Poor 4-year-old Landry, from Andover, Kansas, hesitated to go to school on another Monday this last winter (February 28, 2022). Here he is caught on his home’s outdoor security camara. Take a look (show video: 4-year-old has severe case of the Monday’s; www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9NeN8emtCM ).
The lens is focused on the driveway and the street in front of the home. It’s a sunny but cold winter’s day, there are no leaves on the trees, and the lawn is brown. There is a yellow school bus waiting at the end of the driveway. Then we see four-year-old Landry bundled up in his coat with his backpack, walking down the driveway toward the bus. When he reaches the end of the driveway, he suddenly stops, plops backwards on the driveway, and just lays there. The bus attendant comes down the bus stairs and reaches down to help Landry to his feet, and they get on the bus together.
His dad Jason explained, “When he’s really tired, he gets a bit grumpy and then gets way overdramatic… I think we all feel like this on Monday, and I think that’s why it’s so relatable, to see the bus and be like, ‘I can’t do it today’” (“4-year-old has "case of the Mondays" while getting on school bus for preschool, CBS News, 3-4-22; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s the way some people face life every day. They’re exhausted with life’s challenges and a little bit grumpy. So, when they face the day, they think, “I can’t do it today.” Did you ever feel like that? Then I invite you to turn with me to Luke 2, Luke 2, where some exhausted, anxious people find peace and joy in the midst of some extraordinary challenges.
Luke 2:1-7 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 (ESV).
Sense the stress in these verses. Caesar wants to raise everyone’s taxes. Mary, a newly married teenager, is 9-months pregnant. And after a long journey, she finds herself in labor with no place to go except for a makeshift, lean-to, cow shed next to an inn. Now, having a baby produces enough stress in and of itself. But a young girl, delivering a baby in a shed, a long way from home, in a strange city where nobody cares, that’s really stressful!
In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe examined the medical records of over 5,000 patients to determine whether mental stress causes physical illness. They assigned points to various life stressors, which they called “Life Change Units” (or LCU’s), and they discovered that those with 300 or more LCU’s are at an 80% chance of a health breakdown in the next 2 years. Out of their study, they developed the Holmes Rahe Life Stress Inventory, which among other things includes:
• Marital separation at 65 Life Change Units
• Marriage at 50 LCU’s
• Marital reconciliation 45 LCU’s
• Pregnancy 40
• Adding a new family member 39
• Change in financial state 38
• Trouble with in-laws 29
• Change in living conditions 25
• Change in working conditions 20
• Change in residence 20
• Change in church activities 19
• Change in social activities 18
• Change in sleep habits 16
• Minor violation of the law 11
When you think about it, Mary and Joseph experienced all these events, surrounding that first Christmas, for a total of 435 Life Change Events. The total excludes divorce (73 points), as it was threatened but not carried out. It also excludes jail terms (40 points) or minor violations of the law (11 points), but Mary's pregnancy out of wedlock violated Jewish law, which could have resulted in stoning. Christmas (12) is also excluded (Editors’ Choice, Mary and Joseph on Holmes Rahe Stress Scale, www.PreachingToday.com).
This was a time of high stress for Mary and Joseph. Then there were the shepherds.
Luke 2:8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night (ESV).
Now, when you read this, don’t think about little boys in bath robes in a Christmas pageant. These are homeless, street people, with a reputation for being thieves and liars. Their testimony was not even allowed in a court of law. They are “living out in the fields,” because they have no where else to go, and they have to keep an eye on the precious few possessions they do have, namely their scrawny, little sheep. Like any homeless person, they live in fear every day, and especially at night, of being molested and robbed.
That’s when a stranger appears and scares them all half out of their wits.
Luke 2:9 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 (ESV).
This alien creature comes with a blinding flash of light, and you can be sure they were terrified! They could handle another thief. They could handle a wild animal. But this? How could they handle the supernatural? Their worst nightmare was coming true, or so they thought.
But the angel had a message for them, and he has a message for you, as well.
Luke 2:10-12 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” [i.e., in a cow’s feeding trough] (ESV).
God Himself has become a homeless person just like you. God Himself has entered your pain to deliver you from it. So…
SET ASIDE THE STRESS.
Calm your anxious heart. Lay aside the worry and be at peace.
Over 200 years ago, in 1809, a war-weary world was anxious as they watched Napoleon Bonaparte lead his invincible army across Europe.
