The message was
out – the Saviour of the World, the Messiah, the Lord, Emmanuel, King of the
Jews … had been born.
The angel of the
Lord had said to the shepherds, “I am bringing you good news of great joy
for all the people”.
For the world of
any generation this would be very good news – we had received the answer to all
of our prayers.
God was up and
about!
How do we respond
to good news?
With celebration,
by talking about it, by being thankful! Just like grand-parents when there is a
new birth!!
What responses do
we see in the bible accounts?
The
Shepherds went and checked out for themselves what they had heard about; they
could have decided not to bother, but they said to each other “Let us now go to
Bethlehem”. They
talked widely about what they had heard and seen. They
went back to their job and daily lives glorifying and praising God – their
lives changed forever.
The
Magi followed the star all the way to the Christ child – something had stirred
in their souls; they certainly didn’t want to look back at their lives having
missed this opportunity. They
joyously worshipped Jesus, acknowledging him to be one of high rank (a “king”)
worthy of their honour. They spontaneously gave the best (most valuable) gifts that they could to Jesus. Such
gifts also seemed to suggest an understanding of the servant and suffering
nature of Jesus’ mission. The Magi gave Jesus primacy (first place) … avoiding any return to Herod (to give him
information).
THESE WERE RESPONSES OF KEEN
INTEREST, UNDERSTANDING, JOY, HOPE, WORSHIP & COMMITMENT.
THE CHRISTMAS
GOOD NEWS SEEMS TO BEG A RESPONSE: there is certainly encouragement
to respond in a deeper way than ever before, and possibly to move beyond
ourselves to a greater cause.
What is our
response?
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