A Quiet Christmas - Luke 2:8-20

© November 30th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Advent

Albert Einstein famously came up with the theory of relativity. I’m not going to try to explain it to you today (and I’m not even sure I could), but one of the things he suggested in that theory was that time is not a fixed entity like we tend to think it is, but it is relative—able to be affected by other forces like gravity or speed. While that’s kind of hard for us to wrap our heads around, our subjective experience of time is relative.

You have surely experienced the feeling of spending time doing something you love, only to discover that hours have passed or when you are stuck doing something you don’t like, the minutes seem to take forever. Like if you’ve ever had to listen to an unengaging speaker drone on and on, you’ve probably felt like time moved slowly (of course that never happens at the Union Church!)

But you may have also experienced another phenomenon: a feeling as though time stands still. When you have something significant happen, it feels like everything else disappears and nothing else matters. Maybe you’ve experienced this when you had a joyous moment, like the first time you held your child or grandchild, or maybe at a tragic one, like a phone call that stops you in your tracks. When these things happen, it suddenly becomes apparent that all the things that normally occupy our minds and vie for our energy and attention really don’t matter.

I believe there are several times this happened in the Christmas story. There are several moments where time stood still for people, and they had a drastic shift in their focus and understanding of what really mattered in the world.

This morning we’re going to look at a few of these examples and see what they learned, how their perspective changed as a result of Christmas, and how we might be able to have a similar realization for ourselves.

Shepherds

The first example of this change in attention that came to my mind was the shepherds. We see what happened in Luke 2:8-10,

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. (Luke 2:8-10, NLT)

The shepherds were just having a regular night. They were out in the fields caring for their sheep. I imagine them sitting around a campfire, telling stories, maybe talking about the struggles they’d been facing, or about the current sheep market. I don’t know. But it was just a normal night…until the angel showed up.

Think about how drastically things changed in that moment. The angel showed up and all conversation stopped. They no longer paid any attention to the fire or to the sheep. Their attention was solely focused on the messenger from heaven. And we know the message: the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem!

A whole host of angels showed up and began praising God before these shepherds. I imagine them standing motionless, mouths agape as they took in the heavenly concert that night. And then, as suddenly as the angels had come, they left. And then, it was quiet. I imagine the quiet was overwhelming, as everyone just continued looking at the sky for a moment, and then looking at each other, wondering if they had seen the same thing. And then, once they found the ability to speak once more, they all seemed to come to the same conclusion: we need to go to Bethlehem and see the Messiah!

In an instant, these men who had been so concerned about their sheep or worried about any of the other challenges they were facing in life, became aware that none of those things mattered in the light of Jesus. They left everything, the sheep, the campfire, their food, and headed into Bethlehem in search of the Messiah. He was the only thing that truly mattered. As time stood still, they gained the perspective they needed, and put Christ first.

Mary

Something similar happened with Mary. Like the shepherds, she was busy with her life. She was engaged to be married, and I wonder if she had become obsessed with planning for her new life. Weddings in those days were a huge affair, and she and her family may have already begun working on the details for the wedding celebration. While things are a bit different today, my experience working with many brides is that this process becomes all-consuming. There are so many details to attend to, and it feels like it never ends.

I don’t know if that’s exactly what Mary was dealing with at that time, but she was surely consumed with her own life, as most of us tend to be. And then the angel showed up and spoke to her, and everything stood still.

30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.” 38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. (Luke 1:30-38, NLT)

Like the shepherds, Mary had a moment when the world stood still, and she realized nothing else mattered. After her interaction with the angel, her priorities shifted. I suspect for the first time in quite a while, she wasn’t thinking about wedding plans or about the life she was going to build with Joseph. Instead, she was thinking about the significance of the Messiah being born and about her role in the process.

After this experience, it seems clear that Mary realized that her life was about more than just her. In her song of praise she sings after this announcement, she recognized that she was part of a plan God had put into motion years before. She saw the same God who worked through Abraham and Jacob and was working through her as well! This perspective enabled her to weather the storms that would soon be part of her life.

I suspect as she began to think about the implications of the angel’s announcement, she started to think about how this unexpected pregnancy would affect her. She probably realized it would be scandalous, that no one would believe her, and that she may end up losing the life with Joseph that she had been dreaming of and planning for. But amazingly, none of that seems to have mattered to Mary. She recognized that she was the Lord’s servant, and that was the most important title she could have. Mary’s perspective changed, and everything came into much sharper focus—Jesus was all that truly mattered, so she would serve Him.

Joseph

Joseph had a similar experience. He had also been preparing for his marriage to Mary, but his preparations would have looked different. While he was likely aware of the plans for the wedding celebration, that would not have been his primary focus for the upcoming marriage. Instead, he was trying to prepare a life for himself and Mary.

In the ancient near east, part of the preparations for marriage usually included a man building a place for he and his wife to live. This may have meant building an addition onto his parents’ house, or building and preparing a house for the two of them to live in once they got married. He needed to have everything ready for his new wife.

If you’ve ever been involved in a construction project, you know how all-consuming it can be. Each day brings with it new headaches, new challenges, and new questions about what needs to be done. And then, of course, there’s the added financial pressures. Joseph would have surely been working hard to build their new home while working to provide for himself and his soon to be wife. He too would have had a million different things on his mind.

After the angel appeared to Mary, everything changed for Joseph. I can imagine Mary coming to him with great trepidation, explaining that she was now pregnant, but that she had not been unfaithful to him. Instead, the Holy Spirit had caused her to become pregnant with the Messiah.

Joseph loved Mary and he wanted to believe her. But what she was saying seemed incredible. But even if what she was saying was true, Joseph knew what it would mean for them. He knew that no one else would believe the story that Mary’s pregnancy was a result of the Holy Spirit and not of promiscuity. He knew that he would be forever branded in a negative light in the eyes of the community. And he knew the life he had dreamed of building with her simply wasn’t going to happen.

