Good News !
My greatest Christmas took place over thirty years ago. I spent most of the day in the hospital. Our second daughter was born on Christmas Eve, and my wife and I spent the day holding God’s new gift to us in our arms. The nurses had decked her out with a tiny red Santa hat, and soft Christmas music was piped into the room. I can still hear the music: “It came upon a midnight clear…” The quiet simplicity of Bethlehem came over us, as we absorbed God’s love poured out to us in our new little girl. No Christmas before then or since then has ever compared to what happened to me that day.
As we work hard to create newer and more spectacular Christmases—ones that will outdo last year’s in decorations, gifts, and fanfare—we forget that one simple gift from God outweighs all that we humans can put together by our own efforts. He, truly, is the only one who can bring us authentic “good news.”
Today we listen to the familiar words of the “angel-evangelist” addressed to the shepherds who were doing their night watch (Luke 2:1-14):
“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.”
To those who were awake in the stillness of the night, the angel presented the greatest news that has ever been proclaimed. It was news, not just for Israel, but for “all the people.” The one gift that ever person on earth needs is salvation. And we cannot access salvation on our own; it has to be given to us. We need a savior. Otherwise life makes no sense. We cannot free ourselves from the limitation that Adam’s sin imposed on us. Unless God comes up with a way to break the bonds of sin, heal us of our deep hurts, and open up a path to himself, we are forever lost. Well, the good news is that God, in his great mercy, did find a way. He sent the world a new baby who would grow up to be the Christ, the Lord, the Savior of the world.
“And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
God always sends us signs to confirm his Word. The signs, however, are not what we expect. They are not spectacular displays in the sky. After all, what greater sign could the shepherds have than a sudden appearance of an angel? The sign was a baby. But there were lots of babies in the Bethlehem area; maybe others had been born that very night. This one was unique; he was lying in an animal’s food trough. Have you ever seen a baby lying in a cow’s “feeding dish?” God’s signs are so unusual. They are not disturbing as much as they are surprising. Something simple happens that catches us off guard, and we know that God is the one who arranged it.
So much to think about today. Are we so intoxicated with the demands of the world that we lose touch with our deepest need—the need for salvation? Do we realize that our hearts long for union with God, and we will be forever restless until we find it? Do we remember that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved, but by the name of Jesus? Are our hearts quiet enough, and alert enough to recognize a sign that God gives us today?
“Announce his salvation day after day…” (Ps 96:2).
