Let Down | Carry Christmas Forward

When Mary and Joseph had completed everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to their hometown, Nazareth in Galilee. The child grew up and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God's favor was on him. (Luke 2:39-40 CEB)

After their encounter with Simeon and Anna, Mary and Joseph went home. Back to Nazareth. Back to their regular lives. Back to normal. But they weren't the same people who'd left Nazareth a few weeks earlier. 

They'd experienced things that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. They'd given birth to the Son of God. They'd watched shepherds worship him. They'd listened to Simeon's prophecy and Anna's testimony. They'd seen firsthand that their son was no ordinary child.

And now they had to figure out what to do with all of that. How do you go back to normal life after experiencing something that extraordinary? How do you raise a child who you know is the Messiah? How do you carry the truth of who Jesus is into the ordinary rhythms of daily life?

Luke tells us that "the child grew up and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God's favor was on him." In other words, Mary and Joseph went home and raised Jesus. They fed him. They taught him. They loved him. They did all the ordinary things that parents do.

But they did those ordinary things knowing who Jesus really was. They changed his diapers, knowing he was the son of God. They taught him his ABCs, knowing he was the Messiah. They watched him play with other kids, knowing he would one day save the world.

They carried the truth of Christmas into their everyday lives.

And that's what we're called to do too. We can't stay in the temple forever, listening to prophets testify about Jesus. We have to go home. We have to get back to our jobs and our families and our responsibilities. We have to return to the ordinary rhythms of our lives.

But we can't do it the same way we did before. We can't forget what we've celebrated. We can't pack away the truth of Christmas and pretend it was just a nice holiday. We have to carry that truth with us into everything we do.

So how do we do that? How do we carry Christmas forward into the rest of the year?

We remember. We remember that God is with us. We remember that Jesus came for us. We remember that God loves us so much that he became one of us.

And we let that truth shape how we live. We treat people with the same grace and love that God has shown us. We serve others the way Jesus served. We share the good news with everyone we meet, the way Anna did. We wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled the way Simeon did.

We slow down long enough to recognize God's presence in our daily lives instead of rushing past it. We make room for Jesus in our schedules instead of filling every moment with busyness. We focus on what really matters instead of getting distracted by everything else.

That's how we carry Christmas forward. Not by keeping the decorations up year-round or by singing Christmas carols in July. But by living every day in light of the truth that God is with us. That Jesus has come. That we are loved, forgiven, redeemed, and called to be God's people in this world.

Mary and Joseph went back to normal life. But they took Jesus with them. And because of that, their normal life was never really normal again. The same thing can happen to us. We can go back to our regular routines, our ordinary responsibilities, our everyday lives. But if we take Jesus with us, our lives will never be the same.

So don't let Christmas end just because the calendar says it's over. Don't pack away Jesus with the decorations. Don't treat what you celebrated as just another holiday. Instead, carry it forward. Let it change you. Let it transform how you live. Let the truth of Christmas – that God is with us – be the foundation on which you build the rest of your year and the rest of your life.

Closing Prayer:

God, we don't want to go back to normal and forget everything we've celebrated. We want to carry the truth of Christmas with us into every day of this year and every year to come. Help us to remember that you are with us. Help us to live in light of that truth. Transform us. Change us. Make us more like Jesus. And use us to share your love with everyone we meet. Amen.