From the Beginning
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:8-12 (NIV)
The angel’s message was one of great joy. It was a proclamation that would resonate throughout the ages: for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. That one verse alone envelops the essence of our Christian faith. It is the sum total of our spiritual hope. It signals the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. It is the dawn of redemption. It’s the promise of God’s boundless love for us.
In this one simple verse, we find the very heart of the Christian message: that in the humble birth of a child, the world received its long-awaited Savior, the Messiah, the Anointed One who would bring light to the darkness and who would bring salvation to any and all who believe. As you focus your thinking on the angelic visitation to these shepherds and the profound significance of the message they received, it invites us to open our hearts to the transforming power of this one night’s dramatic angelic visitation.
Notice again who God reveals Jesus’s birth to. He reveals Jesus’s birth to shepherds. Not a king, not a prince, not an emperor, not a ruler, but shepherds. It’s just as instructive who He didn’t first reveal Jesus’s birth to as it is instructive who he decided to reveal the birth of Christ to, long before Jesus would even articulate His mission. God revealed His divine will, disclosing the gift He was giving, the kinds of people who are included in it, who He is blessing, where He is going to determine to rest His favor, and how He will more prominently be seen in the world.
Shepherds were at the bottom of the food chain as members of that society, lowly marginalized members of the culture. They were almost the forgotten. Their very occupation relegated them to the fringes of society, socially isolated and economically precarious. Shepherds were constantly exposed to the things their flocks were exposed to, and that often made them ceremonially and ritually impure and unclean. Many thought of them as a more criminal class, untrustworthy, viewed as rough and rugged and dangerous. It’s so powerful that God decides to reveal His character, His reach, and His intentionality at the very beginning of Jesus’s earthly life to these shepherds. The lesson is clear: God is willing to favor everybody. And there is nothing you can do to status yourself into a better life with God.
