Luke 2:11-15
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The New Testament > Luke > Chapter 2
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Questions
Verse 11
The angels announce the good news, the gospel: the Savior, the Messiah (”the Anointed One”), the Lord has been born. How does each of these titles differ in meaning?
Luke is the only one of the four gospel writers who uses the title “Savior,” and he uses the verb “save” more than Matthew and Mark put together. Why might that be? What does it tell us about his gospel?
Lexical notes
- Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes
Exegesis
Verse 11
It is interesting that the angel describes Jesus as being born "unto you." There is apparently an allusion in this phrasing to Isa 6:9, essentially a reinterpretation, then, of an Old Testament prophecy. Like the passage in Isaiah, Jesus is given four titles here: "Savior," "Christ," "the Lord," and "of David" (compare Isaiah's: "Wonderful Counselor," "the Mighty God," "the Everlasting Father," "the Prince of Peace").
Verse 12
As heavenly visitors often do, the angel offers a sign or a token that is to prove the genuineness of the vision, so that the shepherds can know surely that they have been visited by true messengers. The sign is, however, quite humble, linking up with all the themes of humility running through the whole passage: they will find a baby in a feed-box.
Verse 13
The phrase "heavenly host" is archaic enough that many do not recognize the military thrust of the words: what appears in song here are legions of armies, all angelic. The vision is parallel to visions in the Book of Mormon and the Old Testament, where God appears in the midst of so many angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. As Amos 3:7 puts things, this is the "council" (unfortunately translated "secret" in the KJV), the heavenly chorus and council of God. That the shepherds here have such a vision suggests that they have had a glimpse of what goes on within the true holy of holies (Isaiah describes a similar scene as happening within the temple).
This is especially significant in light of the triple appearance of angels in Luke's Christmas story. The first angel appears to Zacharias at the veil of the temple; the second appears to Mary in Nazareth; the third appears here to the shepherds out in the field. One can note in this series of movement away from the centralized cultus of the temple towards the poor who were—at the time—dispossessed of the temple: from the actual place of revelation at the veil to a house in an obscure village, and then to the fields of the countryside where the poor shepherds tend their flocks. What is so significant about this triple appearance and trajectory is that the third messenger opens the heavens, not to the priestly figure of Zacharias in the temple, but to the homely shepherds in the field: there it is, far from the Holy of Holies, that the throneroom of the Lord is opened again. This, of course, plays into Luke's broader message: the gospel is to be preached to the dispossessed, to the poor and downtrodden.
The temple themes are quite clear here, as they are through much of chapter 1. Three angelic messengers are sent, as in Gen 18 to Abraham, to prepare Israel to behold/enter into the council of heaven by parting the veil. (It will be noted that three angelic messengers are to be found in the Matthew version of the Christmas story as well, though there all three appear uniquely to Joseph.)
Verse 14
The words of the angels emphasize the logic of incarnation: from heaven ("Glory to God in the highest") to earth ("and on earth peace, good will toward men"). The linking up of God's heaven with man's earth in the encounter is significant: in the incarnation, the glory of God brings about peace on earth, and the two are made one.
Verse 15
The shepherds collectively decide to confirm the event by seeking the sign left by the angel.
Related links
Verse 14
- Peace, good will toward men. See this post by Kevin Barney for a discussion of alternate translations of this passage.
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