Christmas Eve '25

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord” (from the gospel).

The word tidings means “news.” The angels proclaimed the headline or lead story, telling the shepherds what God was doing in the world. The word angel means messenger. After the shepherds visited the manger, St. Luke tells us that the shepherds “made widely known the saying which was told to them concerning this Child (Lk. 2:17). The shepherds spread the news to others.

We might expect a different manner of news dissemination from God. He might tell those in power and make them tell everyone. Or he might use some weather pyrotechnics and speak with a voice that could be heard round the world. But God did not, and does not, do it that way. He sends messengers to chosen people, who became his messengers to tell others.

We are accustomed to a different style of news delivery. Those responsible for news in our culture try to reach as many people as possible with bang and splash. Our phones vibrate or ping, our computers beep, words are highlighted in throbbing red on the TV screen, accompanied by dramatic music. There is always “breaking news” that clamors for our attention.

Our cultural form of news creates anxiety and fear. The news itself is often unsettling and it is published in a way that is designed to keep us on high alert, waiting for the next installment of anxiety sustaining news. In contrast, the angel described God’s news as “good news of great joy which shall be for all people.” And, “peace on earth, good will towards men.” God’s news answers the fear and anxiety of the world with God’s joy and peace.

Both forms of news invite us to receive what they communicate with faith and enter into a certain way of life. God’s good news invites us to receive Christ with faith and enter into the joy and peace of God’s kingdom. Our cultural news invites us to trust what we are being told and enter into the anxiety, fear, and false hope that characterizes the world apart from God.

The news hasn’t changed much in two thousand years. We hear more of it from more places with greater frequency due to modern technology. But the content is more or less the same. At the time of Christ’s birth, the news would have focused on political tensions with Rome and the threat of war. People would have argued about which party was best able to solve the problems. They would have complained about taxes and contended about morality. There were liberals and conservatives.

The good news hasn’t changed either. It is still proclaimed and received in unnoticed and unlikely places by those to whom the world pays the least attention. But God’s good news is still the only answer to the root human problem of sin that separates us from God and from each other and makes us anxious and fearful.

Some people say we should pay attention to the news to keep up with what is going on in the world. But the good news of Christmas raises a question. What is really going on in the world? Are the reports of human disorder, conflict, and evil what is really going on? Or, is the good news about what God is doing what is really going on? It depends upon which news you believe. Either Jesus is the Lord of creation who became man, saved the world through the cross, and is currently making all things new; or the world remains hopelessly lost—stay tuned for the next report.

There is the accusation that living by faith in Jesus amounts to putting one’s head in the sand. But consider this. Most of us have no control over the endless urgencies and crises that are presented as the news. But the good news that comes to us through Jesus changes our lives and makes us heralds of the good news to others. We can believe, act upon our faith, and become agents of change. We can begin to view the world through the lens of God’s kingdom, as St. Paul says, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). We can pray for the world and ask Jesus the Lord to come and make right all that is wrong. We can refocus our attention and behavior on the things we can really influence.

Most people become anxious about things they can do nothing about, but the good news enables us to do two things of real consequence. First, we can begin to live in a real relationship with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit each day in prayer. Second, we can work at loving the people who are right in front of us. 

Fixation on the daily news is, in fact, a temptation to avoid the call to love. It fools us into thinking that the problem is only “out there” in bad people doing bad things. But God’s news reveals that the problem is also in each of our hearts and in our relationships. The divisions and conflicts in the world are lamentable, but the divisions and conflicts in our families and spheres of influence are actionable.

When we receive God’s good news with faith, we become messengers of the good news for others. We can forgive those who have sinned against us, just as we have been forgiven. If we have wronged others, we can ask them to forgive us and work to change our behavior and relationships. We can stop being angry and resentful. Instead, we can begin to do the harder work of loving others as we have been loved by God through Jesus the God-man.

Or, we can choose to remain fearful, anxious, angry and resentful. It all depends upon which news we decide to trust and live by.

“Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.”