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Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his majesty is above earth and heaven.

—Psalm 148:13

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

—Matthew 2:1-2

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

—Luke 2:20

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”

—Matthew 13:36

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”...But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

—Luke 10:25, 29

Many conversations seem to be made up of people who join because they have something they want to say or who join because they have a question they want answered. We've all been in such conversations on a daily basis and know how unproductive they can be.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to learn, but that's subtly different than a willingness to be taught. We might remember the conversation between Joshua and the angel near Jericho. Joshua wanted a direct answer to his question—"Are you on our side or on their side?" The answer began with, "No." There is more to the angel's answer in that passage, but Joshua first had to realize that he was asking the wrong question.

Insistence on either "making my point" or "answering my question" amounts to trying to control the conversation.

The wise men came looking for the newborn Jesus because they wanted to worship. The shepherds came to witness what they had been told about, and they worshiped because of what they had seen. In their best moments, the disciples didn't tell Jesus what they thought. Instead, they let Him tell them what they needed to understand. Unlike the questions of Nicodemus, some people came to Jesus with questions intended to challenge Him. Sadly, the point of some of those questions was self-justification.

Some still look for opportunities to argue with Him, like the unnamed lawyer. Some still want their own questions answered, like Joshua. At our best moments, we let the Word lead us to what we need to understand.

And then worship.

The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;

let the many coastlands be glad!

—Psalm 97:1

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

—Luke 4:17-21

In the beginning was the Word. And He entered into His own creation.

Jonah sat down outside Nineveh, hoping to see the city overturned. He did, but not in the way that he expected. In a very real sense, Jonah demonstrated the worst of human attitudes. He hated, and he wanted those whom he hated to be destroyed. He was even willing to sacrifice himself for that purpose. (Remember his advice to the sailors in the storm?) In the language of Psalm 32, he was led to his assignment with bit and bridle. And when the people of Nineveh repented, Jonah resented.

Jesus came to those who should have been most ready to receive and welcome Him. And He did so in the most humble, inoffensive, non-threatening way possible. As a newborn baby. To offer a new beginning. Unlike Jonah, he came willingly. And His own did not receive Him. Luke records the scene in which Jesus wept over the city whose rulers rejected Him.

Unlike Jonah, He did not arrive hoping to bring a message and a reality of destruction. He did offer warnings, but Luke records His description of His own purpose. A newborn baby doesn't speak with words, although His arrival and its manner spoke volumes. As an adult, He called those who heard Him to pay attention to ancient words that had described His purpose centuries before.

And then He sat down and began to teach. He offered a new beginning.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult, and everything in it!

—Psalm 96:11-12a

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone.

—Isaiah 9:2

“But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

—John 3:21

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

—1 John 2:10

The shepherds were spending the night out in the fields. There's no hint that they expected anything out of the ordinary. They weren't expecting a great light. Their reaction to the appearance of the angel and the glory is understandable. It follows the pattern well established from Genesis forward.

And the angel's message begins with words that appear and reappear from Genesis forward: “Fear not!” Abram and hagar and Isaac and the Israelites by the sea had heard those words. The prophets brought them again and again. As well as the next word, “...for...”

Don't be afraid. Because...

Something unexpected—better than was expected—was to come. And, instead of running away, the shepherds obeyed: "Let's go and see..." They went to look for Jesus.

There's a thin line between fear and hatred. The majority of the rulers of Jesus' day seemed quite willing to cross that line. Nicodemus was scorned for questioning the hostility of the chief priests and Pharisees. He later joined Joseph of Arimathea in helping prepare for the burial of Jesus.

But when we first meet him in John's gospel, he is following the example of the shepherds. He went—by night—to look for Jesus. He and the shepherds were surrounded by deep darkness, but they were willing to come to the place where Jesus was.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.

—Psalm 33:22

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

—Mark 12:29-31

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

—John 14:23

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

—James 2:8-9

Eugene Peterson put John's description of the incarnation in powerful, perhaps unexpected, language: “The Word became flesh and blood / and moved in to the neighborhood.” The immediacy of that image connects it to a theme that we find from one end of Scripture to the other.