In that same year, Willaim E. Gladstone was born in Liverpool. Alfred Lord Tennyson was born in Summersby, England. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany, and Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
However, people’s minds were occupied with battles, not babies. Yet, over 200 years later, we know that those babies had a greater impact on world history than those battles (Bible Illustrator #720; 11/1988.10).
In the same way, when Jesus was born, everybody was worried about what Caesar in Rome was doing. Nobody paid any attention to the birth of a little baby in Bethlehem. Today, Caesar is gone, and Jesus is still changing lives for eternity.
Think about it. When it is all said and done, that Baby’s birth in Bethlehem is going to have a greater impact on your life than any problem you are facing right now. So don’t focus on the problem. Focus on the Baby born in Bethlehem.
That’s what the angel said: “Fear not… For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” So don’t be afraid. Instead, find peace in Christ.
Luke 2:13-14 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!” (ESV)
Literally, Peace among men of good pleasure. I.e., Peace among those who are the objects of GOD’S good pleasure.
Gordon MacDonald talks about meeting a Nigerian woman who is a doctor at one of the major teaching hospitals here in the United States. She introduced herself using an American name. But MacDonald asked her, “What's your African name?” She immediately gave it to him, several syllables long with a musical sound to it. “What does the name mean?” he wondered.
She answered, “It means 'Child who takes the anger away.”
When Gordon MacDonald asked her why she was given this name, she said, “My parents had been forbidden by their parents to marry. But they loved each other so much that they defied the family opinions and married anyway. For several years they were ostracized from both their families. Then my mother became pregnant with me. And when the grandparents held me in their arms for the first time, the walls of hostility came down. I became the one who swept the anger away. And that's the name my mother and father gave me” (Gordon MacDonald, Leadership Weekly, 11-6-02; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s what happened when Jesus came into the world. Our sins had ostracized us from God. Then Jesus came—God’s own Son. He died on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Then he rose again, because God had accepted His payment for our sins. Jesus is the “Child who takes the anger away,” making it possible for us to have peace WITH God, our Heavenly Father.
More than that, Jesus also gives us the peace OF God. He gives us an inner calmness of spirit, despite any outer turmoil.
Lee Strobel describes that peace in his book, The Case for Christmas.
He talks about his days working as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, he was assigned to report on the struggles of an impoverished, inner-city family. Strobel a devout atheist at the time, but he was mildly surprised by the family's attitude in spite of their circumstances:
The Delgados—60-year-old Perfecta and her granddaughters, Lydia and Jenny—had been burned out of their roach-infested tenement and were now living in a tiny, two-room apartment on the West Side. There was no furniture in the apartment, no rugs, nothing on the walls—only a small kitchen table and one handful of rice. That's it. They were virtually devoid of possessions.
In fact, 11-year-old Lydia and 13-year-old Jenny owned only one short-sleeved dress each, plus one thin, gray sweater between them. When they walked the half-mile to school through the biting cold, Lydia would wear the sweater for part of the distance and then hand it to her shivering sister, who would wear it the rest of the way.
But despite their poverty and the painful arthritis that kept Perfecta from working, she still talked confidently about her faith in Jesus. She was convinced that Jesus had not abandoned them. Strobel says he never sensed any despair or self-pity; instead, there was only a gentle feeling of hope and peace.
Strobel completed his article, then moved on to more high-profile assignments. But when Christmas Eve arrived, he found himself thinking about the Delgados and their faith in God. He wrote, “I continued to wrestle with the irony of the situation. Here was a family that had nothing but faith, and yet seemed happy, while I had everything I needed materially, but lacked faith—and inside I felt as empty and barren as their apartment.”
So Strobel decided to pay them a visit. When he arrived, he was surprised at what he saw. Readers of his article had responded to the family's need in overwhelming fashion, filling their small apartment with donations. Once inside, Strobel encountered new furniture, appliances, and rugs; a large Christmas tree and stacks of wrapped presents; bags of food; and a large selection of warm winter clothing. Readers had even donated a generous amount of cash.
But it wasn't the gifts that shocked Lee Strobel, an atheist in the middle of Christmas generosity. It was the family's response to those gifts. In his words:
As surprised as I was by this outpouring, I was even more astonished by what my visit was interrupting: Perfecta and her granddaughters were getting ready to give away much of their newfound wealth. When I asked Perfecta why, she replied in halting English: “Our neighbors are still in need. We cannot have plenty while they have nothing. This is what Jesus would want us to do.”
