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Thursday, December 23, 2004
Yesterday we saw how the shepherds in Luke 2 were anything but well-liked. Just a despised class of young workers, doing what young workers do on a hillside in the Middle East do...
"And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night." Very normal behavior, right? Not expecting much...maybe a wolf or two...spending time with the other shepherds...maybe writing a song or playing instruments (David's pasttimes)...
They were about to step into history. Big time.
The biggest of times.
That's the way it seems to work in our lives, too, right? We're just going along, doing what we always do...and then God steps in and changes everything on less than a moment's notice.
So here these ragamuffins are, on a chilly hillside, doing their jobs. And it was dark. Very dark. Not city dark like I'm used to. I'm talking no light except the fire and able to see the Milky Way kind of dark.
And, in understatement #1: "And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened."
Terribly frightened. Right. And Niagra Falls has a little bit of rushing water.
Dark. Then the glory of the Lord shone all around them. I'm not sure there could be more polar extremes than those...and to say they were terribly frightened, well, I'm not sure that there are words to describe what they felt. Terror. Horror. I'd imagine they hit their faces to shield themselves from the incredible amount of light.
"And then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, (easier said than done at this point, wouldn't you think?) for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people;..."
All the people. The good news of great joy would be for all the people. Not just those of the nation of Israel. All the people get the good news. I feel safe in saying that this would've raised some eyebrows in the Jewish young men...and anyone else of Israel. They knew that Gentiles would be accepted by God in some fashion as the Temple had an area for them, so they knew of some level of acceptance by God...but EVERYBODY gets the same good news? Hmmm...
We'll pick up here tomorrow...for Christmas Eve we'll dive into the shepherd's story a bit more...but for today, spend some time thanking God that those of us who have accepted Christ were included in God's plan to save mankind. Spend some time thinking about how your life would be different if you didn't get the good news...I imagine that it would help you be a bit more thankful...
Brent 4:10 AM
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