The Nativity quiz I mentioned last week only mentions four characters in the Christmas story. In reality, there were plenty more from which to choose. Mary and Joseph, of course, and all the animals. Who can’t relate to being an ass from time to time? Or perhaps a sheep, just following the crowd. Or maybe you’re the crippled lamb being carried on the shepherd’s shoulders. That’s a position I’ve experienced more than once. It’s an intimate portrayal of the love the shepherd has for his flock.
Learning about shepherding was not one of my favorite Bible study lessons, but it certainly stuck with me. Twenty plus years ago, my first teaching director at Community Bible Study explained how shepherds train sheep. If one keeps wandering off, he breaks its legs then carries it on his shoulders until it heals. By then the sheep is so attached to the shepherd, it never leaves his side again. As a newbie, I did not find this conversion formula appealing. Now that I’ve been carried for so many years, I can appreciate its wisdom. God usually doesn’t cause our brokenness, but He definitely uses it to draw us into a unique intimacy you can’t achieve any other way. But that’s a blog for a different day.
The last ‘character’ the quiz failed to include is the star. The Wise Men referred to it as His star and set off immediately to follow it. “We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him (Matthew 2:2). The fact is that we are all Christ’s ‘stars,’ meant to shine His light into a dark world by pointing others to Him. The spiritual gifts and talents we’ve been given are intended for that purpose. How we choose to use them is our gift to God.
Everyone has the capacity to proclaim Christ’s presence simply by being vehicles of His love and grace. However, in order to shine His light, we first have to seek it and embrace it. An excellent question to ponder this Christmas season is how you choose to share the light of Christ with others. Is it with the obedience of Mary, the integrity of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the timidity of the sheep, the strength of the donkey, the humility of the shepherds or the tenacity and wisdom of the Magi? Or, on the other hand, are you the innkeeper, relegating the Holy Family to the stable, not front and center in your heart and home as He is meant to be?
Choose wisely!
