There seems to be the sense of a real let-down after Christmas has passed. The joyous noises of cheerful greetings that filled our homes as family and friends came to help celebrate the holiday, the excited voices of children as they tore into their packages to see what might be there for them, the laughter around a table that’s laden with Christmas goodies and Christmas dinner – all that has been put off to the side. Christmas is past. The outdoor lights are coming down and Christmas carols and music are no longer played in the store. We are forced to slide back into our daily routines and move on for the fact that Christmas is over.
What Did the Shepherds Do?
The shepherds were sitting in the stillness of the night watching sheep sleep: something they did every night. But their drowsy, monotonous duty would be shaken with the appearance of a light that would crash the darkness:
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. (v. 9)
The shepherds’ night turns from monotony and boredom to fear, and from fear to wonder, and wonder to amazement – amazement at this good news of great joy for all people (vv. 10 & 11). From amazement, it turned to awe as the heavens burst open with a multitude of angels praising God. And from awe to belief:
. . . the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” (v. 15)
This statement is a statement of faith. The shepherds went to see this thing for themselves because it was proclaimed that it had happened, and they believed it. They went with haste, because they were anxious to be a part of the thing that God was doing. And after they saw it, they could testify to the truth of who Jesus was.
The return trip back to their routine of life after encountering the One who was promised by God was filled with emotions they possibly had never been able to express before. They were “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (v. 20). You cannot be quiet when you’re praising God, so you can imagine their return home was probably perceived and heard by others.
What Are We Going to Do?
In this all-too-familiar passage that we read Christmas after Christmas, there is truly a storyline as to how we need to approach Christmas and also how we are to move on after it. What happens to us after we actually set time aside to observe what we celebrate as the birth of Christ? What does it mean to us when we focus on the fact that we are celebrating the birth of the Savior, the Christ, the Lord – the very thing that was proclaimed to the shepherds? How we approach Christmas has so much to do with how we are going to move on from it. Now, we are already past Christmas, so what are we going to do?
If we truly approached Christmas “to see that which has happened, which the Lord has made known to us,” our routines will never be the same. Guaranteed. And the evidence is before us as we read about the shepherds: life isn’t the same after you have an encounter with the Living Lord.
Christmas today is not that much different from the first Christmas that was observed over 2,000 years ago. Jesus was born in conditions so similar to our own. There was a dominating world-power that had supreme influence over the economy of the world, social norms, political agendas, and military governances. It was a pagan world characterized by an appearance of spirituality while accommodating the practices of multiple religions and the worship of many, many gods – a cultural acceptance of shameful immorality. There is a world out there that doesn’t like Jesus. The proclamation was made centuries before, at the time of, and even after who this Child is, and his arrival was missed by most. The story is huge and we don’t want to miss it.
May we leave the Christmas season, but not lose the Christmas story. May we take with us what God himself chose to make known to us. And as we enter the new year, let us have these two resolutions written by Jonathan Edwards:
Resolution 1: I will live for God.
Resolution 2: If no one else does, I still will.
Guest speaker: Rev. Ron Thomas
Response Starters
- Read and discuss Luke 2:8-20 together.
- Why did God specifically tell shepherds about the birth of Jesus Christ?
- Throughout the Bible, how were people changed after they encountered Jesus?
- How have you changed after encountering Jesus?
- Have you resolved to live for God – even when no one else does?
