December 21, 2012
Luke 2:9-12
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
I love Christmas as there is just something about it which brings great surprise and anticipation. As I think about it, Christmas is the only time of year that you can honestly sit back and long for no matter what season of life you may be in.
Birthdays can be something that you may look forward to as a child but as you become older it loses its sense of excitement. I remember, as a child, looking forward to Christmas for a two-fold reason. When Christmas comes being a child you look forward to what you are going to get. In my case though I had Christmas then I got to do it all over again a month later with my birthday.
My birthday never compared to Christmas though. Here it is your birthday gifts are those things that someone else hated and returned back from Christmas just two weeks later or it was the thing that was put on clearance as a result of making room for the spring items.
The best thing I would remember is my mother would keep the tree up for just another month just for me. She would take down all of the Christmas ornaments and replace them with pictures of myself, things I made or just things I liked. She didn’t do this every year but deep down I would wish, “Is this the year she is going to decorate the ‘Chris’s Tree?” I know it sounds silly, but it is just those little things that as an adult you reflect on and remember the sacrifices made.
I have so many great memories though when I was a child just waiting for Christmas. I remember as the seven of us were trying to sleep my parents were tirelessly wrapping gifts all night long as we waited with excitement. At 3:00AM, seeing that none of us truly would sleep, we would sneak downstairs to look at the Christmas Tree with all the gifts under the tree. As a child it seemed like an ocean of gifts (I guess it was when you had seven children and six gifts each ranging in size and value).
The next thing we would hear as we would chatter around the tree was “GO BACK TO BED!” I never really understood that until I had children of my own. Here you are as a parent tirelessly thinking about some great things for your child or children, shopping every store on the planet, because Amazon and Google didn’t exist, waiting in line only to find yourself needing to travel to the next K Mart or Target. You finally find the gifts that you wanted at the prices you are proud about only to have to hurry the children off to bed and spend the next several hours wrapping gifts and making sure you can get a few hours of sleep before the children wake you up at the crack of dawn.
So as we are just a few days out from Christmas the question must be asked; “What are you waiting with anticipation for?” Maybe it is for the gifts under the tree or having family all around. Perhaps it is just the desire for a new beginning or the opportunity for the darkness of this year to end and the blessings of a new year to begin.
Imagine though for a minute if you were told a promise that has been handed down over generations. You find yourself hearing about the promise from your parents and when you go see your grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles you hear it yet again. As you get older you think to yourself, “I have been hearing this for years and I don’t know if this would ever or could ever happen.”
Then one night you fall asleep and have a dream. The dream you had to check yourself on though. Was it real or truly just a dream? As you were starting to sleep you were visited by an angel who told you to get up as that which generations before you have told you about came true and go see for yourself. Would you get up and search with anticipation knowing all you were told about over the years had just come true and it happened just right down the street or would you drop your head back to your pillow and just try to sleep it off?
Now put yourself in the shoes of the shepherds. Here they are, their parents have told them about a Savior; someone who was going to be the King of the Jews. You have heard this all your life and now at the age of 45 you’re wondering if this would even be a reality. So you go into work, not the greatest job but it pays the bills and you have done well at it for many years.
It is the night shift and you stayed up helping your wife with the children, making sure everything is safe at home and readying to go off to work. So you’re tired. You think to yourself, “I just can’t wait to get to work. Maybe I can get a bit of shut eye during the down time.”
As you are sitting watching the cattle and making sure there is no one breaking in or any danger to your employer’s precious cargo you find yourself fall into a trance or maybe some would consider sleep. As quick as you fall asleep you see this massive light fall before you and a voice tell you to get up. In shear panic you think the world is about to end only leading to how long was I asleep and what is going on.
“Get up” the voice says again. “You have been waiting all of this time for what is happening. Don’t you remember what your family used to tell you?” says the voice.
As you rub your eyes you see a sight you have never seen before. “Am I dreaming or is this real” you think to yourself. As your eyes adjust you see what looks like a person bright as day against the dark sky.
As you jump to your feet the voice continues, “Go, because not too far from here you will find the king. He is born! Run don’t even wait a minute.” The next thing you see is a bright sky like uncountable stars and the most melodious song you have ever heard.
You get up and run. You find yourself running with a song in your heart. Could this be true? Could the Promised Savior really have come as I have been told?
To your amazement there He is, the promised Savior. He didn’t come in royalty rather in simplicity. He did not come with an entourage, but instead a humble cattle herder who was given a legacy, a promise. He came for you!
So as you approach Christmas the question must be asked. What are anticipating for Christmas? Are you looking for that Savior who is inviting you in and is here to heal the broken hearted, give sight to the blind and breathe peace into your situation and into your life?
That Savior is Jesus and He is inviting you in for Christmas! Get up, run and see what He is about.
CAL
