The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 61

IV. FnoM TTIPJ HAIIIT OF THEIR LIFE. Of all those who exclude Jesus Christ, the most numerous nnd perhaps the guiltiest are they who, rocognizing his claimA and his powers, refuse to welcome him to their hearts. Their lives a.re so crowded with cares, with tho business of the market or of the household; or they a.re RO filled up with the pleasures e.nd the prizes of thii, world; or they a.re eo occupied with purs11its which, if intellectue.l, are unspiritual, that there is no room for that Divine One who comes to speak of sin and of mercy and of the life which is spiritual and o,ternal, who claimA to be trusted and loved and served e.s the Saviour of the human soul and the Sovereign of the human life, So, while admitting his right to enter, they do not open the door. Alas I or what enlightening truth, of what blessed restfulness of heart, of what nobiiity of lire, of what eternity of glory, do men bereave themselves by crowding out the Lord who loves them, by excluding the Redeemer Crom the home of their heart.sl-C. Vere. 8-11.-Welcome news from heaven. It is surely not without significance that this most gracious manifestation and announcement was made to these humble Hebrew shepherds "keeping watch over their flock by night." It suggests two truths which a.re of frequent a.ad perpetual illustration. 1. 'l'hat God chooses for his iustruments the humble rather than the high. Our human notions would have pointed to the most illustrious in the land for such a communication as this. But God chose the lowly shepherd, the man of no e.ccount in the estimate of the world. So did he a.et in the beginning of the gospel (see 1 Cor. i. 26-29). And so has he acted ever since, choosing often for the agents of his power and grace those whom man would have passed by as unworthy of his choice. 2. That God grants his Divine favour to those who a.re conscientiously serving.him in their own proper sphere. Not to the idle dreamer, not to the man who will do nothing because he cannot do everything of which he thinks himself capable, but to him who does his best in the position in which God's providence has placed him, will God come in gracious manifestation; and it is he whom he will select to render important service in his cause. But the main thoughts of this passage are these- I. w ELCOME TIDINGS FROM THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. "They were sore afraid." .. Fear not . . . I bring you good tidings." Why ha<re men always been so sore afraid in the presence of the supernatural ? Why have they fee.red to receive communications from heaven? Something much more than a popular belief (see Judg. xiii. 22) is required to e.ccount for so universal a sentiment. It is surely that sinful men are profoundly conscious of ill desert, and fear that any message that comes from God, the Holy One, will be a message of condemnation and punishment. What would be the expectation with which a camp of rebellious subjects, who hnd taken up arms against their sovereign, would receive a messenger from the court of the king? Had that guilty e.ge known tha.t God we.s a.bout to announce " a. new departure" in his govern- ment of the world, what ample, what overwhelming reason would it have had to apprehend a. message of Divine wrath e.nd retribution! How welcome, then, the words, "Fear not . . . I bring you good tidings "I Of what depth of Divine patience, of what boundless breadths of Divine compaSl!ion, do these simple words assure us I II. TIDINGS OF SURPASSING VALUE, Tidings "of great joy." The birth of the Babe in Bethlehem" that day "-what did it mean? It meant: 1. Deliverance from a deadly evil. 'l'o these shepherds, if they were patriotic children of Abraham, the promise of e. Saviour would mean deliverance from the national degradation into which Israel had sunk-a spiritual e.s well as o. political demoralization. 'l'o them, if they were earnest religious inquirers, it meant deliverance from the bondage and penalty of sin. This is the significance which the word has to us: in that day was horn into the world a Saviour, a Divine Redeemer, One who should save the souls of men from tbat which is the one curse of our humanity-sin. 2. The fulfilment of a great hope. 'To thuse who then learnt that "the Christ" was born, it meant that the long-cherished hope of their nation was fulfilled, and that whatever the Messiah was to bring about was at length to be 111:complishod. A great national expectation has passed. with us, into a glorious hope for the human mce--the hope that under Christ this poor sin-stricken world will rise from its ignorance, its superstition, its godlessness, its vice, and its crime, nnd walk in newness of life, in the love and the likeness of its heavenly F"ther. 3. Restoration to our truo position, 'l'hat S.1vivur is "(;lirist the Lord." \Ye whv 52 TIIE GOSPEL ACCOTIDING TO BT. LUKE. [en. u. 1-52,