Today we celebrate the Revolutionary Good News that is the birth of Jesus and the messengers who make God's presence known in the world. Foretold in the prophets and shared in the Gospels, the story came to those most in need of Good News (see Isaiah 9:2-7 and Luke 2:1-20). But why was this story such good news to those who heard it, and how does it remain good news to us today?
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“Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you…”
We have all heard this story. Many of us could likely recite the words by heart much as Linus does in ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’ The angel appears to the shepherds watching over the flocks at night, announcing the gift that is Jesus come into the world.
I know it can be difficult for those of us so steeped in these stories to consider how the angel’s words would have been received. What is so revolutionary about the Good News that the angel proclaims? What made this news so compelling to those who heard it?
It seems natural to us to think about the news of God coming into the world as sufficient to explain things. After all, that is something that sounds pretty amazing to our modern ears. The Son of God being born in the world. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. These are the words foretold, the long-hoped for Messiah is born. There will be joy and peace in the land.
That is what we expect, isn’t it? That is how we hear the story today. That is likely how we have had the story explained to us. But would that have been Good News to those who first heard the story?
In ancient times, stories abounded of persons being born to the gods. Some of these have come down to us today as myths, stories like Hercules and Perseus. Even the Roman emperors carried the title “child of God.” To the people of the time, there is simply nothing particularly compelling about an announcement of a divine birth. A miraculous story of divine birth isn’t enough by itself to account for all that follows the story we celebrate today.
But Jesus isn't born into a ruling family in a palace surrounded by servants. No royal messengers travel out to neighboring kingdoms to announce the royal heir. Jesus does not come into the world as anyone we might normally point to as “chosen.”
A child is born, but it would have been difficult for anyone to identify this child with the one that Isaiah foretold. How will this child wield vast authority? How will this child establish justice and peace?
What makes the story compelling is precisely all the things that it is not. The birth of our God in this world does not follow the expected pattern. It is revolutionary exactly because of how and where and to whom the story is told. It is good news to all people because it does not fit the usual story.
Jesus is a brown-skinned baby born of unwed parents who are so poor, they are unable to secure a place to stay for the night. Jesus is born in the stable of an inn, surrounded by livestock instead of royal servants. Instead of an announcement sent out to neighboring royal households to tell of the birth, angels announce God’s coming kingdom to field workers.
“I bring good news to you--wonderful, joyous news for all people.”
God comes into the world not specifically for the people in power, not specifically for those who are already included. Jesus coming into the world is good news for all people. Emmanuel, God with us, the Son of God comes into the world like the people most in need of good news. His birth is announced to those who have the most to gain from what he comes to teach and the kingdom that is to come. He comes to the poor and downtrodden. His birth is announced to those on the margins.
How might this story play out in our time? A poor, unwed black couple giving birth in a hotel parking garage? Messengers announcing the birth to migrant workers in fruit orchards?
As we consider what this would look like in our time, how do we still hear this story as good news? And, perhaps as importantly, who are the people in our world today who are still in need of that good news? What does that good news look like to them?
Is it a safe place to lay down their heads at night? Is it the overturning of systems that let them down and trample them underfoot? Is it the promise of a better tomorrow, a tomorrow filled with justice and righteousness and peace rather than the chaos we so often find ourselves in? Is it a kind word and a kind gesture from an unexpected place?
The good news of Jesus’ birth, the good news of the kingdom of God, is still very much in need today. People today are still so mired in the chaos and uncertainty of everyday life that we are still looking for a great light to show us the way. We still long for justice and righteousness and endless peace. We are still looking for the signs of Christ, looking for glimmers of the kingdom of God.
We wait, hoping to be the ones who hear the angels sing.
We wait, sure that we would welcome the Christ-child in from the cold night.
And in our waiting, we sometimes forget that Jesus has already come into the world. God’s kingdom has already come near. The good news is here today, waiting for new messengers to carry it out to those who need to hear it, to those who need to receive it.
Who are those today who still need good news? Where are the messengers to offer them the good news that they need?
In this season of joy when we celebrate the birth of Christ, may we continue to live as people who, like the shepherds, have heard and believed. And may our example offer the good news to all who still need to receive it.
“Don’t be afraid!”