'Twas the Day After Christmas

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:17-20

Our text tells us how to celebrate Christmas. In its most literal sense, this passage describes the various responses of people to the birth of Christ. In our own culture Christmas means holly and mistletoe, parties, gifts, carols, eggnog, big meals, a decorated tree, and last-minute shopping.

These things are not objectionable in themselves, none of them (with the exception of giving gifts) has anything to do with the circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ.

The principle of celebrating the coming of Christ to the world is certainly a good idea. Some Christians frown on Christmas for various reasons and some even oppose it altogether. It is easy to decry the commercialization of Christmas. But, we who are Christians ought to enjoy this season of the year. It would be a double shame if we allowed the world to take this holiday (a word that really means “Holy Day") away from us.

Should we celebrate Christmas? By all means! How should we celebrate this great day? The first and most obvious answer is this. You should celebrate Christmas by becoming a Christian. After all, this is why Jesus came to the earth. He was born to be a Savior. And until you can call him “my Savior,” you will never fully understand what Christmas is all about.

This is where Christmas should begin for all of us. What should be added to this? Our text describes four responses of those who first heard the news that Christ had been born and tell us how to celebrate Christmas—not just in December but all year long.

1. “When they had seen him, they (shepherds) spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (Luke 2:17).
Shepherds generally came from the lowest elements of society. In that day, they were so little trusted that a shepherd’s testimony would not be accepted in a courtroom. Most shepherds were considered on a par with Gypsies, vagrants, and con men. Add to that the fact that shepherds were on the lowest rung of the economic ladder and had little or no formal education.

And that makes the story all the more remarkable. First they heard and saw the spectacular angelic revelation. Then when they went to Bethlehem they discovered the Savior of the world in a feeding-trough in a rough, outdoor barn, perhaps a cave carved out of the rocky hillside. The birth and the revelation didn’t seem to go together. Yet there it was—all from the hand of God.

God has been “silent” for 400 years, and now when He speaks, it is not through prophets as in OT. He now speaks through angels to lowly shepherds on a remote hillside outside a tiny Judean village.

It wasn’t a likely way to win the world. Certainly not the way we would have done it. If we had planned it, Jesus would have been born in Jerusalem, to a wealthy family, and attended by the high and mighty. That way no one would doubt that the Son of God had come to earth.

But God’s ways and ours are not the same. He chose to reveal the news to the shepherds first of all. After their initial (and understandable) fear, they responded in faith. They believed the angel, they immediately went to Bethlehem, and they found the baby Jesus. Everything was just as the angel said it would be.

And what did they do then? They told everyone they met what they had seen and heard.

Would have been as obedient? Would we have believed? Would we have gone to Bethlehem in the middle of the night? Would we have been as quick to tell the story?

Then they did what all Christians should do. They “spread the word” about Jesus. When you get down to it, that’s all evangelism is. It’s telling the good news about Jesus Christ to someone else.

What the shepherds did, we all can do. You need no authority, no permission, and no special training to tell the Good News of Christ. Simply tell what you know to be true. Talk about Jesus. Tell who he is and what he has done for you. Share your story and then invite others to come to Christ just as you did. That’s what the shepherds did. That’s what all of us are called to do. This is the first way we can all celebrate Christmas.

2. “And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2:18).
“Amazed” is probably a mild word to describe the reaction of those who heard the shepherds. The story itself would sound incredible—the part about hearing an angelic choir in the middle of the night, not to mention finding the Son of God in a feeding-trough. And to think that God chose lowly shepherds as the first evangelists.

It’s important to understand that there are two kinds of amazement. The first has to do with temporary fascination over an unusual turn of events. If I had told you at the beginning of the football season that Auburn would be playing for the BCS championship, that would have provoked amazed laughter even from the most diehard fans, to say the least. But unlikely as this has been, it was not be supernatural in the literal sense. Underdog teams occasionally get on a roll and win championships. It’s unusual but not miraculous.

