The Day After Christmas

After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. [Luke 2:17 New Living Translation]

The day after Christmas used to be a letdown for me as a kid. All the anticipation of waiting to see if I was going to get what I had wanted ended after the paper was ripped off the packages on Christmas morning. Whether I got all I wanted or not seemed irrelevant once I began to play with and enjoy what I did get. Then the day ended with a family meal and most of them leaving before dark. Waking up the next day was not near as exciting as it had been the day before. Everyday tasks were back to normal just twenty four hours after the big day. Leftover turkey and stuff would be served for lunch or dinner and the excitement of the season had slipped away somewhere. Kind of depressing in a way I would say.

I wonder what the day after Christmas was like in Bethlehem. For the majority of the folk most of them never knew that Christ was in the world. There was a select group however that did; the shepherds. The Bible is clear on what these guys did the day after Christmas. The excitement of all they had experienced beginning with the visit from the angels and ending with the visit to the stable. The day before Christmas they were just plain old shepherds but the day after Christmas they were evangelists; spreading the Good News!

For many Christmas is depressing for different reasons. Some have no family and live alone. Some are in poor health; others are grieved because loved ones have passed on.  For many Christmas was just another day just as it was for many of the residents in Bethlehem. Taxes still had to be paid, the Romans were still in charge, and life was still difficult for many. However the shepherd’s lives would never be the same. They had met the Savior.

I hope that perhaps you had a chance to meet Him this Christmas. Maybe in a church service, maybe at a Christmas play or perhaps you thought about Him during a quiet time in your home. The one thing I can tell you for sure is that if you did meet Him, you will be changed just as the shepherds were. The Spirit of Christmas never leaves! Jesus is the Gift that keeps on giving!