25 December: Luke 2:15-20

Please read the passage before reading the commentary.

25 December: Luke 2:15-20

Please read the passage before reading the commentary.

The angels left the shepherds.  The shepherds are asking what happened and what they are to make of all this.  They decide to go to Bethlehem, in haste.  They find a family with the infant lying in a manger.  They speak enthusiastically and return to their fields.

Their news spreads rapidly and people are amazed.  The mother, as mothers do, keeps pondering and musing on these things in her heart.  We have gathered here, perhaps early in the morning or late at night or some other significant time,

The infant is in a manger, a place for feeding animals.  Later this child will give his flesh for us to eat and his blood for us to drink. Is there a connection here?  The shepherds are enthusiastic and full of energy; we, as well, are full of energy at the mystery before us.

Remember the primary nature of mystery, is something to be in awe of, not something for us to solve.  We contemplate and live in mystery.  We become more human because of more mystery.

We must go to Bethlehem; we must visit the child in the feeding place; we must go in haste so that the mystery does not slip away from us.

We go to visit relatives on Christmas.  We must see the mystery alive in each relative.  We must share the mystery that is we because we have been to the mystery of the child in the eating place and the parents who present the child to us.

It is mystery; it is all mystery.  It is unfolding in our own lives, in our own families, in our own selves.  It is mystery to be astounded, to be filled with awe, to close the mouth, to feel the heartbeat: let my our voice sound different.

There are angels; there are shepherds; there are we all converging on the animals and the family in the place near Bethlehem.