I love reading through the birth narrative of Jesus each year during the Christmas season, and what stood out to me most this year were two verses in Luke 2…
Luke 2:17 – “When they [the shepherds] had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…”
Luke 2:20 – “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
In both of those verses, we see the shepherds taking Jesus with them wherever they went.
That is being incarnational.
One of the fascinating features of the Gospel is that it actually informs us on how to share the good news about Jesus with others.
Through Jesus’ ministry, we see how to treat others.
Through Jesus’ life, we see how to trust God in all things and live responsively to God.
Through Jesus’ death, we see the value of sacrificial love.
Through Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, we learn to let God exalt us rather than us exalting ourselves.
Through Jesus’ birth, we learn to be with others.
And being with others is the best way to share Jesus with others.
When the angel appears to the shepherds and proclaims to them the news about Jesus’ birth, God demonstrates that he reveals himself to ordinary people and shows up in ordinary places.
As we ordinary people are with and among other ordinary people in ordinary places, we bring Jesus with us – as the shepherds did – and show them Jesus by our way of being while we also relate the story of Jesus to everyday circumstances, just as we have learned to do by absorbing the Gospel story ourselves.
So, if you want to share the “good news of great joy” with your friends and neighbors, the most authentic way to do that is to simply bring Jesus with you as you are with them.
Be incarnational.
rusty tugman 