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S. Christmas Eve.25 Luke 2:1-14

‘No fear! Look! For I good-news you joy, mega, which will be for all the people—that he’s born for you, today, Savior, who is Christ, Lord in David’s City.’

That’s what the Angel of the LORD (Jesus, actually, Luther and I think) says to the shepherds out in the fields at night. See, Jesus can multi-task: chill in the manger, and be out doing stuff with shepherds in the field, guiding wayward magicians and keeping the world spinning, all at the same time—like he’s God, or Something! Imagine Bruce Wayne being in 2 places at once: at a charity ball chatting up the pretty ladies, and be Batman out fighting crime at the same time!

I translated the Greek Jesus speaks to the shepherds quite literally for you, following closely the Greek word order (which is why “mmm… sounds like Yoda Jesus does, mmm-mmm 😉 so you can hear him as the shepherds heard him. You’re welcome. My little Christmas present for you. They told me in school I would use Algebra all the time, and Latin and Greek not at all. But they were, happily, wrong on both counts… 😉

Maybe you noticed the literal translation sounds a bit… different from the King James? Well that’s because, as C.S. Lewis reveals, the King James’ translators’ Greek was actually pretty shaky, not as good as a 1st year student at Cambridge or Yale would have, in the 20th century. The King James crew worked mostly off Calvin’s Geneva bible and Erasmus’ Latin translation than off the Greek. They simply didn’t realize that Greek word order is more important than Latin word order, more like English (and more like Yoda 😉 for example:

Vs. 10 is not as the ESV has it: “for behold, I bring you good news of great joy… but the Greek is “Look! For I good-news you joy, mega…” For behold: the Greek γαρ “for” isn’t modifying “Behold”; no, it’s modifying ευαγγελιζομαι which is not a noun but a present middle 1st singular verb literally “I good-news you joy—“you” being dative case, indicating a gift recipient. Very Christmassy!

I’ll cut to the chase: the ESV and King James and all Calvinist majority English translations have an angel—who is not Jesus!, because Calvinist Jesus can’t be in two places at once—imparting information to shepherds in a field about a baby born in David’s city who, if they’ll apply the information correctly, might help them out?

But, in the Greek, Jesus himself (while nursing at Mary’s breast in a barn!) is also shining like the Sun God himself in the middle of the night, good-newsing these shepherds, imparting by his word joy (lit. mega!) that will be for all the people (λαω, the people of God, not εθνη the peoples of the world)—joy that he’s born for you today Savior—that is, just by his being born, you’re always already saved!, simply because he’s the Messiah, the Anointed One, Lord in David’s City (Bethlehem and Jerusalem are both David’s City!) because Jesus is great David’s greater Son and God!

And, as if that’s not joyful enough, he sounds exactly like Yoda! Happy Christmas, indeed! Could it get any better than this?!

Well… there’s this thing with the Greek pronoun υμιν “you” that is tough to convey in English. Each of these “yous” are dative case and the Greek dative can be indirect object or it can be for the advantage of the “you” in the sentence, and in our two sentences I think it’s “YES!” both indirect object and for your advantage!

“For unto you is born” sounds fine enough, but conveys it’s just information being conveyed. The Word himself isn’t doing something ontological, spooky and supernatural to you! NO! In Calvinist English (which is the only kind of English bibles we have today) that he is born unto you means Jesus’s a wispy ideal that you have to actualize by hard thinking and lots of “life application” in being good (for goodness sake!) and getting yourself off Jesus’ “Naughty” list by your hard work!

And NOOO! A hundred times NO to that BS! The real, Greek-speaking Jesus is delivering way better presents, tonight! Jesus is coming to you now, in Person, just as he came to those shepherds out in their fields by David’s City, good-newsing you, TOO!, putting his everlasting joy and life and body and blood and divinity into you. He’s doing something divine and spooky and supernatural, here, tonight, for you! By his word, he gets in your ear and heart; and by forgiving your sins, he makes you a new creation, a little version of himself, as you were meant to be from the start, before you went off on your own working your own kind of “salvation”—which is really damnation, truth be told…

He’s born for you, tonight, Savior. That is to say: just by coming under your roof like this—by word and sacrament—he has always already saved you from sin, death, and the devil! He’s not telling you and the shepherds something that could happen if you play your theological cards right. NO! He’s telling you the joy that has happened simply by his being born in a barn in Bethlehem for you, born in you, coming under your roof for real by his word in your ear and his body and blood in your mouth…

Leonard Cohen in his “Anthem” gets something key about Christmas when he chants:

“You can add up the parts/ but you won’t have the sum/ You can strike up the march/ on your little broken drum/ every heart, every heart to love will come/ but like a refugee// Ring the bells that still can ring/ forget your perfect offering/ there is a crack, a crack in everything/ that’s how the light gets in…”

The Christ child is not for the strong and the brave and the pure and the upstanding and the powerful and great. NO! He’s for the broken, the cracked—like the shepherds—for beatniks.

See, if you’re not like that, he’s not for you. You will shun and snub and nail him to the cross if you are strong and seamless—if you can make it to Heaven under your own steam.

“You can add up the parts but you won’t have the sum/ strike up the march, drummer boy, on your little broken drum/“ but Jesus won’t dance to your tune…

So yeah, “ring the bells that still can ring,” Christmas bells, that ring as the bread and wine become his body and blood—right now, right here, for you. Forget your perfect offering. He seeks no gifts—he himself is the GIFT…

For refugees, broken, cracked—that is to say:

For us ALL, he comes, good-newsing his joy—most mega!—into you. So, rejoice this holy night that he’s born for you, always already Savior, Christ, Lord in David’s City—which, BTW, was a pretty ratty City—like NYC or New Haven in the ‘80s, all cracked and broken, like you, like me.

But, hey: there is a crack, a crack in everything; that’s how the Light gets in… and the Peace, surpassing understanding, guarding your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Merry Christmas!