Village Shepherd

It's all over! The baby has been born, albeit in a dirty cave in the rock behind the inn where the animals are kept during the cold winter months, but mother and son are doing well. Amazingly well under the circumstances, for it's a miracle that Mary didn't catch some sort of infection from those animals and the filthy conditions. It's a miracle too that the baby survived the rigours of birth in less than ideal circumstances.

But they both survived and even Dad has come round to accepting the baby as his own without the benefit of DNA testing and is prepared to move heaven and earth to protect his new family. He must realise by now that something odd is going on. Shepherds have come in from the fields to visit the new baby. Perhaps that's not so odd. Perhaps they were used to slipping into town from time to time for a quick pint to warm the winter evenings, but they never came before as the result of a heavenly choir of massed angels. And strange Magi from foreign parts will soon be coming to worship the new child, drawn by a bright celestial star, bringing some very odd gifts with them. So with all that and his dreams, Joseph must know by now that this new baby has some important portents surrounding his birth.

So is it over or is it just beginning? Both, of course. Mary and Jesus have come through the birth, so the immediate worry of that is over. But the rest of their lives is just beginning and will tie them together in a unique way. Thank goodness Mary and Joseph are unable to see the future at this point. They're still at the moment of potential, when their new son could grow up to become anything and anyone -- Prime Minister, rock star, Archbishop of Canterbury, business magnate -- the whole world is still open to him and still full of promise, even though they know in their hearts that he'll grow up to be a carpenter, just like his Dad.

In today's Old Testament reading, Isaiah was nearly at that point of beginnings when anything is possible and the future is rosy. The people were still in exile in Babylon, but Isaiah sensed that the end was in sight and that they would soon be back in their home territory, ready to start again with a new beginning. So Isaiah's prayer is full of thanks to God for all that God has done for them and especially for sticking with them, for not abandoning them in their hour of need. "He became their saviour," says Isaiah , "in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them."

In retrospect we can apply these words to that birth in Bethlehem at Christmas 2000 years ago, when God entered humanity in the person of Jesus. He was no messenger or angel, but his own presence saved us, redeemed us, lifted us up and carried us.

God has saved his people throughout history and every time the people rejected God and God's ways, God forgave them and saved them again. Way back in the beginning, when the people were a tribe of slaves working for the Egyptians in return for food and shelter, God saved them from their miserable existence. Their sufferings were indescribable, so God called Moses to become their earthly leader and to bring them to the Promised Land, a land which was so rich and fertile it was referred to as "flowing with milk and honey."

God rescued the people from drudgery and misery and enslavement, but as all human beings do, they turned away from him. Over the centuries, as a small tribe in a fertile land, the people were besieged and threatened by stronger enemies. Although they suffered calamitous losses as well as victories, the people managed to hang onto their land until they were invaded by the Babylonians. Then they were dragged out of their homeland and away into exile in Babylon, an exile which lasted for three generations.

The third Isaiah who wrote today's passage, was writing towards the end of the exile, when God's saving hand could begin to be glimpsed. There was light on the horizon, and Isaiah begs God to come to the aid of his people once again. God, of course, did just that. The exile ended, the people were able to return to their own land, but once again they soon turned away from God.

So God himself came to the people, to live among them, to be one of them in the person of Jesus in God's final act of rescue. God himself showed the people how to live so that their lives would be full of love and joy and delight. It would be wonderful to end the people's history on a "happy ever after" note, but sadly that is not the case. Despite the presence of God on earth, despite God's death and resurrection, the people still turn away from him.

So was that first Christmas and ending or a beginning? It was part of a journey, a journey in which the people are slowly turning towards God albeit with many backward steps. Perhaps that first Christmas was the beginning of the ending, of the time when all people would eventually turn to God and enjoy lives which are full of love and delight.

It may take many more centuries for God's kingdom to come on earth in its entirety, but at Christmas we can catch glimpses of the wonder and glory and happiness of that time. And as we Christians move closer to God, so we can enjoy more and more of his kingdom.

So as we bid farewell to Christmas for another year, let us thank God for the wonder and delight it brings and let us thank him for his final act of rescue.