“The good news of great joy changed the course of every silent night to come.”
“Two of my close friends will be married in a month’s time. Another has announced they’re having a baby. Others recently bought their first home. And still others are enjoying the thrill of finally finishing their studies and wondering where-to-next. These family members and friends were eager to share their good news with me. And each story brought me great excitement and joy.”
The good news I mentioned above probably didn’t bring you much delight. You don’t have the same relationships with these people as me, and so, no matter how you feel, you don’t naturally share my joy in their circumstances. Why would you?
Two millennia ago, a bunch of shepherds were filled with joy when they heard good news about someone they had never met. They were spending the night caring for their sheep, when a messenger appeared, telling them good news about a child who had been born. He wasn’t a nephew or the son of one of their friends. They didn’t know who his parents were. Yet when they heard this news, they were ecstatic. They bolted to see him. And they told everyone about his birth.
The good news of Jesus’ birth was not limited to his mother and father and their family and friends. It was extended first to the shepherds and then to “all the people“; Christ’s birth brings joy to the world. Today, we too have heard the good news of great joy that is Christ’s birth. In him, we sinners are reconciled to God receiving forgiveness, relationship and life. Just as we received this good news, we share it joining the triumphs of the skies to proclaim Christ is born. Year after year, we can revel and delight in the good news of Jesus’ birth. This is news worth hearing and news worth sharing. It is good news of great joy. Even when someone has no family connections to Jesus. Even when they don’t live in the same country that he was born in. They can still rejoice in and receive the good news of Jesus—all that he is and has accomplished for those who believe in him. Whether it is Christians growing in the faith or non-Christians accepting the gospel for the first time, we can rejoice in how the good news is being received and proclaimed.
This is news worth hearing and news worth sharing. It is good news of great joy. It does not matter if we have no apparent connection to these people or places. We can still rejoice. His birth has truly bought the world together and in this season of a divide among people we really need something to unite us and what greater thing than the birth of the baby who changed the world.
Where Are You Christmas? It’s the good news of great joy