Where Is the Baby?
“And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.” (Luke 2: 16 – 20)
The beginning had ended. The shepherds came, saw the Christ child, and left, leaving Mary musing over what just happened. That pattern is still experienced in Christmas today.
If you think about it, some Christmas traditions are very strange. The greeting on one certain Christmas card goes like this: “Christmas is just plain weird. What other time of year do you sit around staring at a dead tree in your living room and eat candy out of your socks.”
There is nothing weird about Christmas, but all things are miraculous. The events of the first Christmas are worth emulating today.
THEY PROMOTED (Vs. 16)
Like the shepherds who had received the message from the angels, they came and visited baby Jesus. All this combined they became effusive in telling others. They promoted what had happened. Today we “talk-up” the advent of Christmas as no other time of the year. It is a joyous “Go tell it on the mountain” time like no other.
THEY PONDERED (Vs. 19)
After the shepherds left and before the Wise Men arrived Mary pondered what had just happened. After Christmas is a good time to reflect on what you have just seen and heard. Think about it and how it applies to your life. Be spiritually refreshed by what just happened and what effect it has on you. Don’t let Jesus get lost in secular activities.
There was a wealthy European family that decided to have their newborn baby dedicated in their enormous mansion. Dozens of guests were invited to the elaborate affair, and they all arrived dressed elegantly. After depositing their wraps on a bed in an upstairs room, the guests were entertained royally. Soon the time came for the main purpose of their gathering: the infant’s ceremony. But where was the baby? No one seemed to know. The child’s governess ran upstairs and returned with a desperate look on her face. Everyone searched frantically for the baby. Then someone recalled having seen him asleep on one of the beds. The baby was on a bed all right—buried beneath a pile of coats, jackets, and furs. The object of that day’s celebration had been forgotten, neglected, and nearly smothered. The baby whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas is easily hidden beneath the piles of traditions and cultural observances of the season. We need to enter every Advent season asking, “Where’s the baby?”
THEY PRAISED (Vs. 20)
The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God. That should be the lasting result of our celebration. Make it your lifestyle.
The Second Noel – Part Four
Part of the second noel was the announcement of God’s good will toward all.
In the supernatural act of Jesus’ birth God was showing His strong desire for our “good will.” His will toward us is good. He designed, devised, and desires our good will. Only we can prevent it.
On His natal night the shepherds heard the angels issue an ageless proclamation of “goodwill” on earth.
In announcing the birth of Christ the world’s first communication satellite was put in orbit above Bethlehem. All of nature was at the Father’s disposal and He used a star to mark the locale of Christ’s birth.
There is a bit of wit circulating that notes what a difference it would have made if these had been three wise women rather than wise men. They would have stopped and asked directions, and arrived on time. They would have helped deliver the baby, clean the stable, make a casserole, and brought disposable diapers as gifts.
The Magi were guided by that star.
They were Magi, not magicians, astronomers not astrologists, scientists not wizards.
They were wise not because of their learning but because of their seeking for wisdom and truth. In Christ they found both.
Even the dumb animals in the manger in Bethlehem knew more about the Christ child’s birth than the pious religious leaders in Jerusalem. We must be certain that we don’t simply know a lot about Him, but fail to know Him personally.
In contrast to the wise men, the shepherds represent one of the lowest classes of the society of the era. They were desert dwellers of low esteem. As Christianity is for the wealthy intellects so it is also for the poor and uneducated. It is for the “as many as will.”
When the angels spoke to the shepherds they in effect responded:
“Let us go…” (Vs. 15).
They acted on what they knew, not letting what they didn’t know keep them from acting.
Now that you have heard what they heard, will you not respond as they and say, “I am going…” “I am going to receive Christ.” “I am going to respond openly as did the shepherds.”
The Second Noel – Part Three
“Peace On Earth”
Peace is both an event and a process. On September 2, 1945, representatives of Japan and America, the two powers that had been locked in World War II, met on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay and a peace treaty was signed. On that day peace was an event. Since that time it has been a process enjoyed by both parties to the treaty.
People want peace in their lives as a process. It is not possible without it first being an event. The event involves you signing a treaty with Christ. He has already signed it with His blood. Now by faith it is your turn to sign.
“Once on the eve of Christmas
when all strange things may hap,
I saw Mary the Mother
with her baby upon her lap.
I saw the Mother, Mary,
holding God’s little son.
She said to him, ‘Small one, tell me
When shall man’s war be done?’
Then the child spake and answered:
‘These wars shall end, said he,
when no man shall wound another
for fear of wounding me.’”
Many people misunderstand this angelic statement regarding peace to refer to the absence of war and hostility, and feel that it is unfulfilled.
Cynics scoff at the very idea of “Peace on earth…” They ask when and how. Longfellow wrote a poem that speaks to this.
“I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head:
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,
‘For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth good-will to men.’
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead, nor does He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.’”
The angelic statement was not a prophecy of peace, but rather a prescription for peace. Be certain to thank Him for the antidote for sin.
