The Time It Takes
• The minute the special effects were finished, those shepherds started to talk it out. They took time to plan out among themselves a response to what they had experienced. Their individual witness became a social experience that they framed with each other – this gave it even more meaning. This took some time, to talk, to listen, to understand. That’s how our faith gets built. It’s supposed to get worked out over time with other people deeply involved.
• The scripture here tells us that it took time for the shepherds to locate the nativity. They didn’t give up their search. The holy family is shut away, out of sight, yet these scruffy extraterrestrial eyewitnesses are knocking on doors all over town unrelenting. Real experiences with God’s presence are supposed to be shared with others and announced to anyone and everyone. When we keep our vision a private, personal, subjective interpretation it can become dangerous.
• Afterwards, the ragtag band stayed in town and told everyone they could find what had happened that night. The whole town was asleep, you realize. They are still knocking on doors. And who was back on the hilltop watching the sheep? When you and I “take” time it means that something else doesn’t get our time – we must move it from one stack to the other. These eyewitnesses had left their most important earthly work so that they could involve themselves in the most earthshaking eternal event to ever occur. Be careful with where you put your time. Make sure you’re putting it where it will make an eternal difference. Other people’s lives are always a safe destination.
• There’s another eyewitness recorded in this part of the story. It’s Mary, sitting there, holding the savior of the world, watching the commotion all around. Probably trying to keep everyone quiet, don’t you think? Of all the people in the world, it was Jesus’ mother who needed to bank up memories for what would happen before her very eyes so many years later. While being mother to a newborn, she was somehow paying attention to all the extra attention being paid by strangers. Can you imagine her explaining all of this to Luke as they remembered that Christmas, long ago? God gives you and I memories so that we can share them with our family, friends, and even strangers. Time is precious, take it, and share those eternal treasures that are in your own heart.
Randy Wilson, Tallowood Teacher of the Don't Stop Believing Connect Group Professor, Houston Baptist University
