To Jesus with Haste

By Lester Yee

The shepherds must have been panting while rushing from their fields to a manger in Bethlehem. Imagine sleepy shepherds in the cold dead night tending sheep or telling stories by the fire suddenly dazzled by the message of the angels. The message must have been inspiring to burn in their hearts with such emotion that prompted them to leave everything behind, perhaps supper being cooked or the flocks they tended. Their faith must have been that intense and their joy must have been so great. Leaping out of the sleepiness of the night, these men, tired from a day’s work, made haste to a manger to worship a child.

Jesus, the child the shepherds worshipped that night, would later on proclaim God’s love to those who society shunned like the prostitutes, the lepers, the tax collectors and the shepherds. Throughout Jesus’ life, He became the shimmer of hope to those who have been wrapped in the darkness of sin by praying, preaching and practicing all he has preached. This life of praxis and prayer culminated in Him opening up his arms on the cross to embrace the world in his loving arms, battered and bruised. Though He was God, Jesus died on the cross to bridge the gap that sin has created between man and God.

But before Jesus was crucified, Jesus proclaimed that whatever was done to the least of all our brethren, it will be done to Him. Thus, His promise to be with mankind until the end of time is embodied in each and every poor person in the streets, in the slums, in each and every lost person in drugs, in our families as black sheep, in jail or in the fringes of our social circles.

Thus, upon hearing all this Good News since Advent, are we not motivated to go in haste and proclaim that the Savior is born, that Jesus is in all our hearts? Are we not motivated to share the Christmas blessings we have received to those who still have none to eat or are still shivering from the cold of January?

Let us be like the shepherds who upon hearing the message of God’s love, left everything behind to worship Jesus, who was housed in a poor manger in a town forgotten by kings and historians.

Gospel
January 1, 2009
Lk 2:16-21

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.