Christmas – what then?

Did the main par­ti­ci­pan­ts fall into a spi­ri­tu­al depres­si­on after the birth in Beth­le­hem? Not at all! The expe­ri­en­ces of tho­se days and nights con­tin­ued to move them and they lived on for months and years. And what about us? Does Christ­mas live on in us into a new year? 

We are at the peak of the 2019 Christ­mas cele­bra­ti­ons! Some events are alre­a­dy behind us; others we still have ahead of us. We con­ti­nue to cele­bra­te hap­pi­ly with rela­ti­ves, fri­ends and fami­ly. This is beau­tiful every year. It is a time we look for­ward to again and again, every year! But then, in the ever­y­day life of the new year, Christ­mas is quick­ly for­got­ten, even if the lights on the bal­c­o­ny or in the gar­den shi­ne for a long time. Quick­ly for­got­ten, becau­se in Decem­ber 2020 it will be Christ­mas again. But in the new year, the first thing that comes is the after­math: The was­te paper has to go, and so do the bot­t­les that have accu­mu­la­ted. Many peo­p­le will then have to deal with the bath­room sca­les for a litt­le lon­ger! The fit­ness temp­les will be over­c­row­ded and wal­kers will noti­ce how many jog­gers are out and about at the begin­ning of the year.

Christ­mas – what then? What actual­ly hap­pen­ed to Mary and Joseph with the child at that time? The Christ­mas sto­ry in Luke, chap­ter 2, beg­ins with the words: «Now it came to pass in tho­se days…» and con­cludes at the end of the chap­ter with the remark: «Jesus grew up; he was a strong child, fil­led with wis­dom, and God’s grace res­ted on him»(Luke 2:40 NGÜ). Full stop. So that was it! But what hap­pen­ed next? Thanks to the Gos­pel of Matthew, we know about the flight into Egypt and also about the return to Naza­reth. But then we hear not­hing more! Jesus is sim­ply allo­wed to be a child; and as a youth and carpenter’s son, he then lent a hand to his father! It takes no less than 30 years until Jesus appears in public. 30 years is a long time when you are wai­ting for some­thing! Did the peo­p­le of that time also quick­ly for­get the extra­or­di­na­ry birth in Beth­le­hem? Who of us still knows what hap­pen­ed 30 years ago in 1990? When Jesus began to pro­cla­im the King­dom of God, the expec­ta­ti­on of the Mes­siah was still very gre­at among the peo­p­le of God. The pro­mi­ses were still well remem­be­red. What hel­ped the peo­p­le at that time to keep the expec­ta­ti­on ali­ve? We are also wai­ting! We are wai­ting for the return of our Lord and Saviour. How can we keep this expec­ta­ti­on ali­ve over all the deca­des of our lives? One ans­wer is: with the help of the Christ­mas sto­ry! What is so uni­que, so valuable and so encou­ra­ging about this story?

1. it shows God’s greatness and omnipotence

The angel who announ­ces to Mary her «impos­si­ble» pregnan­cy tells her about Eliza­beth, her rela­ti­ve who is bar­ren and old, that she is now six months pregnant and then says: With God no thing is impos­si­ble. That’s how our God is! He moved the Roman Emper­or Augus­tus to do some­thing that had never been done befo­re in the Roman Empire: a cen­sus! «The­re had never been such a cen­sus befo­re. It was car­ri­ed out when Qui­ri­ni­us was gover­nor in Syria». (Luke 2:2 Hfa).

God arran­ged for Joseph and Mary to come to Beth­le­hem! The events sur­roun­ding the birth in Beth­le­hem were announ­ced seve­ral cen­tu­ries in advan­ce and God has kept his word over this long peri­od of time. He is the one who moves the world! Not­hing is impos­si­ble with him. It is easier to wait for some­thing that is sure to hap­pen! God also moves the stars! The­re was a very spe­cial con­stel­la­ti­on of stars in the sky at that time that set the three wise men from the east in moti­on! They want to see the new­born King! They do not want to miss this sen­sa­ti­on. They bring gifts, wit­hout which Joseph could hard­ly have finan­ced the jour­ney to Egypt. God pro­vi­des for his people!

2. God revealed Himself in the course of the Christmas story through the angels, His servants and also through the Holy Spirit.

Accor­ding to what Mary heard from Eliza­beth through the angel, she goes and visits her. While doing so, Eliza­beth is fil­led with the Holy Spi­rit. «When she ente­red the house and gree­ted Eliza­beth, Elizabeth’s child leapt in his mother’s womb, and Eliza­beth was fil­led with the Holy Spi­rit.» (Luke 1:40–41 NL). Then we read of many ange­lic encoun­ters: Three times an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. Mary once, not in a dream, in a direct encoun­ter, as also with the she­p­herds in the field. A who­le host of angels sud­den­ly gathe­red around the angel with the she­p­herds: «Sud­den­ly the angel was sur­roun­ded by the hea­ven­ly hosts, and they all prai­sed God». (Luke 2:13 NL). To be honest, I would have loved to have been the­re. The­re is one more expe­ri­ence to men­ti­on: Sime­on lived with the pro­mi­se of the Holy Spi­rit that he would not die until he had seen Christ, his Lord. And on a hint from the Holy Spi­rit, he went to the temp­le on the very day when Mary and Joseph were also the­re. That was an expe­ri­ence for him, to then hold the child in his arms. «Now I can die peaceful­ly,» he says, «for my eyes have seen the Saviour, the light that shi­nes on all god­less peo­p­le.» Angels are the ser­vants of God. Angels exist – wit­hout a doubt. They are rea­li­ty. With us it is more the Holy Spi­rit who speaks to us and gui­des us through life with Jesus. His near­ness helps us to wait!

