Share the Good News!

“Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’” (Luke 2:10-11).

In the next few weeks there will be countless children’s dramas and special Christmas presentations in churches and Christian schools around the globe. Among them will be darling kids (and a few mischievous ones!) who will be dressed like angels and animals to act out the story of Christmas and the events of the nativity. Among the menagerie there will be shepherds tending sheep who will stand amazed as angels appear with their glorious message, “I bring you good tidings of great joy. A Savior is born, Christ the Lord!”

While the truth of the message may be lost in the amusing presentation and the unpredictable elements of the youthful production, the power of the Gospel transcends the amateur efforts to tell the tale. The “good news” was not wasted on the shepherds and neither is it wasted in the retelling. Glad tidings continue to be spread from the night of nativity to the present day. You can’t keep it to yourself. When you hear good news you have to share it. That is the power of proclamation in this Gospel. What God has done is too good to keep to ourselves; it must be repeated again and again.

The curious shepherds were compelled to leave their flocks in the field while they pursued the subject of this announcement. They hurried to the place of birth and discovered Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. Note the sequence of events: they heard the good news, they came to see it for themselves, and then they shared it everywhere! Luke wrote, “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child” (Luke 2:17).

Christmas is still about Christ and still about the sharing. Regardless of the abundance of commercial reinterpretation of the holiday, the inescapable reality is that the event is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Without Christ there would be no Christmas. Had he not come there would have been no hope for “peace on the earth and good will to men.”

Because he came we have cause for celebration and a reason to hope. The glad tidings proclaimed by angels at the advent is the core of the commission. Share the good news this season. Jesus has come!