8 And
there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night.
9 And,
lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And
the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord. (Luke 2:8-11)
We may have known kids that were live wires or extraordinary
in some way, children that made us wonder and anticipate the mark they would
make on the world. And some of you who are older may have had the experience of
finding these hopes and expectations were not realized. Or we may see kids with
troubled childhoods or teenage years who eventually made good in a way far
beyond our expectations. (I know of at least one of the girls from my home ward
growing up who had a rather rebellious teenage time, but who straightened up
later. I was startled to hear she had a career, got married, had kids, and was
made a Relief Society president.)
So with that in mind, if we were the shepherds in the
Christmas story, what meaning might we assign to this angel announcement that this
particular child born in Bethlehem is a Savior, the Messiah, the Christ, the
Annointed One? And too, this child
is pointed out to our notice before he is even old enough to know there is
anything to be saved from.
It is really going to depend on our faith. (Remember, without faith, Laman and
Lemuel dismissed the words of an angel to them, and they went right back into
their fear of Laban and reluctance to get the plates.) Without faith, the shepherds might have
eventually dismissed the child as just another child, one for whom others had
high hopes, but who wasn’t going to live up to them. Such a child could be safely ignored because he would be
swallowed up by the anonymity of history and never be heard of again.
Ah! But with
faith, once the Savior has been pointed out to you, you would keep a very
careful eye on that child and watch with wonder and great anticipation. Any
time you hear of something neat that child has done, you hug yourself and do a
little happy dance and elbow your believing neighbors and have little excited
conversations with them because you just know he is going to bring salvation
and you can’t wait to see it!
But of course, it also depends on what kind of salvation you
expect from this Savior. If you’re expecting a military salvation immediately,
you might start to be disappointed if the child doesn’t show any signs of
fighting prowess or an affinity for military strategy. But if you’re looking
for salvation from sin, then signs of goodness and long-suffering and kindness in
him and extraordinary changes of character in those around him are going to be
very encouraging.
I think the heavenly announcement of the Savior’s identity
so early in His life gave faithful people both a test of their faith that would
have the eventual reward during Jesus’ ministry if they could believe in Him to
salvation from their sins.
For us in the church today, we still have much to look
forward to. We’ve had the benefit
of 185 years of Restored-church history and revelations showing us that Christ
is very much involved in preparing the world for His return in glory. But of course, our faith and our
expectations will determine how we interpret those things, whether we fight it
because we thought it was supposed to be different, or whether we dismiss it
out of hand, or whether we see its divine origin and guidance and rejoice with
every sign of progress.
2 comments:
"Once the Savior has been pointed out to you, you would keep a very careful eye on that child and watch with wonder and great anticipation. Any time you hear of something neat that child has done, you hug yourself and do a little happy dance"
What a great analogy, we could almost apply this to our own children, who we give specific names like Luke or Mary or Sarah. And in our tradition try to raise them and instill them with the love of God. We teach them from the very beginning concerning serving a mission, getting an education, starting that eternal family; etc. These could be "saving graces", because we do wait with baited breath, when our children begin to express the desire to serve the Lord, by mission, through education, by marriage etc. The pattern of the Savior's life is theirs also.
My best friend's son started his mission, after careful prep on his part. It was amazing to see, he was in my husband's Primary class, and we had little hope for him at that time. (Can you fail Primary?). But he started to progress, and later when all of a sudden he was an 18 year old man-child, waiting for his mission call, giving his farewell testimony that had so much maturity, and depth, you could almost hear Jesus as he read from Isaiah in his hometown synagogue.
I love the patterns that have been established in the form of journey's for us to tread. We are a part of the saving mission.
Sounds like your best friend's son had a lot of maturing to do in growing up. It must have made everyone very excited to see his change.
Post a Comment