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Scripture: Luke 2:8-20
Song: Joy To The World
The witnesses to the birth of Jesus are an enlightening study. You’d expect the birth of a king to be proclaimed from the balcony of the royal palace. But to shepherds at night in the fields of Bethlehem? These were the first to hear the announcement of David’s descendant, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The announcement to shepherds said something about the kind of King this was. This King like the news of His birth, “shall be for all the people.” Here was a King for the common man whose coming was announced by angels and praised by heavenly hosts. Here was a King for shepherds, and hirelings, for bag boys, and drive-thru workers, construction crews, and waitresses. Here was a King that could be approached and who made such access possible by dwelling among men.
The shepherds’ report said something about what kind of child this was. The events of Jesus’ birth must have overwhelmed His folks at times. Joseph and Mary were reminded at every turn that they were the guardians of no ordinary child. Some things didn’t change. They were still poor. Some things must have been a struggle—giving birth in the stables could not have been fun in any century. But then this—a visit from strangers who had no reason nor means to find you in an overcrowded city, in an unexpected place, who tell of a multitude of angelic hosts announcing the birth of a King and the site of His nativity. These little signs that “God was with them” helped make their burdens bearable.
Jason Moore
