Luke 2:10:

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

This is the time the Prophet Isaiah was speaking about 700 years before - "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light . . . Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given."

We think of Christmas as a happy time - a time of joy and celebration - and so it is - good news of great joy. But it did not seem that way at first to these shepherds camped out on the hills near Bethlehem.

We think of shepherds in the Bible as highly honoured individuals - like David the shepherd boy, like Jesus himself (the Good Shepherd). But in fact, at this time in the history of Israel, shepherds had a very low status, socially and religiously. They were a despised class. Because of the nature of their work - being out on the hills looking after their flocks at all times - it was difficult for them to observe all the religious regulations of Old Testament law - and especially all the additions the Pharisees had made to that law. Particularly they found it difficult to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem (even although many of the lambs they were looking after would no doubt have been slaughtered as part of the sacrificial system there.)

They were also suspected of thieving and dishonesty. They were not allowed to give testimony in a court of law. They were excluded and ostracised. They were the victims of prejudice and snobbery. They were regarded in a way similar to the way gypsies are regarded in many parts of Europe and the way travelling people have sometimes been regarded in this country.

The darkness of the night in which they kept watch over their flock is symbolic of the hopelessness of their position and indeed the hopelessness of the world in which they lived.

The world of the Jews was poisoned by disappointment and disillusionment. For centuries they had lain under the yoke of foreign domination - the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans. There was a brief period of respite as a result of the brave revolt under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus but that was a long time ago now, and hopes of the fulfilment of OT prophesies had flagged. There had been no news from heaven for 400 years.

The Gentile world was in no better state. From the mysterious East there came wise men, astronomers, who had found no hope in their past speculations and so now came hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles to find the one born King of the Jews.

The paganism of the West in Greece and Rome was no better. Among the intellectuals either the blind impersonal Fate of the Stoics reigned supreme or else with the Epicureans, Chance was god. In spite of the great prosperity and peace of the early Roman Empire, there was a loss of confidence in the old gods and a deep pessimism was abroad. The Roman philosopher Seneca said, "Evil has its root within us, in our inward parts." And there was little hope in the face of death. The poet Catullus expressed it bleakly, "Suns may set and rise again, but when our brief light has set, one unbroken night remains." At the level of popular religion a superstitious fear prevailed. It was a world accurately captured by the Apostle Paul in his memorable phrase - "without hope and without God in the world".

Is it a world very different from our own - where pessimism returns after each false dawn of hope? There's been a perceived failure of the twin traditions of science and religion, which Arthur Koestler neatly summed up with the words, "Nature has let us down, God seems to have left the receiver off the hook and time is running out."

Bob Dylan, in his masterpiece song-portrait of the insanity of modern life called Desolation Row, chose the enduring image of the sinking of the unsinkable to sum up the tragic hopelessness of our situation - "The Titanic sails at dawn".

Philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell, expressed his lack of any hope in the face of death - "Brief and powerless is man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way".

American comedian Woody Allen gave a different twist to the same pessimism in his own inimitable style - "It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

The birth of Jesus Christ is a message of hope injected into this dark pessimistic world. Jesus is the Saviour for those with no hope. But how can the birth of a baby - and the birth of a baby 2000 years ago - how can this birth give hope to us today? "Who is he in yonder stall / At whose feet the shepherds fall? / 'Tis the Lord! O wondrous story! / 'Tis the Lord, the King of glory!" We can have hope, because of who this is and what he came to do.

The very coming of God in the flesh, the very birth of the Son of God as a man, is a message of hope. God is fulfilling his promises. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . . He shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." The promised Son of David has come. God's purposes of love are being implemented in this world.

And the fact that God has come as a human being raises the dignity of even the poorest and the most despised. It is a reminder to us that God created us in his own image. As Jesus would later say of a handicapped man, "How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!" No matter how poor or demented or depraved or despised a human being may be, he has worth and dignity and glory in the eyes of God, if not for what he has made of himself, then surely for what God can make of him in Christ. In a world where many have lost a sense of self-worth and with it a sense of purpose, to understand this gives hope. It was to the shepherds - poor, marginalised, excluded, out in the dark - that the message came, "Do not be afraid . . . a Saviour has been born to you", and it was around them that the glory of the Lord shone.

Years later in a dirty prison in Philippi when a hardened Roman prison officer drew his sword to commit suicide having despaired of life, the first words of hope he heard were from prisoners Paul and Silas - "Don't harm yourself!" That is the same message today to all who have lost hope and despaired of life - "Do yourself no harm! You are precious in God's sight! He has a message of grace and love and forgiveness for you!"

The birth of Christ is a message of hope, because it's a message of peace - "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill towards men". And how we need that peace! "O little town of Bethlehem . . . The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." And what fears we have! Fear of the future, fear of loss, fear of death, fear of judgement. Jesus gives us hope for the future, even in the face of death itself.

Jesus' assurance to all who trust in him is given in John 14:1-3 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." Jesus says there's room in his place for us. No one else might have room for us, no one else might give us a hope, but he will.

The apostle Paul puts it this way in 1 Cor. 15.55-57 - "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

But not only has Jesus taken away the fear of death because he has reconciled the world to himself, not counting men's sins against them, he has also given us hope because he has overcome death. He himself rose again from the grave - death could not hold him. And in Revelation 21:4 he promises all those who believe in him that he will reverse death and all the ravages of evil in this world - "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Joni Earickson, paralysed at the age of 15 in a diving accident, says of the physical resurrection - "I'll be on my feet dancing".

Your hopes may have turned to dust, and your fears may have assumed gigantic proportions, but there's news from heaven - good news of great joy for you - a Saviour has been born to you - he is Christ the Lord. Trust him, accept him, welcome him as the Son of God, the one who was born at Bethlehem, who lived and died and rose again to give you hope and a future.