The Second Noel – Part Two
Audrey Mieir was absorbed in what was happening in her little church. They were having a Christmas presentation of the birth of Jesus. Mary was a teenage girl. The angels were young boys. The baby was a doll. Bathrobes revealed rolled up jeans under them. This simple setting provided for an electrifying moment. Audrey looked at the little children in the audience sitting open mouthed and expectant. Elderly friends wiped away tears remembering Christmases past. The pastor stood, raised his hands and said, “His name is Wonderful.” The words gripped Audrey. Immediately she began to write in the back of her Bible. She remembered that as she wrote it seemed to her God had something He wanted said. That night she sang the simple chorus around the piano with a group of youth. The words were simple and they picked it up right away.
“His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful…
Jesus my Lord.
He is the mighty king, Master of everything.
His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.
He’s the great Shepherd,
The Rock of all ages. Almighty God is He;
Bow down before Him, Love and adore Him,
His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.”
Though they said it, choirs and congregations have appropriately sung it through the years. There is victory in that pronouncement. In Latin it is “Gloria in Excelsus Deo!”
Under divine inspiration the Apostle Paul wrote: “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
The angels said: “Glory to God.”
Jesus taught us to pray: “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory…” He already has the glory. We are blessed to be vessels through which His glory is seen and by whom it is acknowledged.
Jesus’ coming focuses on the glory of God because in Him the attributes and attitudes of God are pleasantly revealed.
In the act of Jesus’ coming, God revealed a bit more of His glory which had been concealed.
The fundamental way we can accent the glory of God is by giving ourselves in trust to Him as our Savior and yielding to Him in service as our Lord. Giving is becoming.
“Go break to the hungry sweet charity’s bread,
For giving is living the angel said.
But must I keep giving again and again,
The weary worn question came.
No, said the angel, piercing me through.
Just stop giving when God stops giving to you.”
An old man on the city bus sat across from a little girl who was apparently from a poor family. As he sat holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers he noticed they had captured the attention of the little girl. Every time he looked at her she was looking admiringly at the flowers but quickly looked away.
When the bus stopped at his place of getting off he reached out and gave the flowers to her saying, “I bought these for my wife, but I know she would want you to have them.”
The bus stop was a bit longer than usual and the little girl watched as the old man got off the bus and entered through an old gate into a little cemetery.
Give yourself and your best to the Master before it is too late to give.
The Second Noel – Part One
Luke 2: 9 – 14
Jesus’ birth was attested to by citizens of Heaven and attended by citizens of earth. In it two worlds merged: the world of the natural and the world of the supernatural. For that reason His name was called Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.”
Christmas, the celebration of His birth, does many things for all of society. One thing it does is rekindle HOPE. In a culture where there appears to be so little hope, rejoice over its being available to all.
The song writer Oscar Hammerstein in talking about his personal philosophy once said: “I cannot write anything without hope in it…when people point out that the world has evil and ugliness in it…I merely point out I know about all of those things, but I choose to align myself to the hope side of life.”
My heart sings with Mary Martin those lines given to her by Hammerstein: “I’m stuck like a dope in a thing called hope and I can’t get it out of my heart.”
Hope is more than just a feeling—it is a vision, a way of looking at our world, a way of understanding the things that happen to us.
The Christmas story does not deny the presence of darkness, it just proclaims the presence of light.
It doesn’t ignore the reality of bitterness and hate, it just declares the dominance of love. It shouts of hope.
Christmas is a pencil sharpener for the emotions making them sharper and more sensitive.
Imagine the hope that must have sprung to life in the hearts of those astonished shepherds just outside Bethlehem on that eventful night when the angels came to them proclaiming Messiah’s birth. There was a threefold exhortation by the angels. They said —
Glory to God. Peace. Good will.
A plethora of diversions tend to minimize the Christ whose birth we celebrate.
Long before this guiding light Zacharias prophesied of another who would offer guidance: “The rising sun (Jesus) will come to us from heaven… to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
We pragmatic people tend to think of there being no other state of being other than those we can see and prove. In doing so, we overlook the existence of the angelic band.
The Hebrew word for angel is the same as the name of the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. It literally means “my angel.” I have a malachi and so do you. They are at work today as in the day of Christ’s birth. They are also called “ministering spirits.”
The text says there was a “heavenly host.” The word host actually means “army.” There was a large force of angels involved.
Daniel (7:10) said of angels “ten thousand times ten thousand attend unto God.”
The writer of the Revelation (5:11) spoke of “a world of angels.”
Hebrews 12:22 lost count and referred to an “innumerable company of angels.” They are without number.
There are 108 references to angels in the Old Testament and 165 in the New Testament. They are referenced in the Garden of Eden and depicted as active in the Book of the Revelation.
Together this army of angels spoke in praise to God.
The angels were the heralds of the one of which it was said, “His name shall be called Wonderful…”
Join the angels in praise this Christmas.