Submitted by David
Miller
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. (Luke 2:15-20* NKJV)
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. (Luke 2:15-20* NKJV)
Unreliable and uneducated. Shepherds at the time of Jesus did not have a good reputation. Yet as Jesus lay in a dirty manger, cared for by a teenage mother and an overwhelmed and probably slightly internally conflicted father, it was shepherds whom God chose to minister to the child and family, then spread what was probably the most important news in history up to that point.
The
angels did not just give the shepherds a message to carry; the shepherds were
the direct subjects of that message. "Unto you is born in the city of David a Savior…" The divine proclamation of a personal savior is delivered to
those who need and recognize their need for salvation. The highest
qualification to be a messenger of the good news is to be one transformed by
that very news.
We
don't know the extended story of each shepherd, but we know that having looked
full into the face of the incarnate Son of God, this group needed no additional
motivation to tell the news regarding the future salvation offered by this
little baby. We are not told how the message was received, only that all
"marveled" at the shepherd's testimony, and perhaps marveled at the
shepherds themselves. For even after their proclamation, they were seen
returning to work still rejoicing and glorifying God. If a baby Messiah in a
manger can move men as such, how much more should the message of the saving
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ move and motivate us today?
Let
it never be said that anyone called of God remains unqualified. It may be the
very things that this world considers undesirable that God will use for his
glory. The shepherds would have been able to encourage Mary and reassure Joseph
with the message received by the angels. They would have been able to put the
stable/cave and livestock in order to create a better environment for the
newborn. And the people of the land would marvel at the transformation of the
formerly undesirable sheepherders now enthusiastically proclaiming peace and
salvation to Israel.
This
Christmas season and beyond, let us remember that God uses small and humble
beginnings not by accident. If God qualified witnesses to proclaim the birth of
His only begotten Son, how much more will He qualify those bearing the message
of a resurrected Savior? All it requires
is an obedient heart.
