How about you - is that what the holidays mean to you?
A reading of the original Christmas story reveals that there was a whole lotta' shakin' goin' on.
In fact one of the characters was said to have been "startled and gripped with fear".
We are pretty comfortable with angels. We see them everywhere, especially this time of year. And not too long ago, angels were sort of a fad: there were television shows and movies centered around angels, stickers, mugs, posters, greeting cards ... you could find angels most anywhere and they were generally considered to be a "good thing".
Apparently the angels of the first Christmas story were quite different from those floating around on your Christmas tree right now. The accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke tend to leave us with the impression that angels were - well - scary.
Each time they appeared folks were afraid, or "troubled" or "sore afraid!"
I am learning that oftentimes as people are about to launch into something big, they start out by being afraid. I don't know that it always happens that way - but at least it does sometimes.
What I really noticed this year as I began to focus on the Christmas story was the parallel between Mary and her uncle Zacharius.
Both were destined to be recipients of a miraculous birth - Mary, a virgin, would bear a child; Zacharius, an old man with an old wife, would father a child in his old age.
Both were visited by an angel (possibly the same angel, Gabriel) to be informed about their role in the upcoming saga.
And both were troubled.
But they each responded in a slightly different way: Zacharius' response was couched in doubt - "how can I be sure of this?". Granted his doubt was probably self-doubt - but doubt just the same.
Mary, on the other hand, gave a response that assumed that the angel's message was true ... " How will this be?". She never doubted that the Word sent from heaven was true - she just asked about the details.
As you may recall, Zacharius received a sign - probably not one that he would desire - he was struck "dumb" (incidentally, most parents of teenagers have suffered the same curse at least until their kids reach their mid-20's).
It is interesting to read the encounter, you can almost hear the clipped tones with which the angel tells him that he will be unable to speak until the child is born, because of his unbelief.
I find two applications here: One is that our initial response can make such a difference - may mine (and yours as well) always be like Mary's - a response couched in faith. Secondly, I notice that while Zacharius' unbelief buys him some difficulty for a time - it is not mentioned to him again.
You don't see the angel perching on his shoulder the rest of his life, whispering -"yeah - but do you remember that time you doubted?". The punishment was issued and the deed forgotten.
I love grace. I think I have misjudged it most of my life and underestimated it, but God gives it out so freely.
I hope you will thing a little differently about angels this season. I am going now to check out the countenance on some of the ones on my tree.
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