Good Friday morning! Oy, I was up past my usual bedtime last night. This morning is starting out slowly for that reason. However, we had a good gathering together around a meaningless (to us anyway) pro football game. Our Denver Broncos have pretty much thrown in the towel on this season already, even to the point of talking about the coach's job security with 5 games still to play. I wonder why you don't often hear about the team's job security in cases like this? I guess the coach gets the responsibility for a bad season more often than not. The coach isn't supposed to be on the field at all, but still bears the responsibility for the play on that field. Seems a bit unfair. We play on a similar field.
Imagine God in the owner's box with Jesus at his right hand. The Holy Spirit coaches from the sidelines, sending in plays to get our team to the end zone. On the field is all of us. Like the players on any team, we can choose to obey the play sent in, follow a rogue leader and do something else, take off on a play entirely of our own making, wander off toward the wrong end zone, sit down and do nothing, and even sabotage our own team's effort. Some of us even get caught staring at the cheerleaders when we should be playing the game! We have the ability to choose how much we trust the coach, the owner and his son, and even our own leaders on the field. We also can decide whether to obey or to rebel. What if the coach doesn't send in a specific play though?
The leader on the field looks over to the sideline and receives the play: "Go score some points for our team, the goal is over thataway!" Huh? What kind of a play is that? The shepherds we read about yesterday didn't exactly receive a command to "Go!", instead the angel told them what they would find.
"And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. Luke 2:12-17
The angel didn't command the shepherds to go anywhere, but did tell them that they would find this sign when they went. It's much like a coach telling the team, "I'm not saying to score a touchdown, but if you take the ball to the end zone you will discover six points." We have a similar situation in that we don't know what the world is going to throw at us later today or tomorrow, we don't know what play will be called, and at times don't understand the play when it comes in to us, but God has told us what to look for when we get to wherever he is leading us. The shepherds didn't hear a command to go to Bethlehem, but the angel said that 'you will find this' which the shepherds understood clearly. They got together in herdsman conclave, said, "let's go!" and took off in haste for Bethlehem.
We don't know how far away they were, but it reads as though these shepherds were not far out of town. Mary and Joseph were still in the stable (barn,hayloft, corral, or whatever) and Baby Jesus was wrapped up in baby cloths and laying in a manger. I've been to Bethlehem, and the cave is apparently just underneath this huge cathedral, so the shepherds should have found it easily enough even at night. Their haste reminds me of Jesus telling the disciples that each of us must quickly be about the work the Father has given us. That may not be an exact quote, but the similarity is striking. The shepherds had no direct command, but they knew where to go and what they would find. And then the shepherds did what we are called to do: witness! They told what they had seen and been told by the angel. They passed on the words of the heavenly host and what they found in Bethlehem. We don't have to overcome people with our intellect, stun anyone with our superior reasoning, or convince them with logical argument; we simply tell what we have heard, the good news of Jesus Christ!
I'm kidding about the cathedral of course. It was probably built at least a century or two after Jesus had ascended to Heaven. Have a great Friday and Merry Christmas!
Bucky
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