It would be nice if all the best ideas I have for all the best posts I write were my own.  But they’re not.  So often the words you read or hear from me, while mine in print or speech, were inspired, appropriately, by the person who is my inspiration in so many areas of life, my wonderful bride, The Much Younger Trophy Wife.  And so it is with this … thanks for the idea, honey …

Into the chill and quiet of an unremarkable night a herald suddenly and brazenly proclaimed, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”  These are familiar words for millions.  Their familiarity brings peace and comfort.  But that same familiarity hides questions that need asking. Why did God make His announcement now?  Why didn’t He wait until Jesus was a young boy or a man beginning His work?  Why proclaim the arrival of the Hope of humanity at the very beginning, when the Christ child was not even a child, but an infant?

I suspect the full answer is far more deep, elegant and inspiring than my explanation will be, but I pray it provides you some encouragement this Christmas.

It wasn’t simply information that the angels were disseminating in the quiet hills of Judea, it was inspiration.  It was not as if God was running down a cosmic checklist of things to do to make His son’s birth memorable and was now at item #9, “Cue the angels!”  It wasn’t that God was revealing yet another part of His plan to redeem humanity, although we’re getting closer.  Bethlehem’s birth is, indeed, the first step down the road to Calvary’s Cross.

I often refer to God as The Great Economist because of His ability to pack so much substance into even the most mundane of things.  And so it was that night.  Beyond the event being announced, the manner in which the announcement was made opens our eyes a bit more to the character of God Himself and provides another reason for rejoicing and hope.

Why announce the birth of Christ at this time and in this manner?  Why not to kings and rulers?  Why not when His Son is about to begin his ministry and acquire some notoriety?  Because announcing His Son in this way adds to the information being provided a more subtle message which, if we permit,  bolsters our faith.

God is demonstrating companionship in making the announcement in this way.  The time would come for His Son to be announced to “kings and rulers”.  That herald would be Paul the Apostle.  But the King of Kings is not impressed with the rulers of men.  The sovereign of all creation does not distinguish between the man on the throne of power and the one in the throes of poverty.  It is we who apply such false criteria.  The announcement was of “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to ALL people”.  In order to emphasize that relationship with God was available to all men, regardless of status, the announcement was made to the lowliest of men.  If those with worldly reputation are offended that the masses are offered companionship with the Almighty, it might be wise for them to remember that, to Him, they are also part of humanity’s masses.

God is demonstrating confidence in making the announcement in this way.  All of His plans are wrapped up in that bloody, mewling, swaddled newborn.  When the herald makes his proclamation, none of those plans are realized yet.  Everything is just potential at this point.  That potential includes potential problems, too!  Why make such an important announcement when your plans are at their weakest, their most vulnerable?  Every endeavor has a beginning.  When one knows the end of a matter, as and even before it begins, one’s perspective is decidedly different.  Consider your attitude when you sit down to play checkers or tic-tac-toe with a child.  The only way that child is going to win is if you let it.  That does not speak ill of the child, it speaks highly of you.  Your understanding and ability to deal with the twists and turns in the game ahead are more than sufficient for you to be able to predict the outcome of the game with confidence.  Thus the bold announcement that the helpless Child is, indeed, “a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!”

Finally, God was demonstrating courage in making the announcement in this way.  That He was confident did not mean that there were not very real threats to the plans that He revealed on that peaceful night. From His infancy when soldiers were dispatched to kill him by a threatened ruler to His adulthood and the dispatch of yet more soldiers to haul Him before a kangaroo court and ultimately hand Him over to yet another threatened ruler, the very life of Christ was at risk.  His family had to flee for their lives to Egypt; Satan tried to tempt Him into killing Himself; and, even the crowd that accompanied Him wherever He went tried to throw Him off of a cliff at one point.  Who knows how many other threats to the plans of God  remain unrecorded?  Yet Emmanuel, God with us, faced them all and bested each and every one of them.  Even at the end, understanding the dynamic of the will of God, He proclaimed His life was His to surrender, not man’s to take.  Thus, the incredible announcement into a dangerous world, “Fear not!”

Companionship. Confidence. Courage.  For all men. Because a Savior is born. We need not fear.  That is the message that was proclaimed at the beginning.  It was made then instead of later because of our frailty.  The truth of the matter is that a man starts each day of his life alone, unsure and afraid.  But with each dawn comes the message of the manger of companionship, confidence and courage.  “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Merry Christmas,

Blue Collar Muse