In Those Days

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus’ birth as Mary and Joseph travel to the town of Bethlehem for the census. Luke begins his story with “in those days.” Luke then sets those days in a historical context. Caesar Augustus rules over Rome, and Quirinius is the governor of Syria. Luke had already written at the beginning of his gospel that he wanted to give an orderly account of Jesus’s life. For Luke, those days are real-time days. Luke doesn’t begin with “once upon a time,” as we might expect in a fairytale, but Luke is grounding the story of Jesus in the real world. 

However, the story of Jesus’ birth and the rest of his life is not stuck in those days. Instead, the story of Jesus intersects our own lives today. The Bethlehem manger transcends times and speaks to us just as it did to shepherds on a hillside. The good news of Jesus’ birth moves beyond its historical point in history and enters our stories today. As a result, we are more than the audience watching it on a stage, but we participate in the story. Like the shepherds, we are invited to travel to see this thing that has taken place.

The story of Jesus is also a story that transforms us. Ordinary days become extraordinary ones as Jesus remakes our stories into something new. Jesus now defines the days of our lives and the stories we live in. Immanuel, God with us, now shapes our stories, our past, present, and future. Indeed, when God is part of our stories, then our stories take on an entirely new life. Those days now become the days of our Lord.

Because of Jesus, we are now able to proclaim with the Psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) The joy of the Lord now finds a home in our everyday living. It doesn’t mean we will not have bad or tough days; that is simply the reality of living in a broken world. But now, “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) The joy of our Lord now guides us through these days with the promise of a future day where life will completely be transformed into an eternity of endless days.

The Christmas story is not trapped in the pages of history, but His story now becomes our story. We live now with meaning and purpose. These days are now part of God’s great plan for all of creation. It is a Gospel story for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Every day is now the day of our Lord.