Christmas is a story with a message!

From Mary we can learn to take God’s word into our hearts and move it in our hearts. Mary came to hear many things in tho­se days: From the angel: He will be gre­at and will be cal­led the Son of the Most High. «The Lord God will place him on the thro­ne of his father David. He will reign over Isra­el fore­ver, and his king­dom will never fall!» (Luke 1:32–33 NL). The she­p­herds tell Mary what the angels have told them: «Do not be afraid! I bring good news for all peo­p­le! The Saviour – yes, Christ the Lord – has been born today!» (Luke 2:10–11 NL). Of cour­se, the she­p­herds also tell her how the host of angels wor­ship­ped God: «Glo­ry to God in the hig­hest hea­ven and peace on earth to all peo­p­le in whom God is plea­sed». (Luke 2:10–14 NL). Joseph told Mary what the angel had said to him: «Joseph, son of David, do not hesi­ta­te to mar­ry Mary. For the child she is expec­ting is of the Holy Spi­rit. She will give birth to a son. You shall give him the name Jesus, for he will free his peo­p­le from all sin». (Matthew 1:20–21 NL). From Sime­on she hears him pray: «Lord, now I can die in peace! As you pro­mi­sed me, I have seen the Saviour whom you have given to all peo­p­le. He is a light that will reve­al God to the nati­ons, and he is the glo­ry of your peo­p­le Isra­el». (Luke 2:29–32 NL).

All the­se words Mary took into her heart and moved, rol­led! Can God’s Word still move us and occu­py us, so that it beco­mes more and more pre­cious to us. We have it good! We have the who­le Bible. We can read ever­y­thing God has said in the Old and New Tes­ta­ments. Don’t we have it very good while we wait? Of cour­se, ever­yo­ne invol­ved in the Christ­mas sto­ry told their expe­ri­en­ces to others. This went like wild­fi­re through the world of that time. Thus Mary, Joseph, Sime­on and Han­nah beca­me ambassa­dors of the good news. This encou­ra­ged the peo­p­le to keep wai­ting. Tho­se who are allo­wed to have such a spe­cial expe­ri­ence tell ever­yo­ne about it and do it again and again – all their lives! We should never for­get that: We have some­thing to say! We have some­thing to tell! The Apost­le Paul says it like this: «So we are Christ’s ambassa­dors, and God uses us to speak through us. We ask fer­vent­ly, as if Christ were doing it per­so­nal­ly: Be recon­ci­led to God!» (2 Corin­thi­ans 5:20 NL). We all have our par­ti­cu­lar abili­ties and gifts to live and share this mes­sa­ge; let’s use them!

4. doing something makes waiting easier!

Mary and Joseph are encou­ra­ging for us for our faith and for our actions. They belie­ved what they heard. They went along with it. Joseph did not slip away and run away. Mary said to the angel: «I am the hand­maid of my Lord and God, I am rea­dy for what you have told me.» They have taken God’s word serious­ly. They had an open ear for God’s words. They were cou­ra­ge­ous. They have ris­ked say­ing yes to what God has asked them to do. When such a new year lies ahead, it is quite exci­ting: What does God have in store for me in the new year? Let Mary and Joseph encou­ra­ge you!

5. do not lose courage when you have to go through incomprehensible things.

Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt with the baby becau­se the child’s life was in dan­ger. Being a refu­gee! Moving to a for­eign world – wit­hout a moving van and trai­ler, only with a don­key – hundreds of kilo­me­t­res. What an ordeal for this fami­ly! And the infants who lost their lives becau­se of Herod? God should have… Why did­n’t God… This does­n’t fit at all with what he did with the Emper­or Augus­tus… What is this? Mary and Joseph did what God told them to do. Tho­se who are on the way with God in life some­ti­mes have to take incom­pre­hen­si­ble paths, accept incom­pre­hen­si­ble detours. Some of us could pro­ba­b­ly tell you about that too.

Sometimes Jesus shortens our wait with an encouraging experience.

This is what hap­pen­ed to the scri­bes and high priests of that time. Jesus enters the temp­le at the age of 12. He cele­bra­ted his Bar Mitz­vah with his fami­ly, his reli­gious coming of age. He stays in the temp­le a litt­le lon­ger than his par­ents think and lis­tens spell­bound. He pier­ces the tea­chers with his ques­ti­ons and talks. And ever­yo­ne is ama­zed at his intellect and his ans­wers. Again, that got peo­p­le tal­king and ama­zed! That is the only thing you hear about Jesus in the­se 30 years until his public appearance! Christ­mas – and then what? Wai­ting! To sum up: Christ­mas makes wai­ting easier for us, becau­se it reminds us of many things that are hel­pful for us as a wai­ting church today. Per­haps you see moun­ta­ins behind the door of the year ahead. Count­less see­ming impos­si­bi­li­ties. The­r­e­fo­re: With God no thing is impos­si­ble! Our God stands by his word! He has the visi­ble and invi­si­ble world in view and under his rule. God has pla­ced his angels around you and put his Holy Spi­rit in the hearts of belie­vers. We have a mes­sa­ge to move! We have some­thing to tell. The wai­ting time will be shorter if we con­scious­ly make our­sel­ves available to God with our gifts. Cheer up when we expe­ri­ence incom­pre­hen­si­ble gui­dance from God. God hims­elf shor­tens the wai­ting time through encou­ra­ging expe­ri­en­ces. Share them and encou­ra­ge others – like the she­p­herds! Amen.