100 Shiny Pennies

Personal reflections on Advent: Joy
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Luke 2:1-20

  

When I was a young boy, I tried very hard to catch Santa Claus bringing my presents.

 

One year I hid in a downstairs closet, close enough to the living room to hear Santa come down the chimney. Another year, I hid under my bed with a flashlight, waiting to hear the rain deer on the roof. I was very persistent and was always the first person awake to see the presents under the tree.

 

On another Christmas, my brother placed 100 brand new shiny pennies in 100 envelopes and strung them from the ceiling in groups of five. When I came downstairs into the living room, it looked like a mystical wonderland of stalactites. For me, it was an exciting sight that made for a joyful Christmas.

 

However, Christmas is not always joyful. Such was the case in the circumstances that surrounded the birth of Jesus. His mother was pregnant out of wedlock with a different father than her betrothed.

 

Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem to register so that Rome could squeeze every last penny out of them in taxes. Being in the ninth month of her pregnancy, the timing of the census couldn’t have been worse.

 

Finally, because there was no room in the inn, they stayed in a barn with the animals, where the baby was born. Not exactly a picture perfect, joyful occasion for giving birth to your first-born child.

 

But wait, this was the Son of God! There should be some great announcement of his birth. Who should God give that honor to? What about some common shepherds on the hillside? People who watched and cared for sheep; one of the lowliest jobs in society at the time.

 

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.             NLT

 

There are many reasons to be joyful at Christmas. For a little boy, it was the excitement of seeing presents under the tree or hanging from the ceiling. For a young mother, it was giving birth to her firstborn child. For the shepherds, it was the spectacle of a supernatural visit of an army of angels.

 

What brings you joy at Christmas? Is it buying presents, or maybe getting them; seeing the look on the faces of your children or grandchildren on Christmas morning; decorating the tree; listening to Christmas carols; going to a Christmas Eve service; being with family?

 

What is the Good News that brings great joy?

 

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.            John 1 MSG

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams