The Miracle of Christmas

Abingdon Press

Chapter One

The Miracle of Good News

Scripture: Read Luke 1:39-45.

His name was Joey. Joey was nine years old and in the fourth grade. He was so excited because his teacher, Miss Thompson, had chosen him to be in the annual Christmas play. Joey was going to be one of the Christmas angels, and he was more than a little nervous, because he had a speaking part in the play, and memorizing lines was not his strong suit. He had only one line, but Miss Thompson told him that it was one of the most important lines in the whole story.

Joey was to play the angel of Christmas, and at the most dramatic moment in the pageant, he was to say, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy." This was a problem for Joey, because he didn't know what those words meant. He had never in his whole life said the word behold, and the words glad tidings were also not to be found anywhere in his nine-year-old vocabulary.

Miss Thompson sensed Joey's frustration, and she said to him, "Joey, simply imagine that you have just heard the most wonderful news, and you have run to tell your friends all about it. That's what 'Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy' means." Joey took in her explanation, and he went to work. Finally he mastered the line, and he could say it with dramatic flair and boldness, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy!"

And when the night of the big performance came, Joey was ready. At least, he was ready until the curtains opened and he saw all those people out there, and then there were those bright spotlights shining directly in his face. Joey got a classic case of stage fright, and his mind went completely blank. For the life of him, he could not remember his line. Not a word of it. But he did remember what Miss Thompson had told him about running to tell his friends some wonderful news, so when it came time for his line, instead of saying, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy!" Joey blurted out, "Boy, oh boy, do I have good news for you!" The audience laughed loudly and gave Joey a standing ovation.

Now, a few people got upset with Joey, because they felt that he had ruined the Christmas play. But more (many, many more) loved it and felt that Joey's blurted-out words were the highlight of the pageant, and that through a little child it had happened—Christmas had come once again!

Joey's unusual performance actually happened years ago, but to this day in that community, when the people gather for the annual Christmas play, they all talk about Joey and how on that night long ago Joey got the words wrong but the spirit right when he shouted out with great enthusiasm, "Boy, oh boy, do I have good news for you!"

Well, Joey was right, wasn't he? Christmas does have good news for us, incredible news, amazing news, the greatest news this world has ever heard.

Christmas also has some wonderful lessons about life to teach us. We see that, for example, in the first chapter of Luke's Gospel in this beautiful scene where Mary, who is to become the mother of Jesus, goes to visit her older cousin Elizabeth, who also is expecting. Elizabeth, even though she is quite old to be having a baby, will soon miraculously deliver a baby boy who will grow up to be John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, the one who will prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. God blessed both Mary and Elizabeth with miracle births, that he might bless the world with the miracle of Christmas.

Notice this: God first sends an angel to Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, then to Mary and Joseph, then to the shepherds, and in each case, the angel says, in essence, "Boy, oh boy, do I have good news for you!"

Now, let's look at this poignant passage in Luke 1 in which these two expectant mothers (one quite old and one quite young) get together to talk about the miraculous things that are happening, and to affirm and support each other. Boy, oh boy, is there good news here for you and me! Let me show you what I mean.

First of All, Look at the Good News of Christmas Found in the Faith of Mary

Her strong, unflinching, unwavering faith is amazing. Some years ago, Kenny Rogers came out with a new Christmas song called "Mary, Did You Know?" It's a pensive, contemplative song with a poignant, haunting melody. The composer is asking Mary if she really knew and understood the amazing thing that was happening. Did she really comprehend who her baby boy was? Did she realize what her Son would do in the world and for the world? Did she know already the good he would do, the miracles he would perform, the good news he would bring? And then the song concludes with these powerful words: "[Mary] did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb? / This sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM?"

Well, what do you think? How much did Mary know? Let's go back to the story in Luke and find out.

There is so much to learn from Mary. She has so much to teach us about real faith. When we see her so beautifully portrayed in Christmas pageants and on Christmas cards and in Nativity scenes, she looks so serene and lovely and the whole matter appears so simple and easy.

But—think realistically about it for a moment. Consider realistically what Mary went through. It must have been incredibly difficult:

• the whisperings behind her back

• the finger-pointing

• the false accusations

• the raised eyebrows

• the questions

• the gossip

• the criticism

• the family pressures

• the crude jokes

• the cruel laughter

• the poverty

• the heavy taxes, not to mention the hard journey back to Joseph's place of birth, mandated by the census at a time when an expectant mother shouldn't have had to travel anywhere (see Luke 2:1-7)

• the birth in a stable, with no doctor, no midwife, no medicine, and no anesthetic

• nothing, but faith in God!

Mary was just a teenaged girl from a poor family who lived in an obscure village, which itself was under the rule of a despised foreign power. Then one day, out of the blue, an angel came to her with a message from the Lord, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1:30-32 RSV). And all of this was going to happen without Mary's ever being intimate with any man.

Now, be honest. Would you have believed that? The remarkable thing is that Mary did! That's real faith, isn't it? She was willing to hear God's word, obey God's will, and entrust the future in God's hands, even though it put her in an awkward, difficult, complicated situation. How would she explain this? How would she communicate this to her parents? How would she tell Joseph? They were legally betrothed. They had not yet consummated their marriage, but they were considered as good as married, and in those days when you became formally engaged as they were, the only way you could be separated was through divorce. How could she tell Joseph that she was going to have a baby, and how would he handle it? And what would the neighbors say?

