It doesn’t take a lot to look around and see bad news. It’s everywhere. Racial tension, economic uncertainty, a really, really bad NFC East division. Okay, that last one isn’t actually bad news if you’re a Panthers fan, but you get the idea. It seems like everywhere we turn, there’s one more story about one more event that makes the darkness around us seem one step closer. Our world seems to be, in a word, dark, and while that may be all it takes to cause many to drop their heads in despair, it’s exactly the backdrop on the night before the greatest day of all time.
Shepherds sat on a hillside, watching sheep sleep while they tried not to nod off themselves. It was dark. It was quiet. Not just because the sheep weren’t moving, but because God hadn’t been talking. To anyone, about anything, for a very long time. 400 years, actually. The promise that had been passed down for generations of a savior had started to feel worn out, and the hope that had come with that promise had turned into the fear and dread of a lifetime without it.
And then, against that backdrop of darkness and silence, everything changed. The sky lit up. The hillside that was silent was suddenly alive. And to those who had been in darkness, words were spoken that would revolutionize the small town where they were; words that can revolutionize this large world where we are.
“Fear not.”
It’s so easy to be afraid of the dark. Lots of kids are, and some adults are, too. The dark hides things and allows our minds to run wild. Typically, our thoughts don’t run to the good places. We think about relationships gone wrong, portfolios dropping, regrets of past decisions and uncertainty of future ones.
But light changes all of that, and when the Light came, fear had to go. Advent reminds us that the coming of Jesus means the leaving of darkness.
[Tweet “Advent reminds us that the coming of Jesus means the leaving of darkness.”]“I bring you good news.”
Good news isn’t really good news unless there was bad news to be replaced, and that’s why God never sits in heaven and panics like we do. He doesn’t watch FOX or CNN and wonder what to do next. He knows the plan, and the plan has always been to rescue us from the sin that holds us captive. The good news isn’t anything FROM this world, but it’s everything FOR this world. And we all know that this world needs good news!
[Tweet “The good news isn’t anything FROM this world, but it’s everything FOR this world.”]“A savior is born to you.”
If I’m a shepherd on the side of a hill in a job with no upward mobility and a bunch of stubborn sheep, I can’t think of better news than this: God sees me and has come to save me. The good news isn’t something to be reported, but Someone to be followed.
[Tweet “The good news isn’t something to be reported, but Someone to be followed.”]Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you ARE there. Alone, doing mundane things when you had hoped for so much more. Your career has turned into a job. Your marriage has become an arrangement. Your heart has grown heavy with the loss of those you love. And God? It seems he’s nowhere to be found, and even if he was, you’re not even sure you’d be interested. Tonight, to YOU, these words ring true:
“Fear not.” Light shines in the darkness.
“I bring good news.” Good news that replaces the bad.
“A savior is born to you.” Hope has come. His name is Jesus, and he has come…
…to you.
