Go Tell It On The Mountain

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAINS (LUKE 2:8-20)

The two weekends before Christmas are the busiest days of the year for the mall and the stores, for ordering and mailing, and for dining and catering. In Southern California alone, more than 20 million cards and letters and 1.5 million packages are postmarked the usual third Monday of December before Christmas (Los Angeles Times 12/18/01).

The American Express Retail Index, in its survey of consumers in 2001, projected that the average will spend about $1,564 per household for gifts, travel, entertaining, decorations and other expenses this year.

Every year consumers make December the busiest month of the year, and make Christmas the biggest party of the year, all for the wrong reasons. Christmas is the biggest festival in the western world, the biggest card giving holiday, and the biggest selling season. The first Christmas was a busy season. The Christmas shepherds were in a big hurry, too. On a quiet night in the country outside of Bethlehem, an angel appeared to shepherds who were watching their flock to tell them the good news. After hearing what the angels told them, the shepherds then made haste to Bethlehem to find and see and know baby Jesus for themselves.

What is the good news at Christmas? More toys for the kids, more time with each other, more things to do and more travel to make? What is our thrill and task at this time of the year?

Greet God’s Advent with Great Pleasure

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-12)

I love the story of the Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The Grinch is a mean, ugly, unhappy make-believe creature living by himself on a cliff across the eternally optimistic community of Whoville. He hated Christmas and decided to put an end to it after enduring the merry-making villagers’ noise and nonsense for 53 years.

On Christmas Eve, he put on a Santa Clause hat and coat, stole into the village, climbed into the chimneys and took all the presents while the villagers were sleeping. He took everything that is associated with Christmas, including tree, stocking, and decorations, and gloated over the villagers’ gloomy reaction and lost holiday when they discovered that all their presents were gone on Christmas morning.

The next morning the Grinch expected gloom and doom, but woke to the carols and songs he had heard for over half a century at this time of the year. He looked out his window in disbelief and saw that he had failed to dampen the villagers’ Christmas spirit. They were joining their hands and singing their hearts out as usual. He waited for people to the declare Christmas season a disaster or a letdown, but instead the people were more united and determined by their loss. The repentant creature was touched of the true meaning of Christmas and returned to distribute the stolen goods.

Christmas is the celebration of what’s inside, not outside. The great joy and the real joy of Christmas is the birth of Jesus that can never be taken away. The Grinch had stolen all the presents, toys and decorations but the villagers did not miss them. They were still standing together, holding hands and singing joyfully.

The first Christmas is a contrast between dread and delight. The Greek text used the word fear twice to describe how the shepherds felt at the angel’s sudden appearance: The shepherds “feared” (phobeo) a great fear (phobos megas)!” (v 9) This is the first instance of great fear in the New Testament (Luke 8:37, Acts 5:7, 11, Rev 11:11).The emphases in verse 9 are on the verbs “appeared,” “shone around” (peri-lampo) and “terrified.” (An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.) “Appeared” make a strong debut in the New Testament bypassing the 64 chapters in Matthew and Mark, but NIV fails to capture where the angel was standing. KJV translates it as “came upon,” but Luke 24:4 refers to the action of the two men who “stood by” the perplexed women who found the empty tomb. In Acts 12:7, the angel of the Lord “came upon” Peter and rescued him from jail. Christmas angels are often depicted as flying in the sky, but they first landed on the ground, grounded before airborne. This Greek word for “shone around” occurs only twice in the Bible, the other time describing Paul’s experience on the road when he saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, “blazing around” him (Acts 26:13).