While reading the Christmas story in Luke this year, I noticed a phrase I had not seen before. Although I have read this section many times, the phrase had not registered like other small snippets have from other sections of holy writ. Luke tells us that the Shepherds “came with haste” to see the sight proclaimed by the angel, and that got me to thinking.
When I receive commandments or inspiration from God, do I “go with haste”? All of us in the Christian world talk as if Christ is important to us, but sometimes, even the best among us drag their feet to come to the Master or to do or become what he requires of us. After all, it’s not a request or a suggesting or even an expectation; the Lord requires something of us, our hearts and a willing mind.
Several weeks before Christmas, my mother told me about some of the things that make the season special for her. She told me that for her Christmas begins with the Messiah. What she meant was the music of Handel’s Messiah, but I liked how the phrase had other meanings. In our festivities, we hasten for gifts, for food, and even to spend time with loved ones, but we sometimes brush by that page in Luke that talks about why this is special compared to any other day.
Jesus was more than a man. Some people, including many Christians sadly, consider him a great teacher, a lesser prophet, or a good moralist. That is not possible. Either he was a stark raving lunatic, or he was exactly what he said he was- the Son of the Living God. He did not leave that open to interpretation. He did not intend to.
I think that sometimes we don’t hasten to Christ because we’re afraid. We’re afraid of the Herods or the dangers along the road or what exactly Christ will do. Men do not desire true nakedness before God as much as they like us to think. When you stand naked before God, He sees all your flaws, all your deceptions, and all of your sins. The true miracle of Christmas is that “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth would not perish but have everlasting life.” When we yield to temptation, which was inevitable, we find there is a way back.
People who are released from bondage run together and celebrate. Whether it be after our Revolution, outside the Bastille, once a man is paroled, it’s a time where we hasten together. Perhaps the shepherds understood it that way. When He read before the Sanhedrin, Jesus told them that the scripture from Isaiah had been fulfilled in their ears that day that He was come to proclaim liberty to the captive and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Let earth receive her king.
No comments:
Post a Comment