Fear in the Advent Story

There is a curious lack of emphasis whenever the Advent Story is told. One hears of the shepherds, the star, the magi, and the manger — all set in so beautiful and peaceful a setting that the idea of terror seems ruled outl Yel although this Child of Bethlehem was destined to be the Prince of Peace, the first emotion aroused by the proclamation of His Advent was that of fear. The shepherds of these times usually led quiet and lonely lives. They were very largely unaffected by the stirring events of the outside world: so that it is not a very remarkable thing, on the face of it, that as they were watching their flocks during the long night of the winter solstice they were startled by a sudden apparition, a bright light and angel voices in the sky.

Little wonder surely that they were “sore afraid”! This, however, would hardly account for the emphatic expression: “they feared with a great fear.”

The first effect of the Advent news was then that those who heard it “were,” as Moffatt puts it, “terribly afraid.” Moreover, there was a deeper and more reasoned fear in the heart of another. This time it is a king. “When Herod the king heard it, he was troubled.”

Was there ever in history a more amazing thing than this? A despotic king trembling because of the birth of an unknown child. Wickedness, however, always trembles in the presence of righteousness.

Nor was this fear confined to the king alone. “All Jerusalem [was troubled] with him.” The Jews trembled because of what the fear of the king might bring forth; they had good cause, for we now know that the massacre of the Innocents was the outcome.