Day 21

Luke 2: 14-20

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us

.’  So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 

But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The Visitors

We were so excited to visit Leeds General Infirmary this July to see our first grandchild on the day she was born – at the invitation of Mum and Dad, of course. In our reading today, Mary and Joseph, in Bethlehem for the Census and temporarily lodged in a stable, weren’t prepared for their unusual visitors. I wonder what Mary, exhausted from the effort of giving birth, thought when suddenly a posse of smelly shepherds appeared! And what about those shepherds; commanded by a terrifying host of angels to abandon their sheep and go down into the town to find this baby, I wonder what they were thinking?

But this is no ordinary baby, the angels proclaim that this is none other than the Saviour; the Messiah, and his birth is good news for everyone. Good news not just for rich and influential types on whom fortune always seem to smile, but for everyone – including simple shepherds! And these shepherds are not only the very first visitors to the baby Jesus, but also the first joyful witnesses of God coming into the world.

We are also called to be his witnesses, if God can use a shepherd, then he can certainly use you and me.

Anna