It was a tough situation for Mary, and most of us would have asked the Lord to find someone else to do this job. But not Mary. She did not know what was ahead for her and her son—not a lot of specifics, not a lot of details—but her answer to the angel was a model of real faith, "I am the handmaid of the Lord," she said. "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38 RSV). Or in other words, what Mary said was, "I am the Lord's servant. O Lord, thy will be done. Use me, O Lord, as you will. I trust you completely." What a powerful portrait of faith we see in Mary!

Let me ask you something. Do you have faith like that? Can you say, "Thy will be done, O Lord," and really mean it, really trust God like Mary did? Is your faith that strong? That's something to think about, isn't it?

The faith of Mary: that's number one.

Second, Look at the Good News of Christmas in the Encouragement of Elizabeth

In Luke 1, when Mary comes to visit her older cousin Elizabeth, isn't it beautiful how Elizabeth responds? No jealousy, no skepticism, no cynicism, no suspicious questions—just loving affirmation, positive reinforcement, an "I love you," "I'm so happy for you," "I'm so proud of you," "I'm here for you" (see Luke 1:39-45, 56). We all need someone like that.

When I was a teenager, my older cousin Marie filled that role for me. She was twenty-five years older than me, and no matter what, she was always glad to see me, always glad to listen to me, always loving, always upbeat, always affirming, always encouraging. I could bring my joys and sorrows, my victories and disappointments to Marie, and I knew before I said a word just how she would respond— with love and encouragement. I have wonderful memories of Marie and her wisdom, the ways in which she always gave me the positive reinforcement I needed.

Some years ago at a university in the Midwest, some students in a psychology class were studying the power of positive reinforcement, the impact it has on a person when you give encouragement, and the debilitating effect that comes when positive reinforcement is withheld. The psychology professor was called out of the room for a few moments one day. Now, leaving psychology students alone even for a few minutes is risky business, as the professor soon found out. The students decided to have some fun with the professor and, at the same time, to test his theories about positive reinforcement.

The professor was in the habit of pacing back and forth across the front of the classroom as he lectured. So the students decided, without the professor's knowledge, to do this: every time the professor moved toward the radiator in the classroom, they would give him dramatic positive reinforcement. They would say, "Yes! All right! Amen!" They would applaud and smile and nod and take notes like crazy. With verbal expression and body language they affirmed and encouraged him as he walked toward the radiator.

But when he moved away from the radiator, the students would do the opposite. They would moan and groan and yawn and stretch and put their pencils down. They would look out the window or nod off as though they were about to fall asleep, and they would look and act as if they were bored to tears. Now, they never told the professor what they were doing, and he never figured it out. But by the end of the week, he was giving his entire lecture sitting on the radiator!

We all need it, positive reinforcement, and this is one of the great messages of Christmas. God, through the gift of the Christ Child, reaches out to us with love and encouragement and affirmation, and he wants us to live in that spirit, as Elizabeth did. God wants us to celebrate one another and to give one another the positive reinforcement, love, and encouragement we all need.

How is it with you right now? Are you a child of faith like Mary? Are you a child of encouragement like Elizabeth?

Third and Finally, Look at the Good News of Christmas in the Action of God

The gracious, loving, forgiving, seeking, saving action of God: This is the good news of Christmas! God will not give up on us. God will not desert us. God will not let us go. God comes to where we are, looking for us with his amazing grace and his sacrificial, redemptive love.

In 1989 an earthquake hit Armenia, and over 25,000 people lost their lives. One area hit especially hard had an elementary school in it. After the tremors had stopped, a father of one of the students raced to the school to check on his son. When the father arrived on the scene, he was stunned to see that the school building had been leveled. Looking at the mass of stones and rubble, he remembered a promise he had made to his little boy, Arman. He had told him, "No matter what happens, Arman, I'll always be there for you." Remembering his promise, he found the area closest to his son's classroom and began to pull back the rocks. Others had also come, and they said to the man, "It's too late. You know they are all gone. No one could survive that! You can't help them now." Even a policeman urged him to give up and go on home.

But that father refused to quit. For eight hours, then sixteen, then thirty-two, and then thirty-six hours, he continued to dig through the rubble. His hands were raw and his energy gone, but he would not give up. Finally, after thirty-eight wrenching hours, he pulled back a boulder, and he heard voices. He recognized his son's voice. He called out to him, "Arman! Arman!" And a voice answered him, "Dad, it's me!" And then the boy said, "I told the other kids not to worry. I told them you would come save us because you promised, 'No matter what, I'll always be there for you.' I knew you would never give up."

This is the good news of Christmas, isn't it? God comes into the rubble of our lives and seeks us out and saves us. We see the miracle of Christmas in the faith of Mary and in the encouragement of Elizabeth, but most of all, we see it in the saving action of God.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

1. Share your definition of good news, and describe how it feels to be able to share good news with others. 2. In your own words, describe Mary. In what ways did she demonstrate her faith in God's plan? 3. What can we learn from Elizabeth about giving encouragement to others? Who has been a source of encouragement in your life? 4. How have you experienced the saving action of God in your life, or where have you seen it in the lives of others? 5. What does the good news of Christmas mean to you? In what ways do you share the good news of Christmas?

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for miracles, and for being able to share the good news of Jesus with others. Help us grow in faith and in love. Prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus, that we may experience the joy and blessings of Christmas. Amen.

Focus for the Week

Begin your observance of Advent by contemplating the tidings of great joy that arrive each Christmas. How are you transformed by the birth of Jesus? Is there evidence of joy in your daily life? Think about the good news of the Savior's birth each day this week, and consider ways you can share that good news with others.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Miracle of Christmasby James W. Moore Copyright © 2006 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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