Good New For The Shepherds Series

Alba 12-15-2024

GOOD NEWS FOR THE SHEPHERDS

Luke 2:8-20

What is the good news at Christmas? More toys for the kids? More time with each other? More things to do and more travel to take? What is the good news? It is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Candy Chand tells of her son’s Christmas play at North Country Elementary School in Antelope, California. Her son was in kindergarten and was excited about Christmas. For weeks he had been memorizing songs for the school’s “Winter Pageant.” (It would have been inappropriate to call it a “Christmas Play.”)

Mrs. Chand went to the dress rehearsal in the morning and sat on the floor with the other parents. Finally, the students were led into the room, and each group rose at their appointed time to perform their song. Because of how conscious the school was of avoiding any mention of the real meaning of Christmas, she only expected songs about reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.

But when her son’s class rose to sing, she was surprised to see that their song was entitled “Christmas Love.” Her son Nicholas was aglow, as were his classmates who were outfitted with fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snow caps on their heads. The children in the front row held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class sang “C is for Christmas,” a child would hold up the letter “C.” Then, “H is for Happy,” and so on, until each child had held up his or her letter to complete the message of “Christmas Love.”

Everything was going smoothly until a shy little girl in the front row held her letter upside down. Instead of holding up her “M,” she was holding it so that it appeared to be a “W.” The adults smiled and the children from the other classes began to snicker. She had no idea why they were looking at her so intently and smiling, so she stood tall and proudly displayed her “W.”

Candy Chand said the teachers tried to shush the children, but the laughter continued until the last letter was raised. Then a hush came over the audience, and people stared in wonder as they saw the sign which, instead of “Christmas Love,” now read: “Christ was Love.”

She said, “There in that moment, the Christ of Christmas made His message known. Out of the chaos and secularization of His birth, Christ the King came out of the cradle to announce the reason He came.”

Of course, the first announcement at the time of Jesus birth was made to the shepherds who were out in the fields keeping watch over their sheep at night. This was an interesting choice that God made. It was not to kings and priests. The announcement was given to shepherds.

A shepherd's life was not an easy one. Their whole life was spent in the pasture taking care of their sheep. In regards to society they were at the bottom. This demonstrates that God does not show favoritism; He does not treat one group of people differently than another.

Jesus is the Savior of all equally. He doesn’t give preference to any group or any class. Nor does He discriminate on the basis of intelligence, or education, or wealth, or profession, or political power, or social standing, or any of the other qualities on which human beings make judgments. His love is offered to anyone who will come to Him in obedient faith, trusting in Him as Savior.

It is possible that these shepherds may have been taking care of the temple sheep that were being kept for temple sacrifices. I think of the shepherds sitting out on the hillsides, watching sheep all night long. And then one night it says in, Luke 2:9, “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.” Do you hear that? They were surrounded by...

1. GLORY

Can you imagine being out in the middle of the pasture and having an angel appear with the glory of the Lord shining around? How could a person not be afraid? It would have to be frightening.

What is this glory? We don't know exactly, but it appears that it was an extraordinary bright shining, with an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. The “glory of the Lord’ is the splendor or divine radiance of God. The glory of the Lord was so great it says in Second Chronicles that the priests in Solomon’s temple could not stand up.

The shepherds' experience must have been similar. The Greek text uses the word fear twice to describe how the shepherds felt at the angel’s sudden appearance: The shepherds “feared” (phobeo) a great fear (phobos megas)!” But the angel did not come to strike great fear, but in contrast, to spread great joy. Verse ten says, “Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” The angel's proclamation is not just of joy, but great joy.