Luke 2: 15-18
"Let's return today to the Christmas story as it is found in the second chapter of Luke. After the angels returned to Heaven, the shepherds were once again in the darkness of night. But somehow the darkness was not nearly as dark as it had been. Their hearts and minds had been illuminated by the truth of Christ, their saving Light. They murmured, one with another, over what they had just seen and heard. Their fear had been replaced with excitement as they considered these words of the angel.
'Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.'
'A sign for us? Did the angel intend for us lowly shepherds to go find this baby?' they must have thought. How excited they were to know that the God the Universe allowed them to be the recipients of this heavenly message, but how much more excited to realize that God was drawing them to Jesus!
'Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made know to us!' They delayed no longer and took off in great haste toward the little town of Bethlehem to see if they could find the babe as the angel had described to them.
When at last they found the crude stable where Mary and Joseph and the baby were staying, the shepherds could contain the words of the angelic host no longer. With great exuberance they must have shared every detail of their unbelievable night. And in awe and amazement, the proud parents took it all in, gazing with such love at this little One who was the very fulfillment of the proclamations made to the shepherds by the angels. The small crowd that was beginning to gather in the crude stable wondered at the things that the shepherds were sharing.
These nameless shepherds began the process of evangelizing the world. They did not keep this good news to themselves, but shared it with those around them, and likely with all who would listen to their incredible story. As the shepherds must have surely had to drag themselves away from the Child, they returned to their sheep on the hillside with hearts that were overflowing with praise and adoring worship to God for allowing them to be eyewitnesses to the One who would be the Shepherd of their people. This kind of news would be surely treasured in their hearts forever, but it was not the kind that they would be able to keep to themselves. They had to share it! How could anyone contain so great a revelation?
Today, the shepherds are an example for us, not only to consider, but to emulate. How often we revel in our own salvation, yet feel that sharing the good news with others is just too far our of our comfort zones. Ask God to restore in you the good news of great joy that once filled your heart, so that you might follow in the footsteps of the shepherds, doing as they did. Today, challenge yourself to 'go tell' someone of the Child in the manger who became your Savior!
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