Commentary
Behold the night
Commentary by Forrest A. Norman, III, The Layman, December 18, 2012
Musty mud-brick walls hold a low roof over a hard tamped earthen floor. Straw is strewn about several small stalls, particularly close to the feeding troughs.
It’s drafty, but not so much as to remove the strong gamey smell of an assortment of herded animals.
Fortunately most are out to pasture that evening.
There is a crispness to the night air that makes one pull a cloak closer to the neck, but not so cold as to hurt.
Feet are tired from a long day’s journey, but the work-hardened discipline of one who makes his living with his hands in toilsome labor is not so quick to quit till the day’s work is done.
The pastoral stillness of field and farm at rest is enjoyed less for being sublime than simply quiet, and there is neither time nor energy to reflect on any significance greater than the need of a mother and newborn child for warmth and a meal.
Shepherds stop by in an optimistic row; hopeful, helpful, sharing a bit of food and gladsome good cheer, but move on back to their fields as fast as they came. Good hearted souls, to be sure.
Not too far off dream-like visions of incredible promises seem too great to ponder right now, and are certainly far less demanding than the immediate needs at hand.
This is real. This is very real. Trust. Keep trusting. Just trust in God to keep His promises and all will be well …
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And so go some of my thoughts of what it must have been like that evening. I try to fill in the images as accurately as I can in my mind’s eye, adding details but staying true to Scripture.
I think back to when I was a teenage boy on Christmas eve, waiting for the calm and quietness after my parents had gone to bed, lighting a painted pillar votive candle with a nativity scene and contemplating for hours the fact that the people in the narrative – Joseph, Mary, Jesus, the shepherds (I’ve always loved the shepherds), were actual people with real lives that started before that night and kept on going long after that night.
When I imagine their emotions and actions it may just be fanciful speculation, but it helps remind me of how real they were, and how they are so much more than mere characters in a book.
They are historical figures, normal men and women, chosen by God to be part of His grand design. And that makes it easy to be drawn to the rough realities they faced, even down to the fact that this was just one night of awe and wonder, likely followed by years of hopes and fears, and perhaps even seemingly unfulfilled expectations. Such is often the life of faith.
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More visitors approach. These visitors are different; clothed in fine sturdy clothes of important and learned people. The small caravan has Persian servants carrying knives to protect the group on the highway, but they do not seem hostile. Gifts are given and the whole entourage honors the babe and prays to God. Visions, dreams and warnings follow, and they go on their way, in different directions. Prayers are for safe travel and God’s providence, and for the fulfillment of those fantastical promises. And day by day, sometimes painfully long days which hardly seem like it would be God’s way, everything works out as the dreams and visions said, and it’s all in total accord with Scripture.
God’s truth endures.
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The Christmas we know did not unfold in a day. The story was dynamic and confusing as it developed, and hardly would make sense if it were written by man as a mere morality tale. But the historical reality, the actual events recounted as part of a larger narrative of God’s grand design, the coalescence of every day life and supernatural spiritual incarnation are awe inspiring year after year.
Take a moment and behold the days when God came to be among us, to know the daily drudgery, the fears, the joys and the love His people feel. And then to take our sins upon the cross so we can be reconciled.
It happened. It is real; very real. And these events are worthy of remembrance and celebration, the stuff of story and song, because all of God’s truth endures.
Let us share our faith with others in what we say and do, and most of all in what we believe – holding fast to the truth of God’s promises.
Merry Christmas, friends; and may you be blessed with a sense of the divine as you walk the Christian walk this coming year.
Forrest A. Norman III is an elder at Hudson Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Hudson, Ohio. He is chairman of the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee.