Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, December 26, 2023
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: As Jesus embodies the promises of God, we can embody the acceptance of those promises.
There are many points of difference between Luke’s account of the Christmas story and Matthew’s that can leave us wondering what really happened on the night Jesus was born. Are we talking about shepherds or wise men? Is Herod involved or not? Did angels lead these people to Jesus, or was it a star? Could it be that both of these stories happened independent of each other?
Rather than getting caught up in the significance of these details, it might be more helpful to focus on the one thing that these stories have in common: while the people seeking Jesus knew what they were looking for, they didn’t actually know what to expect upon finding it.
Angels gave the shepherds guidance and encouragement; Herod gave the wise men a mission and instructions for executing it. But once the shepherds found Mary and Joseph—once the wise men knelt down to pay homage to Jesus—the magic, surprise, and beauty of encountering a fulfilment of ancient prophecy changed them forever—changed them in a way they couldn’t have foreseen; in a way they might not even been able to imagine or known how to hope for.
“Amazement” and “glory” are the words that Luke uses to describe this change. “Overwhelming joy” is how Matthew puts it. Whatever the exact verbiage, the shepherds and wise men react to Jesus so strongly and so explicitly that it is clear to us, as readers, that they are being transformed in the moment. The shepherds tell everybody they know what happened to them and why it matters. The wise men defy the ruling authorities of their day and make their own plans to keep traveling instead of returning to inform Herod as they had originally promised to do. It’s almost certain that none of them had planned on doing any of that as they were traveling to Bethlehem. But here they are. As the baby Jesus embodies the promises of God, the shepherds and the wise men embody the acceptance of those promises and the all-consuming delight that stems from that acceptance.
God’s hope for us when we hear the news that Jesus is finally here is that we experience amazement. That we experience glory. That we are so overwhelmed with joy that we can’t help but return to our familiar world with unfamiliar and radically new inspiration. Our good news this Christmas Day is that we have found what we have been looking for in Jesus, but that he is so different, so much better, and so much more than we every could have expected.
