The Night Everything Changed

I heard the slapping of his sandals first, then Josiah yelled, “Esther!”
It was dark outside, the deep of night. He must know our kids were sound asleep. Why on earth would he make such a ruckus? I wondered.
“Shhh, you are waking the kids,” I jumped up, holding out my hands towards Josiah as soon as he broke through the door.
“Esther, I saw the LORD.” He gasped and bend over, breathing hard.
“What Lord?” Did he drink again with his friends?

“The Lord, the Almighty God. Angels everywhere! We ran into town and there he was, a baby in a manger.” Josiah’s eyes were big and he looked at me as if he was telling me something important, desperately for me to understand.

“Shhhh…. Josiah, you are not making sense. Are you drunk? Did Aaron bring wine to the field? Again?” I loudly whispered, anger rising inside me.

“Nonono!” He sighed. “Esther, listen to me. We were in the field, taking care of the sheep.”

“As you should!”

He nodded. “And then, there was this light in the sky. I was so afraid. We all were afraid, and fell to the ground, the dogs were barking like crazy. But they were wagging their tails. The light was so bright, I couldn’t look into it. And then the sound. The music started. A melody … that almost would stop your heart.” He giggled, smiled, his eyes shining bright with the memory.

Josiah shook his head. “It was overwhelming. Suddenly a voice came from the light and a huge, light figure came forward. He had big white wings and light streamed from his head and his wings and his legs, everywhere around him, was … like a halo?”

“I don’t know what you drank, his sounds like you were hallucinating.”

“No, … no! Esther, listen to me. I’m not drunk,… at all, it was just so, so, so  … amazing, and frightening and everything together.” Josiah shook his head again.

“I’ve never seen angels before.” He chuckled.

The kids started to move on the floor. Afraid they would wake up, I grabbed Josiah’s sleeve and pulled him out of the room. If he had to talk crazy we at least should not wake the kids.
Josiah was never a religious man, especially after our first born had died 5 days after his birth three years ago. He wasn’t even sure if he believed there was a God. But he continued, “The angel, the big one, said, that we should not be afraid and that he had good news. He said the Savior is born in Bethlehem, that he is Christ the Lord, and that we would find him dressed like a baby… and in a manger.”

“And then we saw there were thousands and thousands of angels with him… and then they sang, and the music was …” he exhaled heavily, and touched his breast, “just wow, awesome! It touched my heart.” Josiah’s voice broke and now tears streamed down his handsome face.

“They sang Praise God in heaven! Peace on Earth to everyone who pleases God!”

I didn’t know what to say. Either he was totally drunk or he really had seen angels. I would have to talk to Aaron and Moshe tomorrow.

“We were so shocked that we couldn’t move. The dogs had all come forward and sat in front of us, looking and watching, not making any noise. The sheep had laid down and watched, too. It was as if they wondered what we were gonna do about what the angel said.”

“Then Moshe suggested we should go and see for ourselves.”

“You left the sheep?” New anger rose inside me.

“No, … yes, … but,”

“Josiah.” I sighed.

“No, we left the sheep, but we also left David and Levi,… and the dogs. So, calm down and listen what I have to tell you. Esther, God sent his Messiah. He was born tonight, in a stable. There was this couple, and the woman was very young. Her name was Mary and she almost looked like an angel, too. She was beautiful, holding this baby. And then, she put him in a manger, laid him on straw. How the angel had said. That’s good news! The Lord, our God has come.”

He grabbed me around the waist and swung me around.

“I saw the light, the angels, Esther, I saw the baby and his mother. God is real and he loves us, he sent his Savior! The King of K…”

A knock at the door stopped him. Josiah slowly let me down, and went to open the door. Aaron and Moshe and their wives Rebecca and Mira stood in front of our doors. The men wide-eyed and as excited as Josiah. The women were as concerned and astonished as I was. My hesitation was mirrored in their eyes. Could it be true? The men fell into each other’s arms. We pulled them out of the house. 

The men took turns to retell the story over and over again.

Maybe they were right? Maybe they had seen angels, and the Lord? Clearly something had happened to them. And it had nothing to do with alcohol, there was not the faintest smell on their clothes. Rebecca and Mira agreed with me.

And then, we understood – their hearts had been touched by the Almighty.

Joy flooded through me, touched my own heart. Josiah wasn’t drunk, neither were Aaron or Moshe – they had seen the Lord.

I looked at Rebecca and Mira and saw that they were starting to believe, too. It was what we had been waiting for all our lives. The Messiah, the King of Kings would come from the hometown of King David. The dessert tribes would bow before him. The rulers would try to kill him. The prophecies suddenly made sense. Bethlehem was the hometown of David, the dessert tribes were maybe the shepherds and sadly, Herod had sent out heralds to find all the newborn babies because he had heard a new king would be born. I didn’t even want to think about what he was going to do if he found this baby.

Laughter rose inside me and I started to sing, praise the Lord, and then we were all dancing in the street. More and more people joined and the men told their story again and again. As dawn broke we were all celebrating. The kids had joined us and they were full of joy, too.

The Christ, our Lord, our Savior was born.

God with us, Emmanuel.

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I wish you a Merry Christmas! And never stop reading!