CHRISTMAS EVE - B - 17 LUKE 2:1-20
Tonight’s gospel from St.
Luke is such a familiar story. Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem to be
enrolled for the purpose of taxes! Mary is with child. Perhaps the rigors of
the journey from Nazareth to the city of David ended her pregnancy.
It seems they arrived later
than many others did for there were no rooms available. In such a small town as
Bethlehem, the rooms would have been few and far between. Those who did not
have to travel as far got there first and were fortunate enough to find proper
accommodations.
Surely, there were others
families there with infants and small children. Perhaps other babies were born
that same night. However, this child of Mary was different. No other child in
the little town of Bethlehem on that silent night was introduced to the world
by an angel of the Lord.
It is a story we could all
repeat in detail. The question is do we? Luke tells us that the shepherds to
whom the angel announced the good news of great joy did just that. “…they made
known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were
amazed…”
Isn’t that what we do when we
have received good news? We can’t wait to go and tell it. This is the Church’s
mission and has been for over 2000 years - to go and tell the familiar story -
that the Word became flesh on a starry night in the little town of Bethlehem
and has dwelt among us full of grace and truth.
So why is the world we live
in today in such a state of spiritual disrepair? What happened to the good news
of great joy for all people? Did the world simply stop believing?
Or did the Church stop
telling the story in a convincing manner of the night when the grace of God and
the hope of salvation came into the world wrapped in bands of cloth and lying
in a common manger because there was no room for him anywhere else?
I have been fortunate over my
lifetime to travel much of the world. In recent years, I have visited countries
that were once predominately Christian, countries for example, that one reads
about in the Acts of the Apostles. These were converted by the efforts of St.
Peter and Paul who eventually gave their lives for their efforts.
They thrived for many
centuries sustained by the faith of those who followed in the apostle’s
footsteps. The fruit of their witness produced more than one saint. Today those
countries have been lost to the gospel and to the Church. It is as if the good
news was never heard in those lands.
Sadly, I have seen Churches
that were built to the Glory of God and are now in a state of disrepair. Some
are even being used as warehouses. Others have been converted into mosques. All
vestiges of the Christian faith have been removed. Medieval frescoes that once
adorned their ceilings and walls have been painted over.
The few faithful who remain
in these once predominately Christian countries have all but gone underground.
They are no longer free to share in detail the good news of the Savior’s birth
or any other aspect of their faith for fear of persecution. It is as if the
hand of time has been turned back a thousand years or more. Like Mary, in our
Christmas story, they still “treasure the words and ponder them in their
hearts.”
What of us who are free to
express our faith, free to share the familiar story, and are here tonight to
hear it told once again? Do we “treasure the words and ponder them in our
hearts” keeping it all to ourselves? Or do we take up the role of the shepherds
who were surprised by the announcement of the angel and go and tell all we come
in contact with the “good news” that the Savior has been born?
That is how the shepherds
responded. They even did the unthinkable when the good news was announced. They
abandoned watching over their flocks and went to see for themselves if what the
angel had told them was true. They stood in awe at the crèche’ where the
Christ-child lay and told Mary and Joseph what the angel had said concerning
this child.
Leaving the manger, they did
not hesitate to make known what had been told them about the child they had
just seen and all who heard it were amazed, and people still are. Why, then,
would not the whole world readily receive Him?
The answer is simply because
not everyone is looking for a savior. Not everyone sees the need of a redeemer.
Not everyone is willing to humble themselves and become obedient to a King. The
Church has yet much work to do in sharing the “good news,” and rekindling the
hope and joy His coming into the world brings.
The Christmas story is so
familiar that we often miss the import of the shepherd’s role. Of course, the
focus is on the Christ-child as it should be. He is at the center of the scene.
It is His birth we celebrate tonight. He came that we might believe in Him and
so believing inherit new life.
He has given the Church the mission of the
shepherds who were the first to tell of the saving grace and Love of God in the
Word made flesh. The Apostles picked up their mantle and their mission. As the
Church, you and I have inherited it.
Such a familiar story, yet with such a
powerful announcement that has and continues to impact the life of the world.
Does it still amaze us? Still surprise us that God so loved the world that He
humbled his divinity to share in our humanity that we might one day come to
share in his glory?
The shepherd’s role is ours
to take up in joyful response to our belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior and
Redeemer of the world. For there are yet parts of the world today that have
never heard the story as well as those parts that have forgotten all about it
and the meaning behind it. Sadly there are still others that have heard it but
do not yet believe it.
All the more reason for us
who do believe to leave the manger tonight with the same joy in our hearts as
those shepherds did on that first Christmas Eve, willing to tell the story of the
Savior’s Birth to all, as if we have just heard it for the first time, so that
the message of this familiar story shall never be lost.
“Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely,
love divine; love was born at Christmas: star and angels gave the sign.” (Hymn
#84, v1) “O Come let us adore Him…Christ the Lord.” Amen+
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