Birth Announcement

Herod got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.” Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! (Matthew 2:7-10, The Message.)

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Birth announcements are special events, marked by both simple and elaborate affairs. Some are beautiful postcards, others are Facebook or Instagram postings. There are videos shared which herald the event. Parents want to get out the news! And there’s no shortage of ways to do that.

Here’s one suggested wording I found:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Do you know how loved you are? Introducing our baby girl…

I remember when our first son, John, was born. I recorded a message on our home phone in Woodstock, Georgia to announce his birth to anyone lucky enough to call in! They got the news on when he was born, his dimensions, the biblical meaning of his name, and “mother and baby are doing fine.” Woohoo! A baby boy! I was one proud and bragging papa. Birth announcement? It was more like a birth shout.

I’ve told the story often of a young girl in a family close to ours in Dallas coming to our apartment one morning, and announcing, “Mommy just had a baby boy, and named him Peter!” I guess her dad detailed her to come to our place and tell us, as we would want to know what happened to his wife who the previous day was great with child. Her announcement made an impression on me, and I’ve never forgotten it. Fun to watch the joy of a big sister exuberant over a new playmate (i.e. a baby doll that is really alive!). I’m confident that readers of this will have their own birth announcement stories to share, and no doubt with their own twist.

The birth announcement of Jesus was unique: it was a birth announcement star, hovering over the place where the baby boy was residing. The announcement star had been traveling ahead of them, and then stopped and hovered. The text says it was the same star they had seen earlier. And there it was, yet again, clear, pointing, unmistakable. To these star scholars, it must have been like a neon sign on a modern roadway that said “Turn in here and eat!” It was unmissable. The driver can choose not to turn in, but the announcement is clear: this is the place.

And so, the birth announcement star of Jesus made it clear: this is the place.

But more than just announcing the place, indicated by the hovering star, at its most basic level the birth announcement star said that a royal birth had taken place. It was not “maybe a baby has been born”; not, “hopefully”; not, “the time will come, check back with us later for an update”; but “definitely.” A child has been born. We aren’t making this up.

The birth announcement happened because a birth happened. This is a real mother-giving-birth-to-baby scenario, going through what came to be called ‘natural childbirth.’ I bet she made loud noises, which could be heard even from the stable, or whatever the accommodation actually was. There was a baby coming down the birth canal, accompanied by various kinds of fluids, especially the kind that baby Jesus was cushioned in during the long nine-month stay. And on arrival: sorry—the Bible doesn’t say (gasp!), in contrast to the words of the beloved Christmas carol, “no crying he makes”—I’m going to assume he cried. Loudly. Do we know of a baby who never has? Hard to imagine a baby exiting the warmth of the womb and not informing bystanders of physical displeasure from the change in temperature and location. His lungs were at work!

The birth-announcement star said that the baby had indeed been delivered, and this is the place where you will find him. No ifs, ands, and buts: the birth happened. The Christ Child has entered the world.

The appearance of the royal star was an incomparable birth announcement.

“Father, thank you that you didn’t keep hidden away the news of the birth of Jesus. You announced it publicly and loudly, and wrote it in the sky! And similarly, you have not reserved for just a few people the right of access to this information. You have made it available to all people, everywhere. We pray for those today that we know who are on a journey to the Christ. May they find him.”