The second kind of amazement we could call “Holy Wonder.” It’s a kind of awe that comes from seeing God at work in the world. In the deepest sense all the acts of God are grounds for holy wonder since everything he does has the stamp of the divine on it. Go all the way back to Genesis and you discover that God created the entire universe out of nothing. He spoke everything into existence. Genesis 1-2

Christmas is indeed a cause for holy wonder. How can it be that God should become a man? How can a King be born in a feeding-trough? How could the world ignore his coming? And what sort of God comes into the world like this?
You ought to be amazed at Christmastime. If you managed to go through this Christmas season without ever pausing to think about the wonder of it all, then you have missed the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

3. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
The word “pondered” goes deeper than “wondering.” It means to take the events as you have laid them out in your memory and then to go beneath the surface to try to understand what it all means

Mary certainly had plenty to think about. No doubt she continued to wonder why God had chosen her, and surely she pondered what was ahead for her newborn son.

Pondering is hard work, which is why many of us never get around to it. And yet this is the perfect time of the year to do it. What better time than the end of December to ponder what God has been teaching you? To look back over the last 12 months and consider the ways and works of God in your life and in the world around you? To do find a quiet place, turn off all your “electronics” and begin with a prayer asking God to show you the things he wants you to learn.

Make a “Top Ten” that have happened in your life in 2010. Those things can be events that happened to you personally or things that happened to others that had a major impact on you. Those things can be good or bad, victories or defeats, it doesn’t matter. Make the category as broad as you like.

As you look at your list, ask God to show you what patterns are at work. What is God teaching you? What lessons seem to come up again and again? What have learned about yourself (positively and negatively) this year? Now focus on the Lord. What have you learned about God’s character this year? Ask the Lord for insight as to where he might be leading you in the year to come. Use all of this as the basis for some personal prayer requests as you enter 2011. If you do this exercise with an open heart, God will meet you and show you fresh insights that will give you insight about the past and hope for the future.

Mary pondered what God had been doing in her life. That’s a helpful practice for all of us to follow.

4. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2:20).
The final verse tells us that the shepherds were profoundly changed by what they had experienced. What a difference a day makes. On the day before Christ was born, they were in the fields tending their sheep. On the day after he was born, they were back in the fields once again. Only this time their hearts were filled with praise to God and the amazing things they had seen and heard. And they simply couldn’t stop talking about what they had seen and heard.

And note where they did it. The text does not say that they glorified God in the temple, though that would have been appropriate. No, it says they “returned” to where they had been. Back to the tiring and unappreciated work of caring for sheep. Having seen the Babe in the manger, it was time to go back to work.

And so they did. And so must we. Christmas eventually ends for all of us. Soon enough we will take down the tree, pack away the ornaments, and either use our gifts or take them back to the store to be exchanged. In a few days the children will go back to school and life will return to normal.

But will we be changed by Christmas? Or will it be business as usual in 2011? For the shepherds, life would never be the same. Oh yes, the work was the same but they were different. They went back with new zeal, new joy, and new love for God in their hearts.

People sometimes wish they could keep the Christmas spirit all year long. Would you like Christmas to last all year long? It can if you will do what the shepherds did. Go back to where you came from.

Back to your office. Back to your factory. Back to your job. Back to your family duties.

Go back to the humdrum of daily routine. And as you go back, glorify God and praise him. That is what the shepherds did. Christmas didn’t change their circumstances, but it changed them deeply and profoundly. And because it changed them, it changed the way they approached their daily work. Yes, they still had to deal with cranky sheep and sometimes they had to step in sheep manure, but that hardly mattered now. They had seen the Christ child.

Have you seen Jesus this year at Christmastime? If you have, then go back to what you were doing before and take the memory of Christmas with you. Glorify God and praise him as you go about your routine and you will find your days filled with joy.

How shall we celebrate Christmas now that Christmas is past? By following the inspired outline in Luke 2:17-20.