Most of you probably know Luke 2:8-14 by heart. Here is the King James Version:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Whenever I read this passage, instead of Luke 2:15, I think “And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Countless Sunday School lessons during Advent are based on Luke 2. But I am always drawn to Galations 4:4-5 at this time of year: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
The Jewish nation had been waiting for their messiah. It took a long time for the time to fully come. We don’t know what happened to signify to the universe that the time had fully come. But we can point to a few things that were different than before. Rome had unified much of the world under its government. The world was relatively peaceful, and Roman law applied to everyone. Travel was more possible between regions. Greek was spoken throughout the Roman empire. All of this made it possible for word to spread.
We often wait for the time to fully come before we take action. We put things off. We look for indications that it is the right thing to do. We strategize. We think. We wait for something better to come along. We believe that patience is a virtue. But we aren’t waiting to change the trajectory of mankind. We are waiting to sell our houses, change jobs, or find the right person. Our decisions usually involve our own personal satisfaction. And we often wait too long.
Fifty years ago, the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment studied delayed gratification in children. In these studies, a 5-year-old was offered a marshmallow and given two choices. The child could either take the marshmallow or wait 15 minutes and get two marshmallows. Some of the children just ate the marshmallow as soon as the tester left the room. Most of them tried to wait. Of those who tried, one-third waited long enough to get the second marshmallow. In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who waited longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better SAT scores, higher education, and better health. The conclusion: If you can control impulses and delay gratification, you will go far in life. You should wait just like the Jewish nation.
But correlation is not the same as causation. A replication attempt with a more diverse sample population that was more than 10 times larger than the original study did not reach the same conclusions. It suggested that economic background rather than willpower explained the results. Other studies showed that children from intact families were better able to delay gratification.
The key seems to be whether or not you think there is going to be another marshmallow. The original Stanford study conditioned the children to believe that the tester would in fact return with another marshmallow. The waiting portion did not start until after the children clearly understood that the experimenter would keep the promise. A 2012 study altered the experiment by dividing children into two groups. One was given a broken promise before the test and one was given a fulfilled promise. You can guess the outcome. Those who had fulfilled promises were more likely to wait for the marshmallow.
God does not break His promises. That is why the Jews waited thousands of years. This week we celebrate a fulfilled promise. But people break their promises all the time. You may not even have a correct understanding of what you have been promised or the promises you have made. And you do not have the promise of good health, happiness, a successful business, or another day with your loved one. The time will never be perfect to write a letter to a friend, resolve a problem with a family member, buy a life insurance policy, start a business, or update your will. But you don’t have thousands of years to wait. It’s not going to feel right. The man with the marshmallow is not coming back. There won’t be two. Take time this week to celebrate the redemption of the world. Then eat the marshmallow.