Luke 2:15 NIV
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said
to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
happened, which the Lord has told us about."
My earliest memory of Christmas was when final proof came that Santa Claus
was real. I was perhaps four or five
years old and Christmas Eve, I heard a loud banging around on the porch, a
boisterous, “ho, ho, ho” and a firm knock on the door. My mom urged me to open the door and go out
on the porch and I found the most beautiful tricycle in the world sitting
there. I shouted with glee, jumped up
and down and gazed in wonder at what Santa had left for me. The joy of Christmas was gloriously physical,
encompassing, radiating. Of course, my
take on Christmas is much more sophisticated now and so is yours but, I wonder
if that makes us better.
Christmas was not always Christian, at least in regard to the time of the
year we celebrate it. We know that it
was first a pagan holiday, a time of drinking and carousing. Yet, it did not immediately “clean up its
act” even after the Christian community took it over and made Christmas a time
of celebrating the birth of Jesus. There
was much about the reveling that made it a fearful time for good families who avoided
the drunken mobs running the streets during Christmas. It really was not until the Protestant
Christians of Germany embraced Christmas fully as a time of honoring the Christ
child that Christmas took on its holiness and wonder.
The night Jesus was actually born a great split in the cosmos occurred as
the supernatural met the natural in a spectacular display. Rarely do we see the supernatural beings of
God’s universe; they remain almost entirely hidden from us. Abraham came upon them. Elisha did too, along with Samson’s parents
and Jacob. They are generally spotted only
in dreams if at all. Of the many billions
who have come and gone, only a handful have ever seen God’s angels and knew
they had. However, that one night, whose
date has been forgotten by the world, a small cadre of shepherds were stunned
by their sudden appearance.
Only Luke records the moment. The
other Gospel writers and apostles failed to mention it when they wrote their
parts of the Bible. There was nothing
notable about the night to warn the shepherds of what was coming as far as we
know. No meteor showers, lunar eclipses
or bright Christmas stars paved the way.
It just happened without warning; a split second the shepherds were
tired and bored and maybe even hungry and the next, the heavens exploded before
them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields
nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared
to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-9 NIV) A single angel was enough to throw
the shepherds into panic. We certainly
must not skirt quickly past the included note that the “glory of the Lord shone
around them”, but, it was the solitary angel that shook them violently. This consideration should not be taken
lightly. When the supernatural crashes
down upon the natural, there is shock and amazement. The senses are almost always dazzled and
overwhelmed. The spiritual core of
humanity cannot take in the supernatural casually. A violent eruption occurs within that shakes
the ground of those who come upon it.
We know that the presence of the angel did not bring this to a conclusion
though. More of the night exploded with
wonder as the shepherds took in the glory of God. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:13-14 NIV) Imagine the spectacle of it and how shook they all
must have been by what they witnessed.
Not a single shepherd could have been unmoved. Before the sky filled with supernatural
though, the first angel announced happily to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid. I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This
will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a
manger." (Luke 2:10-12 NIV)
How would you have responded to this declaration? What would you have done if you heard this
strangely electrifying news? Would you
have continued to stay with your sheep that night? Would you have kept watching your show or
checking Facebook? Would you have worked
on your dinner or gone through your emails or maybe even headed off to
bed? Not everyone who comes upon the
supernatural is transformed by it.
Plenty, like the Israelites who gave little thought to the God who
revealed Himself to them in a cloud with lightning and great glory, simply go
on with the day as if nothing much happened.
Such was not the case though with these shepherds! When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said
to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found
Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (Luke 2:15-16 NIV)
When God reveals Himself to you, it is a supernatural event. No one comes to Christ without the Spirit of
God intervening. It is not an
intellectual exercise, not a logical conclusion, this matter of being born
again. This is always a work of the
supernatural Presence of God who makes it clear that you must come to Christ
for salvation. It never is just you and
your mind making this connection. Always
God must be there for you to trust Him, want Him. Any other religious or political or
intellectual consideration can spring from just you but not this. Jesus must enter your mind if you are to ever
become actually Christian, truly a new creation in Christ. The conclusion of the text is one of the most
heartwarming accounts found anywhere in literature. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been
told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them. But Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as
they had been told. (Luke 2:17-20 NIV)
When the supernatural meets you; when God invades your heart, you are
stirred with either resentment toward Him or devotion to Him. Satan and the Israelites who rebelled against
God each did so because the glory of the Lord was frustrating to them and felt
like a hindrance to what they wanted.
For the shepherds, it was the beginning of eternal life, the start of
joy. What does God do for you? Does He stir up resentment and
disappointment? Do you get aggravated by
what He expects of you or are you thrilled by His love for you, captivated by
His presence in you? Have you the
pleasure of the shepherds in you; joyful that He is there with you? You can quickly tell who has your heart, the
devil or supernatural Jesus. If it bugs
you that Christ seems to expect so much of you, wants more out of you than you
are willing to give, then Satan is more your friend than you might be willing
to admit. But, if there are no
boundaries to how far you will go to glorify and bring honor to Jesus, then you
are close to where the shepherds were, to where Jacob was and where Mary was as
she sat with the crucified Christ in the tomb.
What sort of reaction does the presence of God here stir in your heart
as you come before Him now? Are you with
the shepherds in this, full of joy at what the Lord has done in you or are you a
bit cranky that He expects too much of you?
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