12-28-16 - How'd We Hear This Story?

Almost every year, I see something new in this very old, very familiar Christmas story. This year it was a line about the shepherds, who felt compelled to check out the tale told them by the heavenly messengers that night of Jesus’ birth:

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.

“When they saw this, they made known…and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.” Who wouldn’t be amazed! It’s a great story, even filtered through centuries and translations; imagine hearing it from an eye-witness. That’s most likely how the narratives of Jesus’ birth came into circulation among his early followers.

Not all the gospels tell these stories – Mark either had not heard them, or considered them extraneous to the story of the ministry and passion of the grown-up Jesus. John goes waaaay back to the beginning of time to start his telling, skipping over the messy details of a human birth. Matthew tells the story from the perspective of Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, and includes the visitors from the East. It is Luke who writes of angels and prophecies, rulers and politics, a very human mother and father, a stable, a feed-trough – and those first witnesses, shepherds from the Judean hills.

How did Luke, the Hellenic follower of Christ, hear about those shepherds? Did Mary tell the tales later in life, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, living near Ephesus in the care of the disciple John? Or did folks hear them from the shepherds themselves,and pass along the tale, one person to another, one town to the next, perhaps embellishing but getting the main details right?

There are people who read about Jesus in the bible and in books and come to believe. But more often, faith is transmitted person-to-person, through stories of encounter. Our stories may not feel as dramatic as the one those shepherds must have told, but I bet each one of us has experienced God in some way that made a difference to us. Chances are, our stories will make a difference to other people with whom we choose to share them. Reactions might vary, but at the least we will provide one more data point that one day might tip the scales toward faith. We can never know what will happen, only that our God-stories come with an imperative to be shared.

When have you most recently or most vividly encountered the presence or peace or power of God? Bring that to mind. Who might want to hear that story? Whose might be amazed at what you make known to them of Jesus?