Rather than demanding that Mary be put on trial or trying to have her accused of adultery, he planned to quietly end the engagement and allow them both to go their separate ways. Then an angel spoke to him as well.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-25, NLT)

Like Mary and the shepherds, Joseph had an angel appear to him and change his perspective. Joseph began to see how the Lord was going to use him in His grand plan to save humanity. Once Joseph knew God had a job for him to do, he realized that all the other things he had once concerned himself with no longer mattered. While he could begin to imagine the things people would say about him and about his soon-to-be wife, he knew those things ultimately didn’t matter in light of what the Lord was going to do. Joseph was less concerned with how these things would affect him and instead was concerned with how he could serve the Lord. In that moment, everything became crystal clear for him.

As a result, he was wed to Mary. All the trappings of the normal marriage process likely fell by the wayside. They likely didn’t have the huge blowout celebration they had surely both envisioned. They didn’t share the wedding night they had looked forward to. And they began to build a life together that was far different than what they had dreamed of. But they also both knew that Jesus would change everything, and they could rest in the Lord, no matter what would happen.

Conclusion

Each of these characters in the Christmas story had their perspectives changed. They each had an experience where time stood still and they were able to see things clearly. They were able to set aside all the other things that were clamoring for their attention and instead focus on the only things that truly mattered.

Our question is, how do we get to that point? If you’re cynical, you may say that the only way we can have that kind of focus and certainty is if an angel appeared to us. And angels appearing before us would certainly capture our attention, but unless our hearts are in the right place, I’m not sure that even an angel from heaven would truly change our perspectives and priorities. I’m reminded of a parable Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus, in which he described a person who had lived in disobedience to God and ended up in hell. While in agony, he pleads with Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers so they wouldn’t make the same mistake as him.

27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’ 29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ 31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16:27-31, NLT)

My point in sharing this is that unless we are open to embracing the truths revealed to us in scripture, even seeing a person raised from the dead or an angel from heaven will not make any lasting impact on our lives. So we must be open to God’s leading—even if we never hear from an angel.

So, how do we allow Christmas to impact us? How do we allow these truths to wash over us in a way that will lead to a change in perspective that goes beyond just the next 4 weeks? I’ve got a few suggestions.

First, reflect on what’s really important. We live in a world that is constantly clamoring for our attention. We have devices that are constantly dinging or vibrating, we are all attempting to do two or three things at once, and we have people making ever greater demands on us. The first thing we can do to help us get our priorities right again is simply to take time to think about what is truly important and then choose to order our lives appropriately.

This isn’t complicated. Make a list of the demands you have on your time, then rank them in order of importance. The things that have the highest rankings should get the greatest priority on your time. And the things that are lowest will not. Inevitably, there won’t be enough time to go around. But if you’ve decided in advance what is most important, then the decisions of what gets cut are pretty straightforward. Most often, we devote time to the things that clamor for our attention most loudly. But when we’re intentional about ordering our time and energy, it becomes much easier to ignore those things that aren’t as important.

Second, strive to eliminate distractions. I don’t know about you, but I find it difficult to concentrate on the things I want to. My thoughts run away from me faster than I can seem to catch them. I think this is because we’re always running in a thousand different directions. What we need is to eliminate some of the distractions in our lives.

Our phones, tablets, or computers are sources of constant distraction. Most of us don’t even realize just how distracting they are. Pay attention this week to just how often you pick up your phone for no reason (or only because you’re bored and looking for a new distraction). I’m appalled at how I sometimes reach for my phone without even thinking about it. I have no reason to reach for it, but I’m looking for something to distract me for a moment. Be aware and then be intentional. Only pick up those devices when you have a reason to and set them down once you’re done.

Similarly, I think we would do well to become comfortable with quiet. When was the last time you sat in quiet reflection? Most of us do not spend time in quiet. We always have noise going on. Whether that’s the TV in the background, music or the radio playing, or some other source of background noise, many of us are uncomfortable with quiet. I have found times when I am alone in the car to be a good respite from the noise. I’m not on my phone and I can choose to turn off the radio. Those times create space for reflection and for prayer. It makes it possible for me to be present with the Lord and to hear from Him. The same is true first thing in the morning. That is my time alone with the Lord, before others are up and before the day starts really going. Work to cultivate quiet in your life. When we do, we create space for reflection and being open to the Lord.

Finally, remember what Christmas is about. We often talk about the importance of remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season. Usually this is in response to the rampant commercialism we see overtaking the holiday. But how often do we reflect on what Christmas means? How often do we allow the reality of Christmas to fill us up?

Jesus coming to earth means God loves us. It means Jesus was willing to sacrifice everything to save us. It means others need to know this love. It should affect the way we view and approach each other. Take some time this holiday season to reflect on what Christmas means and why it’s worth celebrating. Use your quiet time to think deeply about the coming of the Messiah into our world and allow that to influence the way you approach everything else.

Most of us will never have angels appear to us in the sky or even in a dream. We may never have experiences like the shepherds, Mary, and Joseph. But we can still have the perspective they had. It requires us to be quiet before the Lord—to still our hearts, to quiet our minds, and to reflect on who He is. When we do that, everything else will stand still, and what really matters will come into sharp focus.

I pray you have a quiet Christmas this year. I don’t mean that you can’t listen to Christmas music, or can’t laugh or enjoy the holiday. But my hope is that your heart will be quiet before the Lord, because it’s when we’re quiet before Him, when we eliminate the things that might distract us from what really matters, that we begin to live with intentionality and truly experience the joy that Jesus’ entrance into the world can bring.

© November 30th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Advent