"Love your neighbor..." is clearly stated in the Law of Moses.

Some chose to ignore it, regarding "near" as simply meaning "convenient for exploitation". Events in the book of Judges—especially the scene at Gibeah—show a nation willing to learn from the worst behavior of the surrounding peoples. The later prophets consistently pointed to injustice and abuse of the poor as evidence of a nation that had lost its way.

Some chose to redefine it carefully, regarding "neighbor" as "someone like me". Jesus reaffirmed loving God and loving neighbor as the heart of the Law. The scholars of His day accepted those statements. But Luke records a conversation in which one such person, “desiring to justify himself”, requested a definition of "neighbor". Jesus responded with a parable that made a hated outsider the one who fulfilled the Law.

The Lord chose to live it. He came to live among us, to live out the most extreme, the most perfect version of love, offering Himself to be with us. To be our Neighbor so that we could be His.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope

—Psalm 130:5

“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”

—Hosea 12:6

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

—John 3:16-17

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

—1 Corinthians 18-20

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

—Jude 1:20-21

Loving the parts of the body that are not identical to ourselves is the visible indication of loving God. The oneness of the body is the tangible demonstration to the world of the love of God.

The English phrase, "the love of God", can mean "the love extended from God" as well as "the love expressed toward God". Those meanings are not contradictory; instead, they are parts of one whole. Jesus told His disciples that people will know who His disciples are by their love. It shouldn't be hard to understand what it means to refuse to love.

Micah called for the Lord's people to “do justice...love kindness...walk humbly”. Zechariah had called for truth and judgements “that are true and make for peace”, then delivered the Lord's commands against deceptive oaths and evil intent toward others.

John records three times the command of Jesus for His disciples to love one another. Paul and Peter repeated it in their letters. John reiterated it six times in two of his short letters. And all of them make clear that this is not simply some pale sentiment. It is a vital, active, challenging love that does whatever is needed.

Like the circulatory system that carries the blood of life—to all parts of the body.

Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

—Psalm 25:6

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

—Isaiah 7:10-13

And the angel said to [the shepherds], “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

—Luke 2:10-12

I'm not a mind-reader, and it is not my place to judge.

There could be different reasons for the response of Ahaz when Isaiah delivered the Lord's offer of a sign of rescue. Taken at face value, it sounds sincere. After all, Moses had commanded the Israelites not to put God to the test. But the Lord sees (and hears) more than humans. He not only hears the words, He also hears what is in the heart that speaks them. And the next statement makes it clear that Ahaz's refusal is trying the Lord's patience.

The sign was given, regardless of whether Ahaz chose to receive it.

Luke records another audience given a sign—shepherds out in the fields at night. And an angel came to them announcing good news. And the next statement seems very strange, given what comes next. Let's think about that for just a minute. The angel appeared to them. They were surrounded by the shining glory of the Lord. The first angel spoke and then a “multitude” of other angels appeared, praising God before going into heaven.

Those sights and sounds would have surely gotten our full attention! Those surely were events totally outside the prior experience of the shepherds. But none of that was the sign. The sign was a baby in a manger.

Unlike Ahaz, they went searching for the promised sign.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,

and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

—Psalm 107:21-22

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

—Isaiah 49:13

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

—Luke 15:7

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

—Hebrews 12:1-2

The reference at the beginning of Hebrews 12 to a great cloud of witnesses might remind us of the multitude of angels that appeared to the shepherds in the announcement of the birth of Jesus. In both cases, the great number didn't come into existence just for that moment. They were simply unseen by human eyes.

Both passages speak of the beginning of something. A new life begins for those who believe in the Son, whose ministry on earth began in Bethlehem.

Many lessons on Hebrews 12 encourage faithfulness and endurance in following Jesus, and rightly so. But some commentators have observed something curious about the phrase: “the joy that was set before Him”. The Son had already been with the Father. He “emptied Himself” to inhabit flesh and blood for a time. So what joy was before Him?

One answer comes from the words of Jesus Himself. He came to bring joy to others.

The good news was offered to all people. And the great joy was both joy to those who would receive Him and joy to the very throne room of heaven.

Reuniting heaven and earth.