Scripture: Luke 2:8-10
- What were the shepherds doing when the angel appeared to them?
- What was the shepherds’ reaction to the angels? Why?
- How did the angel respond to their terror?
Meditation on Scripture
A baby – The Baby – was born in a simple manger stable in an obscure part of town . He was alone but for the mother, and Joseph – and lowly barn animals. Who should receive the birth announcement? Kings? Governors? Religious leaders? People of high rank with “contacts” who could spread the word around?
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the same God who placed His promised Redeemer in the womb of a peasant girl, prepared a straw filled manger for His bed, would choose humble shepherds to first hear the good news.
And what an announcement! As if heaven could not contain its ecstasy, and an angel of the Lord broke into the stillness of the night, shining with God’s glory. Reassuring the terrified shepherds, the angel declared the long-awaited message: “As Savior has been born to you.” And as if the heavens could not contain their joy, a great company of angels joined the angelic messenger and literally filled the fields with their song of praise!
Little is known about the shepherds but one thing stands out about God’s choice: He chose men simply doing their jobs. The application is profound. To those of us who seek a “vocation” – a calling – it is likely to manifest itself to us when we least expect it: when we are fully engaged in doing what we are supposed to be doing in the here and now. And it does make sense. God is most likely to assign His special ministrations to those people already proving faithful in their given task, in the small, uneventful circumstances of each day.