“That blew me away!” Strobel wrote. “If I had been in their position at that time in my life,” he says, “I would have been hoarding everything.” When he asked Perfecta what she thought about the generosity of the people who gave her so much, she responded, “This is wonderful; this is very good. We did nothing to deserve this—it's a gift from God. But,” she added, “It is not his greatest gift. No, we celebrate that tomorrow. That is Jesus.”
To her, this child in the manger was the undeserved gift that meant everything—more than material possessions, more than comfort, more than security. And at that moment, Strobel says, “Something inside of me wanted desperately to know this Jesus—because in a sense, I saw him in Perfecta and her granddaughters.
“They had peace despite poverty, while I had anxiety despite plenty; they knew the joy of generosity, while I only knew the loneliness of ambition; they looked heavenward for hope, while I only looked out for myself; they experienced the wonder of the spiritual, while I was shackled to the shallowness of the material – and something made me long for what they had.” Or, more accurately, for the One they knew (Lee Strobel, The Case for Chrismas, Zondervan, 2005; www.PreachingToday.com).
Jesus, and Jesus alone, can bring us peace—not wealth, not the prestige of a high-profile job, not even the security of a big house. Do you want this peace? Then like the shepherds of old…
COME TO JESUS THIS CHRISTMAS.
By faith, enter His presence. Trust in His promise of salvation, and let Jesus fill you with his peace and joy.
Luke 2:15 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” (ESV).
Notice, they didn’t say, “Let’s see IF this thing has happened.” No. They said, “Let’s…see this thing that HAS happened.” They believed God. And THEN they found Jesus.
Luke 2:16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger (ESV).
A lot of people say, “Seeing is believing.” But that’s not the way it was for these shepherds. FIRST they believed, and THEN they saw.
Years ago, Peter Jennings hosted an ABC News documentary, called The Search for Jesus. He begins the documentary with these words: “Hello, I'm Peter Jennings, and we have been searching for Jesus—as reporters, that is, because it's an irresistible story” (The Search for Jesus with Peter Jennings, ©ABC News Productions, Inc., 2000; www.PreachingToday. com).
Now, you can search for Jesus all your life and learn a lot of interesting facts about Him. But you will never really FIND Jesus until you put your trust in Him.
Do you want the peace He offers? Then trust Him with your life. Give yourself fully and completely to Him. BELIEVE, and THEN you will see. BELIEVE, and THEN you will receive all that He has to offer. Come to Jesus, and then…
GO TELL EVERYBODY ABOUT HIM.
Share the good news with all your friends, and let people know what Jesus has done for you. That’s what the shepherds did.
Luke 2:17-20 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 (ESV).
Their panic has turned to praise. Their worries have turned to worship. Their anxiety has become adoration, simply because they believed God. They came to Jesus, and then they went out to tell the world what they saw.
You do the same. Come to Jesus this Christmas, and then go tell the world what He has done for you. It will make all the difference for you. It won’t change your circumstances—the shepherds still had to go back to their sheep. But it will change your heart—you will find peace and joy like you never thought possible. Your anxiety will be turned into adoration.
Russell Brownworth, from Thomasville, North Carolina, talks about his seminary days when his two older children were 9 and 7. They seemed to attract every other child in the mobile home park for after-school games of hide and seek.
His youngest, Carrie, was not quite 3—and (in the minds of the older siblings) always in the way. Like clockwork, ten minutes into the games, little Carrie would get pushed aside or skin a knee.
One afternoon, she came through the front door crying for mommy. She had gotten the worst again. Russel’s wife, Elizabeth, attempted to comfort her by giving her two freshly baked cookies. “Now, don't tell the big kids yet,” she cautioned, “I haven't finished; I don’t have enough for everybody yet.”
It took less than three seconds for Carrie to make it to the screen door, fling it wide, and announce to the big kids, “Cookies, I gots cookies!” (Russell Brownworth, Thomasville, North Carolina; www.PreachingToday.com).
Good news is too hard to keep to yourself. So don’t! Turn your worries into worship by sharing the good news about Jesus and what He has done for you.
Set aside the stress. Come to Jesus. Then tell everybody about Him. It’s the only way to face another Monday and all the days ahead.
Consider these words from Charlotte Carpenter:
Christmas is the gift from heaven
Of God's Son given for free;
If Christmas isn't found in your heart,
You won't find it under the tree
(Charlotte Carpenter in Herald of Holiness, Dec.15, 1982; www.PreachingToday.com).
Invite Christ into your heart and let Him change your life forever!
