Day 2| An unlikely audience
Yesterday we considered our relationship with the good Shepherd. Today let’s return to a hillside outside the small town of Bethlehem and sit with a group of unsuspecting shepherds who were about to have the experience of a lifetime.
Read
Luke 2:8-10
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
Reflect
The guests who were invited to celebrate at the world’s most remarkable birthday celebration would not have been welcomed to dine in many homes. Among the Jewish people, shepherds were looked down on, and not just because they did hard, dirty, back-breaking labor that left them smelling like the sheep. The nature of their work did not allow them to keep the ceremonial law. Even more problematic was their reputation for being dishonest. According to rabbinical teaching, shepherds were not to be allowed to testify in law-courts because, as a class, they were considered unreliable.[1] Yet, God sent angels to a group of Shepherds to announce Christ’s birth.
God did not dispatch the angels to the kings of the earth because power and wealth don’t make one worthy. He didn’t send them to the most strategic military generals or the wisest sages because not even they could have anticipated God’s extraordinary plan to save humanity. God chose those who, like himself, knew what it was to care for creatures who were stubborn and feckless and prone to wander into danger. He chose those who had probably spent many long nights searching for the lost ones and calling them home. God sent his angels to announce the birth of Jesus to a group of shepherds, not because they were worthy, but because his grace extends to all people, even those rejected by society.
Much of what our culture values and exalts — money, celebrity, beauty, status, ambition, success — is of little importance in the Kingdom of God. According to the Messiah, it’s the poor in spirit who inherit the kingdom, the meek who inherit the earth, and the pure who see God (Matthew 5).
In a sermon preached over 1600 years ago, Augustine of Hippo elegantly depicts the beautiful paradoxes we celebrate at Christmas:
Man’s Maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars,
might nurse at His mother’s breasts;
that the Bread might be hungry,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired from the journey;
that the Truth might be accused by false witnesses,
the Judge of the living and the dead be judged by a mortal judge,
Justice be sentenced by the unjust,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Vine be crowned with thorns,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might be made weak,
that He who makes well might be wounded,
that Life might die.
He was made man to suffer these and similar undeserved things for us,
that He might free us who were undeserving;
and He who on account of us endured such great evils, merited no evil,
while we who through Him were so bountifully blessed,
had no merits to show for such blessings.[2]
Who could have anticipated the lengths to which God would go to redeem us? It’s astounding! Like those shepherds in the field, there is nothing that makes us intrinsically worthy to receive such kindness. We are loved by God because he chooses to love us. By the Spirit’s power, we should love others the same way — unselfishly and without prejudice. May those startled shepherds remind us of the grace we’ve been shown, and may we show that grace to others.
Look back at Augustine’s description of Jesus. Which one is the most meaningful to you this Christmas. Pray over your answer and ask God to meet your needs. He loves you so!
[1] Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 101.
[2] Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, translated by Thomas Comerford Lawler, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany (Westminster, Md. : Newman Press, 1952), http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/26483341.