Christ is in the world!

He has been born, as a baby boy, this Christmas Day!

So what do we do now, with this good news that we have been given?

This news that to us “is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”?

I think we can take our cue from today’s gospel, from the way in which the news of Jesus’ birth travels throughout the story.

How the news moves, from person to person, the way in which the news is experienced and shared in today’s gospel . . .

Can help us determine how we ourselves, are to respond to this great news that has been given to us.

After all, we are not the first ones to hear this good news.

The shepherds hear the news first, from an angel of the Lord.

There is great theological significance in that it is shepherds, who first hear the news.

The image of shepherds evokes for us a lovely, pastoral image, but in Jesus’ day shepherds were a despised class of people.

Shepherds were often accused of being shiftless and lazy, and of dishonestly grazing their sheep on other people’s land.

They were a mistrusted and ostracized group of people.

The fact that it is shepherds then, who first hear the news of Jesus’ birth, points to the fact that Jesus comes into the world for all people.

This is good news for everyone, but most especially for those on the fringe of society, the poor, the despised, and the oppressed.

And the shepherds certainly don’t keep this good news to themselves.

In fact, today’s gospel is very specific about this.

As soon as the angels leave, the shepherds immediately travel to Bethlehem.

Where they see for themselves, Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus.

And the shepherds share the news, right then and there, in front of the baby and his parents and all those who are there.

So this group people who hear the news are those gathered by the manger, those who have witnessed and seen for themselves, the newborn King.

What really distinguishes these people is the way in which they experience the news.

These are people who see and know, who witness to Jesus’ presence in the world in an upfront and personal way.

These are people who are right there, by the manger side; they can see and touch Jesus.

They know he is real.

Mary, most especially.

After all, she bore this baby Jesus.

Mary knows Jesus is real in a very personal and visceral way, she just gave birth to him.

And one gets the sense that Mary is not completely surprised by the shepherds’ news when she hears it.

After all, Mary has had advance news that this baby would be special, after the angel Gabriel announced his birth to her.

Mary has literally carried this news within her for nine months.

Mary knows Jesus more personally, and in a more real way, than any of the people gathered at the manger.

But what is especially interesting is that, unlike the shepherds, who share the good news as soon as they receive it . . .

Mary, Luke’s gospel says, treasures the shepherds’ words and ponders them in her heart.

Mary doesn’t rush right off and immediately share the good news.

She takes some time to think deeply about what has been said.

But the good news does not just stay quietly in Mary’s heart and mind.

The shepherds, according to Luke’s gospel, return home after visiting Bethlehem “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

In other words, the shepherds tell other people the good news.

The news spreads.

And this last group of people who hear the news are people who have never heard of or seen Jesus before.

They weren’t at the manger, they didn’t see the baby or his parents, they didn’t help to bring him into the world.

And the gospel doesn’t tell us, unfortunately, how these unnamed and unknown people received the shepherds’ news.

But we do know that the shepherds shared the news, openly, freely, and likely with whoever would listen.

Even if the recipients had no idea who Jesus was, even if they hadn’t seen him, even if they didn’t fully know what his coming meant.

The news was shared.

If we look at how the good news travels, if we look at the different ways in which it is experienced and received.

Then we get a cue as to what we ourselves, generations later, can do with this good news of Christ’s birth . . .

As we receive it this Christmas Day.

First, the good news of Christ comes to all people, no matter who they are.

The shepherds were the lowliest of the low, the most despised group of their day.

And yet they were the first to hear the news, they were favored by God.

As Christians, those who have received and affirmed and committed ourselves to the good news of the gospel . . .

. . . we are asked to show forth the good news of Christ to all people, but most especially to the poor, the outcast, the stranger, those whom society rejects.

All people are recipients of the good news of Christ in the world.

Secondly, as recipients of the good news, we experience Christ presence in our lives and in our world in a very real and personal way.

We may not have the experience of actually physically seeing Jesus, like those gathered at the manger, but we see God in other ways.

In recognizing and giving thanks for the ways that God blesses us and works in our lives, for example.

Or in looking for God in unexpected places, in other people, in the beauty of creation, in acts of kindness, wherever we see him.

Seeing and experiencing the presence of God in the world, in a real and personal way,

. . . is an important part of what we can do with this good news we’ve received.

And thirdly, there is a contemplative, thoughtful component to receiving the good news.

Mary, for example, takes the time to treasure and to ponder the news.

We can follow her example, spending time with the good news in prayer, in worship, in praise and thanksgiving.

As a way of deepening our faithful response to Christ’s presence in the world.

And finally, perhaps the most important thing we can do with the news we have received is to share it.

The good news is meant to be shared, as the shepherds in today’s gospel show us.

Shared far and wide, shared with all people, shared in lots of different ways.

Shared in word and in action, shared in private and in public, shared in love and in great joy.

The good news travels, it spreads, and it’s proclaimed from the heavens and on earth, by angels and lowly shepherds alike.

“To you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah the Lord.”

Let’s proclaim it today and every day with great joy—Christ is in the world!