The shepherds went back to their fields rejoicing, but did they tell anyone else? Not as far as we are told. The Magi worshipped the baby Jesus, but went back home without telling anyone. They had made the mistake of telling Herod already! And when Jesus healed the leper, or raised Jairus' daughter, we read that "he ordered them to tell no one what had happened."
Of course, the days for secrecy are long past. Every High Street in western Europe will be decorated with candles, trees and snowmen, and even if these often appear far too early, even if there seems little connection between Christ and Christmas, at least they are an opportunity for us Christians to share something of our Christmas joy with others.
The Gospels often portray Jesus telling others to keep quiet about what they witnessed. Partly this helps to highlight the contrast between Jesus' injunctions to silence and the way people nevertheless thronged to see him, to hear him, even to touch him. Partly it indicates a real concern on Jesus' part that people should get the right idea about him. He was the Christ, the Messiah, come to redeem God's people, all of us. He was not just a miracle worker who could heal the sick, calm the storm, raise the dead. The healing, the calming, the raising were pointers to the sort of change God's reign would make in all of us. We are not all lepers or paralytics, but we all need God's help in Jesus to make us whole!
At other times, Jesus saw himself as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1, preaching the good news to the oppressed. He sent his followers to the towns and villages to bear this good news - not about the miracles, but about God's salvation! And at the end of his life, he commissioned the Eleven to "make disciples of all nations", which, after a short hesitation ("for fear of the Jewish authorities"), they went and did.
Jesus was the right person, in the right place, at the right time, to tell this good news. He was a Jew, the fulfilment of all the Prophets foresaw. He was humble - a king born in a stable can identify with our needs better than an emperor born in a palace. He was born at a time when the known world was open to new ways of looking at things, at a time when many people had a real hunger for the love and the peace that only God could give them. The angels' song to the shepherds says it all: God "up there" is to be worshipped; we "down here" rejoice in God's loving favour and God's peace.
We are not all called to evangelize the world, Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Cor 12:27-30), but we are all called to share the good news of Jesus in our own way. How we do this depends on our own opportunities - it has been said that the best way to keep a secret is to publish it in the Church magazine, so I hold out few hopes for this article. How do we communicate today? Through news articles, through post and e-mail, through radio and television, through iPod and YouTube, through flyers and advertisement hoardings, through our lives ("See how these Christians love each other", as Tertullian says the pagans sneered!).
Christmas is a time for telling people about Jesus. The world is swamped with media: and this time of year gives us all opportunities to share the Christian message. The baby in the manger is not the whole story, no more than the man who could turn water into wine and restore sight to the blind. But our Christmas cards, our Christmas gifts, our Christmas celebrations are a foot in the door. "Listen," says the baby in the manger, the Lord of the storm, the criminal on the cross, "I am standing at the door and knocking. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." (Rev. 3:20) Let us make sure that others, as well as us, hear that knock, both at Christmastime and throughout the year.
HD