FEAR NOT

And the angel said unto them, 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.  Luke 2:10-11

We read this every Christmas season.  With our daughters dressed in foil wings and halos and our sons draped in towels we read and remember the light that shone on the field as the angel addressed the sheep herders.  

The angel told the shepherds to not fear him but to listen to his words.  I have great news for you and everyone, he said.  A promise from long ago is coming to be. A Savior is born. The one Isaiah talked about.  The one you learned about from your mother and father and your Sunday school teachers. This is the Christ.   Not just another one, but the one.  

So much in this passage. Much more than the surface level content and much more than I can drag out but I saw these things with my heart. 

1. The angels brought good news.  This is it.  This is the gospel!  

2. It’s for all people!  It was never about some people, good people, rich people, power people, certain races or nationalities or denominations of people. 

If I stop right there, we are good.  We can say amen! and carry on with everything that we need to celebrate Christmas.  But as I read this again today I see this.  The shepherds were just your average working people. As my daddy used to say they put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else, well, figuratively.  They had good days and bad days and days
when they wanted to go home to kick the sheep dog.  They probably fought with their spouses, disciplined their kids, and faced sickness just like us.  They might have had financial woes, fractured relationships, and challenges with coworkers.  

To them the Angel said, I have good news even in your mundane day to day.  I have good news on the days that nothing else seems good.  

What is the good news? The shepherds might ask.  Is it that my bills will be paid by some landfall of unexpected money? Maybe the (sheep) market will skyrocket! My family will once again be whole, my kids will be off drugs, or my grief will go away?  Or by some miracle this sickness will leave me.  

But the good news is good news not because it fixes all the wrongs but because it is life.  It is life everlasting and eternal.  It may not be fixed here.  It may not be healed, restored or whole on this side of heaven but because of this birth we don’t have to be afraid.  Fear not.