Christmas Day
A reading & reflection for your Christmas Day
Read: Luke 2:1-20
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths 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. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Reflect
The day is finally here. The day we’ve been longing for and looking forward to with expectation. Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King.
There will be a million things vying for your attention today, trying to get you to look away from Christ. There will be the stress of a full day’s schedule and trying to time naps for your children just right. There will be a snappy word from your spouse you’ll want to recount over and over in your mind, rehearsing resentment instead of attempting the difficult work of forgiveness and reconciliation. There will be feelings of loneliness and the unwrapping of gifts that make you feel unseen and unknown. There will be the suffocating feeling of grief and the temptation to despair as you face this day without the person you love.
We will fall short. We will, as Peter did, take our eyes off of our Lord Jesus. We will sin and we will get things wrong on this day as on every other day. And in those moments we can allow the Holy Spirit to draw our minds back to our Savior Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel. Even in this, our wandering minds and hearts, our snappy words and bad attitudes, our loneliness and grief, Christ is Emmanuel, God with us.
One of the great beauties of Scripture is that everything - every story, every promise, every word written - points to Christ. Jesus is the throughline from the garden to the manger to the day he will return again to judge the living and the dead. Everything is about him.
One of the great beauties of our lives is that they can do the same. Every moment of joy today as you savor a delicious meal, or watch the person you love light up as they open your gift to them, or sit by the gentle glow of lights on the Christmas tree points to Jesus Christ, the source of our joy. Savor these moments! Give thanks to God for them. He is a good Father who gives good gifts to his children.
Scripture is also clear that every moment of pain today can do the same. Our suffering, pain, grief, loneliness, all of it is under the authority of our Lord and Savior, and he is using all of it for our good (Romans 8:28.) Christ is not only with us in our joy, but even more so in our suffering. In our sufferings, our hearts can be united even more closely to Christ who suffers with us.
Today as we go about our celebrations, as our day fails to meet our expectations of it and we fail to meet our expectations of ourselves, may we draw near to Christ as he drew near to us on that day of his birth and draws nearer to us still today.
