AND AFTER?
So the event of history has happened and is history. The Child has been born, the shepherds have visited the manger, and the wise men are apparently on their way. The inn-keeper has told Joseph and Mary that the inn was full; Herod has not yet learned of the event. What do you suppose happened after all this? The Bible is silent on what all happened after the recorded events.
After the shepherds had visited the manger the Bible states that: “…they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child”(Luke 2:17) and that “[t]hen the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God…” (Luke 2:20). Did this last or, as is often the case, did friends and associates convince them that what they had witnessed was not in fact true but something they had probably misconstrued?
Did the wise men, when they had returned to their home area, remain committed to what they had seen and had travelled so far to experience, or did they return to their previous ways of worship and previous gods?
Was the inn-keeper influenced and changed by what he had witnessed from this couple to whom he had offered the manger and by the events that subsequently unfolded? And what did he do after?
We know, of course, what Herod did after he heard the news and of the events that unfolded in Bethlehem by his orders, events that have become known in history as the Massacre of the Innocents. What can we learn from all this?
The shepherds had heard from God, the wise men had seen a sign, and Herod had heard about the prophecies and the first indication of the “Good News.” These are the three ways that God communicates to us even today. Did the shepherds continue to believe what they had heard from God or did they, as others probably suggested, start to think that it was really just their imagination or a dream? Many people may hear from God today but really don’t listen thinking that it was just something in their head. After all God is often just in “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).
Also, the wise men who saw the sign, did they really continue to believe? Jesus said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah”(Matthew 16:4) and “[f]or as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation” (Luke 11:30). So, how often do we miss or not continue to believe in the sign God has given us?
Lastly, Herod had heard the word of the prophets and not only refused to accept that word but rebelled against it. Are we any different? Do we pay attention to the prophets or do we reject their words as did the people of old? Are we not like the rich man who asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers so they would repent in the story in Luke 16? And the reply from Abraham: “…If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).
We don’t listen for God nor do we often see the signs all around us. We ignore the prophets and deny the one who rose from the dead. We seem not to learn lessons very well. Perhaps it would be wise to try harder in this New Year. At least it is something we should all think about.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
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