Isaiah 62:11–12:

See, the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD, and you shall be called “Frequented,” a city that is not forsaken.

Psalm 97:1, 6, 11–12:

A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us. 

The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many isles be glad. The heavens proclaim his justice, and all peoples see his glory. 

A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us. 

Light dawns for the just; and gladness, for the upright of heart. Be glad in the LORD, you just, and give thanks to his holy name. 

A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.

Titus 3:4–7:

Beloved:

When the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

Luke 2:15–20:

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNEVOlxEQDk

Bethlehem is a humble place, both now and in the time of Mary and Joseph. It’s hilly, rocky country, a challenging landscape that requires hard labor to successfully farm. Crops such as grain and grapes are produced, but the land is perhaps better suited to sheep and goats. Even in a region known for its political and economic humility during the Roman occupation, Bethlehem would not have been a notable community.

Imagine, then, being a shepherd in Bethlehem 2000 years ago and tending flocks in the evening on these hillsides. Not only would one not expect to have news of any import reach them, but none would expect it to happen in Bethlehem either. At one time it was the city of David, the nation of Israel’s greatest king, but more than a millenium later it had become a backwater, a way station to Jerusalem.

Furthermore, imagine someone suggesting to you that an angel would deliver a message to you and your neighbors while they tended the sheep and the goats. You would almost certainly have laughed out loud. Angels, the messengers of the Lord, spoke to prophets, who then advised kings. A shepherd might expect to hear about such a message years, decades, or centuries later, not get a visit from these messengers in person. And it had been centuries since Israel had a prophet and a legitimate and independent king anyway.

Yet, on this evening, the angel did not choose to reveal the Lord’s coming to Herod or a new prophet. He appeared in Bethlehem to tell the shepherds to tell them:

“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”

What manner of revelation would this have been to these shepherds? The Lord spoke through prophets, not ordinary people, and kings were born in privilege or raised to it. Instead, the angel directly tells these humble people the sign to find and says that their new king lies in a feeding trough for animals. The shepherds, however, trusted in the Lord and did the angel’s bidding to pay homage to Jesus in his own humility.

This is Christmas — that the Lord loved us so much in our own fallen nature that He sent His only Son to share in our humanity, not to reign on Earth but to save us for all eternity. The angel did not call out to the rich, powerful, or through the prophets, but directly to His most humble children to take their share in salvation first. The world, whether it knew it or not, had yearned for salvation from the yoke of sin and death, and it came to those who least expected to see it first.

The time of our waiting and preparation is over. Christ is among us, and all we need to do is trust in Him and his message for salvation. Gloria in excelsis Deo, who came to save us by assuming the lowest station among us.

Merry Christmas to all of our readers.

The front page image is a fresco in the Shepherd’s Field Church in Bethlehem, from my own photo collection.