I thought I might do a little something, this year, that would help me focus on what this season is really about, and maybe it could help you, too. I’m going to take the story of Jesus’s birth, found in Luke 2, and go verse by verse, 1 through 24, to see what happens. Here we go…

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” ~ Luke 2:15 NIV

This thing that has happened.

This thing.

Somehow that seems a flippant way for the shepherds to characterize the announcement that had just filled their sheepy field with legions from heaven. So much so, in fact, that I decided to check the original language because it always sheds fresh light. And you know what?

“Thing” is from the original Greek  ῥῆμα (rhēma), which means “Word.”

And you know what else?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So, that could also read: Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this Word that has happened.

Now, there are two words that mean “word” in the Greek. While one is “rhema,” the other is “logos.” Logos means the written word of God, while Rhema means the spoken word of God. God’s word, and God’s word for now.

The person of Jesus was the culmination of both, because the Word became flesh.

In the middle of our busyness, today, let’s get off to Bethlehem, shall we, and see this Thing that has happened. Let’s not be flippant and miss it, for the Lord has spoken, for the here…for the now.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ~ John 1:1-4 KJV
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14 ESV