and he is ready to tell the world the Good News!
This is my prayer, with you and for you, on this Holy Night, that we may leave this place filled with the same excitement and joy as that young shepherd boy. No longer as seekers but as those who have been found; no longer as hearers only but now as tellers of this Good News of great joy which has come to all the people: “that unto us is born a Savior, Christ the Lord”, and His name is Jesus.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN