Monday, December 15, 2014
422 - Christmas Confidence
Spirituality Column #422
December 16, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
“And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.” – Luke 2:9 (King James Version)
This familiar passage from the Christmas story in Luke 2 describes an angel appearing to shepherds the night Jesus was born.
Where our modern, sentimental Christmas observance imbued with today’s lightness and irreverence of commerce and non-religious pop culture mostly overwrites the infinite gravitas and universal significance of the incarnation of God, these shepherds were “terrified.”
That’s what “sore afraid” means.
Note closely that the shepherds’ reaction to the angel was not one of warm sentimentality, but of awestruck solemnity. As the angel bade them “fear not” and announced the “good tidings of great joy” that “Christ the Lord” had been born, and “the heavenly host” suddenly showed up and praised the newborn king, these lowly shepherds immediately grasped the truth – with confidence and obedience – of what they had been told. They didn’t doubt, or argue, or recoil in sustained terror.
They went “in haste” to see the baby Jesus, and then told “everyone what they had seen.”
The biggest event in the history of man – God becomes human to save us from our fallenness and reinstate our place in God’s eternal Kingdom – is announced at night on a remote hillside to a bunch of illiterate shepherds. Of all the presumably more logical forums, venues and hierarchies where a divine declaration of this magnitude might be pronounced, it was to obscure, humble shepherds that the humble arrival of God’s son was made known.
The appearance of the “glory of the Lord” – whatever that actually looks like – evidently is what terrified the shepherds. As the contemporary song lyric goes, “I can only imagine.” But it’s instructive to note that the news of Jesus’ birth gave the shepherds comfort, curiosity, wonder and the confidence to go seek the Lord “in haste.”
With the news of the baby Jesus, the shepherds were told, essentially, of what we know today as Christmas. Gospel writer Luke’s description is the only place in scripture that we see a celebration of the birth of Jesus: when the heavenly host – a multitude of angels – sings “Glory to God in the highest.”
We’ve made Christmas into a modern festival of sentimentality. It’s nice. We gather with family and friends. We revel in our memories and traditions. We exchange gifts and, hopefully, experience an extraordinary peace that mysteriously, wonderfully, permeates the season. Much too often, we don’t know why.
Maybe it’s because the Bible doesn’t prescribe sentimentality. It teaches us – implores us – to confidently seek Jesus Christ. That’s the real lesson of Christmas.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is a lifelong sentimental sap.
December 16, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
Christmas Confidence
By Bob Walters“And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.” – Luke 2:9 (King James Version)
This familiar passage from the Christmas story in Luke 2 describes an angel appearing to shepherds the night Jesus was born.
Where our modern, sentimental Christmas observance imbued with today’s lightness and irreverence of commerce and non-religious pop culture mostly overwrites the infinite gravitas and universal significance of the incarnation of God, these shepherds were “terrified.”
That’s what “sore afraid” means.
Note closely that the shepherds’ reaction to the angel was not one of warm sentimentality, but of awestruck solemnity. As the angel bade them “fear not” and announced the “good tidings of great joy” that “Christ the Lord” had been born, and “the heavenly host” suddenly showed up and praised the newborn king, these lowly shepherds immediately grasped the truth – with confidence and obedience – of what they had been told. They didn’t doubt, or argue, or recoil in sustained terror.
They went “in haste” to see the baby Jesus, and then told “everyone what they had seen.”
The biggest event in the history of man – God becomes human to save us from our fallenness and reinstate our place in God’s eternal Kingdom – is announced at night on a remote hillside to a bunch of illiterate shepherds. Of all the presumably more logical forums, venues and hierarchies where a divine declaration of this magnitude might be pronounced, it was to obscure, humble shepherds that the humble arrival of God’s son was made known.
The appearance of the “glory of the Lord” – whatever that actually looks like – evidently is what terrified the shepherds. As the contemporary song lyric goes, “I can only imagine.” But it’s instructive to note that the news of Jesus’ birth gave the shepherds comfort, curiosity, wonder and the confidence to go seek the Lord “in haste.”
With the news of the baby Jesus, the shepherds were told, essentially, of what we know today as Christmas. Gospel writer Luke’s description is the only place in scripture that we see a celebration of the birth of Jesus: when the heavenly host – a multitude of angels – sings “Glory to God in the highest.”
We’ve made Christmas into a modern festival of sentimentality. It’s nice. We gather with family and friends. We revel in our memories and traditions. We exchange gifts and, hopefully, experience an extraordinary peace that mysteriously, wonderfully, permeates the season. Much too often, we don’t know why.
Maybe it’s because the Bible doesn’t prescribe sentimentality. It teaches us – implores us – to confidently seek Jesus Christ. That’s the real lesson of Christmas.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is a lifelong sentimental sap.
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