Last night’s message about the shepherds, to whom an Angel of the Lord announced the birth of Christ, is in keeping with nearly every Gospel message we have shared for the last several months.
We serve a different kind of King; we can all be rich in his kingdom; anyone who wants to be first “must be last of all and servant of all.”
We read in the Gospel of Luke:
“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.”
One could not envision a more appropriate audience for the announcement of the birth of a different kind of King. That God chose lowly shepherds to reveal the birth of his son reveals the true character of his Kingdom. It is a Kingdom that, as we heard last night, “exalts the lowly.”
This, of course, is unlike any kingdom ever devised by man. The birth of our humble king, as we heard in the short clip above, “dashed” the expectations of the world. For in Christ, we have a champion of the oppressed, one who welcomes the foreigner and seeks out the outcasts.
If this “good news” is for these lowly shepherds, how could it not be for all people?
After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished..
This week, let us be reminded of the testimony of these witnesses to the birth of our savior and what it reveals about the character of God.
The Pipe 