To Read: Luke 2:8-14
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
In addition to the Wise Men who came to worship the king, here we have a scene with a different group of people receiving the good news, prompted by God himself to come and worship the Savior: a group of lowly shepherds. Shepherds were the last on the social totem pole in society, a group of poor workers who were not held in high esteem. In God’s plan, however, wealthy, educated men from a far-off Gentile region would come visit the baby, and so would the least of these in Israelites society.
The news that the angel brings is one of joy – and it’s important to keep that right in front of us at Christmas. The king of all creation has come! The angel announces his rightful title – the most important thing about him: he’s the Savior! The angel also connects him to their expectations – he’s the Christ, which means literally, the Messiah – he’s here.
I have already mentioned in these devotionals how this is the one time in human history when a heavenly host broke into the world and sang the praises of God. The other two occasions were in visions – with Isaiah and John in the book of Revelation. The shepherds saw something then that was unique in human history – signifying that is the most important event in the history of the world to date. The other big one of course is Easter – the death and resurrection of Christ. These two events bookend the pinnacle of human existence – the coming of Jesus into the world. All of human history to this point looked forward to it, and all human history will now look back upon this event that happened 2000 years ago.
We have a lot of busy things to do and lots of things on our mind constantly, but let us never lose sight of this: that this is what life is all about, worship of Jesus.
Song to Sing: Angels from the Realms of Glory
An early 19th century hymn, it retells the powerful moment of the angel’s proclamation to the shepherds.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, be in our hearts this Christmas by your Spirit. Help us to worship you with joy and freedom, not concerned about what we’re doing wrong or concerned about worldly things – let us rejoice in our freedom we have in you. Sin can’t hold us down, death will never hold us down – we can now be free to love our neighbor and to love you with our whole hearts. In your name. Amen.
Echoes of Eden: Snail Mail! Send someone an encouraging note today – we love getting Christmas cards; but make it a regular thing – everybody loves a kind note.