Tuesday, Dec. 11

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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!”  - Luke 2:8-14

I don’t know about you, but I cannot hear this passage read without having images of Linus reciting it in the Charlie Brown Christmas special.  Incidentally, in 1965, Charles Shultz (the  creator of Peanuts and writer of the classic Christmas special) insisted that CBS include the scene of Linus reciting the passage in Luke 2 from the KJV.  The network executives wanted to cut it for fear that it would hurt the ratings, but Shultz refused to budge, and it has been aired that way every year since!

On the one hand, I think it is great that television networks still air the special as Shultz intended (Bible and all).  But on the other hand, I sometimes wonder if that passage from Luke 2 hasn’t become just another of the many sentimental and cozy Christmas traditions in our culture.  Because, if we treat this passage as just another part of the warm sentimentality of the season, as just another of our many cultural traditions, like Christmas lights, Christmas trees and familiar Christmas songs, then we miss the point completely!

This passage is NOT comforting or cozy at all, it is actually a passage about terror and about fear!

Consider for a moment how this story starts...what are the shepherds doing before the angel appears to them?  They are doing what shepherds do, keeping watch over their flocks through the night.  They were not afraid of the dark were they?  Of course not, they were shepherds!  They were out in the dark just about every night, they were used to it.  They were not afraid at all, until the light came.  It was the divine light of heaven (the glory of God) that caused them to be afraid.  The old King James version says they were “sore afraid”.  The text actually translates to something like, “they feared with a great fear”.  In other words, they weren’t a little uneasy, or anxious, they were absolutely terrified.

Why?  What caused them to be so afraid?  This is actually one of the central themes of the Bible; that human beings love darkness but fear the light.

John 3:19  - And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 

1 John 1:5 - This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Isaiah 9:2 - The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

When you put these passages together, you begin to see that the message of Christmas (and of the Gospel) is that God has brought the glorious light of His Son into this dark world!  Ironically, the light we so desperately need, is the light we often run and hide from.  Jesus came into the world, so that we would not have to be afraid or walk in darkness any longer.

John 8:12 - Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jeff Frazier