The Wilmington morning star., 1942-12-20
Sunday School
Lesson
BY WILLIAM E. GILROY, DID,.
Editor of Advance
Text: Luke 2:8-2l

ACAG. LUKE H.0-EV
The story Of the birth of Jesus
never grows old. In this lesson
we have it in the dramatic form
in which Luke has told it.
Shepherds in the field, watching
over their flockS, had an amazing
experience as angel visitors came
and announced the birth of the
Messiah. Was it vision the shep-
herds had? Did angels appear in
a dream with their startling an
nouncement? We do not know the
mysteries of that night on the field
of Judea, but of one thing we can
be certain. and that is that it
was not chance occurrence.
These shepherds undoubtedly were
devout men, whose souls had long
been filled with the hope of the
coming of the Messiah who was
to redeem Israel. Heavenly signs
and visions do not come to those
who are unprepared to receive
them. It is to the lowly and the
pure in heart that God makes
Himself known and most truly re-
veals His plans and purposes.
The shepherds were not only
men of devotion; they were men
OF action. They hastened immedi-
ately to Bethlehem that they
might find this newborn babe of
destiny. They found what t h y
came seeking, and surely their
faith must have been tested when,
from the glory of what they had
experienced in the fields, t h y
found the contrast of the Babe,
lying in a manger, born outside
of the inn where there had been
no room.
But the heavenly vision remain
ed with them. They were no t
daunted by appearances. T h e y
knew that God moves in mysteri-
Gus ways, that He is not a re-
specter of persons, but that He
accomplishes His purposes through
the lowly and in lowly ways as
well as through the great n d
mighty. So they made known to
Mary the realities of their vision.
Perhaps Mary was prepared for
the revelation for, as we piece in
the story from other accounts, she
must have realized the destiny Of
the Babe whom she had borne.
Here, again, it was by no chance
that Mary became the mother of
the earthly Christ. She, too. was
prepared for such motherhood bv
her faith and devotion. How beau
tifully and yet how simply the
New Testament stories record the
deepest and most marvellous
things! How better could the mys-
terry be expressed than in the sim
pie words: MARY kept all these
sayings, pondering them in her
heart
We read and study this lesson
today in a world of war and vio-
lence where the sons of loving
mothers are dying on bloody seas
and on far-flung battlefields. AL
most inevitably we set beside this
story of the birth of Jesus the
tragic scene of His death when
we are told that at the crucifixion
there stood by the Cross the moth
er of Jesus.
That is the experience of nanv
mothers today. The joy of the
birth of babes has been turned
into the agony and tragedy of
their death, by mothers today, like
Mary of old, in the tragic mystery
of the consciousness that, again
many are serving their country
and their God in their sacrifice
even as the son of Mary served
God and humanity.
Can we read the Christmas story
and study it in the light of the
whole life and death and resur.
rection of Jesus, and bring these
things in relation to the Joy and
sorrow of world in wartime
striving through conflict, SUFFERING !
and sacrifice, to attain peace? +