Will Ye Also Go Away – Sunday, December 20, 1981
It is the human tendency to believe that the louder an event is heralded, the more important it must be. Christ’s birth teaches us differently. For like a winter snow that falls silently, transforming the earth, so came the Lord, into a quiet stable, born beneath silent stars.
In the same city, noisy innkeepers jangled coins, unaware of their lost opportunity. One of them might have reasonably asked “How was I to know that they were so special?” Tired taxpayers vied for their dinners and in a palace a governor feasted, ears too full of revelry to hear His coming. In the little town of Bethlehem beds were filled with sleepers unaware of anything special happening that night.
So, the Christ child was born in a private scene. No attendants. No pomp. Just a mother’s arms to welcome Him—this child whose coming lifted earth to heaven.
It is significant that all those who finally made their way to greet Him had first removed themselves from the din of the world. Perhaps the shepherds heard the angel’s song because they were out on a plain away from city noises and strife. Could the angels have so beautifully penetrated the clamor of an inn? Perhaps the learned noticed the star because they had been seeking it. Would the Roman governor have shattered his self-preoccupation long enough to study the skies?
It was a small group, really, those who came to worship Him at birth… Those who would lovingly follow Him through a brief lifetime. To most His quiet arrival and quiet kingdom were a sad disappointment. As Geo MacDonald said, “They were all looking for a king / To slay their foes and lift them high: / Thou cam’st a little baby thing / That made a woman cry.”1
They wanted someone to conquer their enemies, and He came to teach us to love one another.
They wanted someone to lift them above the pain of the world, and He came and suffered pain with us.
They wanted someone to answer every need, by doing what they most expected, and He came to answer every need, by doing what we least expected.
It is not surprising then that as hundreds were deserting Christ He turned to His disciples and asked, “Will ye also go away?”2
Each of us regard the nativity scene with a silent hope. “I would have heard the song. I would have come.” But in reality, for so many Bethlehem residents, life is noisy and clamorous. Even our Christmas celebration itself is a hubbub of pressure and packages.
There is very often still no room for Him. There are still very few who care to step out into the night and hear the angel’s songs.
- As quoted in Rockwell’s Christmas Book, Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers, New York, pg. 24.
- John 6:67
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December 20, 1981
Broadcast Number 2,731