Good morning, happy Monday, and merry Christmas!
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
angles announcing the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:11
This year at my church’s Christmas festival I had the privilege to be the actor who portrayed a shepherd in the Christmas story. As participants would go from station to station hearing different perspectives on the event that split the way we track time, I was especially stuck by how Christ’s birth was first announced to shepherds.
Think about it … Jesus’s birth was first announced to the lowest people on the social ladder … stinky, poor shepherds. There are people who likely were overlooked in society, social outcasts, losers. Yet, while the rest of the world went on with their day-to-day lives, these shepherds were the ones let in on the most groundbreaking event to ever take place in human history. It was not the kings or the religious leaders or the ultra-rich or the mega-powerful who were afforded the opportunity, but rather those that the world looked down on who first laid their eyes on baby Jesus.
This year I do not want to be so busy that I unintentionally overlook the mystery and majesty of this occurrence.
We likely learned that Jesus was born in a stable “because there was no room for them in the inn.” As I ponder that further I am amazed … here God’s divine plan to save humanity is being reviled and yet there was no room for him. No one in the bustling town could find a bed for a 9-month pregnant woman, and obviously this was no ordinary mother or baby! Still … amongst the busyness of a town with an influx of population due to the census, no one was willing to open their home for Mary and Joseph.
Jesus was ready to be born and the world was too busy to care.
Jesus came to save the very people who were ignoring his arrival.
My fear is that as we live on a planet spinning at rate of over 1,000 miles an hour (look it up 😊) and hustle at 100 miles an hour, we as well may be guilty at times of missing the joy of the Christmas message. My encouragement for all of us this year (I’m no doubt coaching myself on this too) is to let the wonder and majesty of the Christmas story truly impact and change our hearts. Changed hearts is the Christmas gift that is still freely given.
I hope and pray that you have a wonderful, joyous, merry Christmas!