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24 December 2012

Stable Reactions

News means different things to different people. Depending on your proximity to the news, and the way in which it affects you, your reaction will differ accordingly. The same can be said to be true of the birth of Jesus...

Something which has struck me this Christmas is the different reactions that each of the characters have to the birth of Jesus. I'm going to loosely and quickly try and draw parallels with different groups of people we may know. Perhaps we'll identify with one of the people here.


Firstly - the wise men. 


Matthew 2:2 "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

The wise-men were outsiders, star-gazers who had travelled a long way. Partly their journey was out of intrigue, and partly it was from a reading of the stars which said that seeking Jesus may be a worthwhile task. From being far away from the birth, and with only the mystery of the star to draw them in, they go from being intrigued stargazers to kneeling worshippers, presenting a baby with expensive gifts.


Secondly - the shepherds.


Luke 2:17 "And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child."

Some of the lowest in society were the first to encounter Jesus in human form - how liberating! No matter how low we feel we are, we're invited to be among the first to be able to come and know Jesus.


Their reaction is superb: evangelism! So excited are they by this fresh news, and so accepting of it that they want to share the angels' promise of "peace to all men on whom his favour rests" to the people all around them, perhaps even knocking on doors all around the neighbourhood and waking people up... Not that I'd advise that as a tactic this evening, of course.


Thirdly - Mary.


Luke 2:19 "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."

Mary's closely involved with God's plans, and in many ways if we're Christians we can share in that particular aspect of living closely with God. Her reaction to seeing all this firsthand is constant reflection and appreciation of what God's done for us. She's also humble enough to know that despite her close interaction with God, she doesn't know all there is to be known, and must still spend time figuring it out for herself.


It's not always necessary for us to try to identify with people in a Bible story - after all, the message of Christmas is far bigger than that. But I guess here we see some different people and some different responses.



Perhaps you're the wise men - far off from notions of church and stables and angels and carols. Fair enough, but surely there's something intriguing about the whole thing? We'd be foolish to make up a story which involved the creator of the universe being born in a barn - surely a palace would be more believable!? Make like the wise men - follow the star, and see what you may find...

Perhaps you're a shepherd! New to you, the Christmas story is exciting, and you want to share it with people you know. After all, if we understand the message the angels brought then why wouldn't we want to share it?


Perhaps you identify with Mary. I know I do. This Christmas is the 23rd time I've heard this story... It's hard to keep the excitement and intrigue sometimes, isn't it! Mary's example of "treasuring" and "pondering" is perfect - no matter how integrated in Christian life we feel we may be, there's always space for us to reflect on what Christmas means for us in personal way.

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