A GREAT PROCLAMATION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Luke 2:8-15

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The baby Jesus was born with no fanfare, no celebration outside of the joy within the hearts of the young couple Joseph and Mary inside that Bethlehem stable. It was a humble scene for the Song of God, King of kings, Lord of lords, and Savior of the world to enter into creation. Immanuel had come and indeed God had come down from heaven to earth to dwell with His people but did so in peace and relative solitude.

That was soon to change.

For as we shift to what happened next, we find shepherds enjoying a solitude of their own, doing what shepherds do. They were in the fields nearby Bethlehem, “keeping watch over their flocks at night.” The night sky was above them and the air with a chill as it was in the winter months. They were probably holding conversations about the day or events that had been happening. Perhaps they were talking about their sheep because shepherds had special relationships with their flocks, so much so that sheep would know the sound of their particular shepherd’s voice and respond to it and it alone.

Yes, it seemed like just any other ordinary night but suddenly an “angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.” The spontaneous, supernatural experience left the shepherds terrified much like Zechariah, Mary, and Joseph were in their prior encounters. And so we find the angel doing as he had done before, seeking to calm the shepherds’ fears by simply saying, “Do not be afraid.” The angel then delivered what would be a great proclamation, the first formal announcement of Jesus’ birth.

“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

I have always found this announcement amazing because the message that the long awaited Messiah had come was not given to the most renowned Jewish priest or teacher of the law. It was not given to anyone in a significant leadership position in any of the main Jewish locales like Judea or Galilee. No, the divine public statement of Christ’s birth came to a group of lowly shepherds, a cultural group who were considered near the bottom of Jewish societal hierarchy. If asked, they would have probably been the last group any Jew would have picked for such a declaration but as we know, God does not move at the will of any man or woman. Rather, He does things in His perfect way at His perfect time.

And so the lowly, humble shepherds were the recipients of one of the greatest proclamations in history and that would have been enough on its own but there was one more amazing experience in store.

For the scriptures tells us that “suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The angel had no more brought the good news of Jesus’ birth when the sky burst into the light surrounding a “great company of the heavenly host”. We don’t know how many angels were in this company but they could have been as many as would be in an army. That’s a lot of angels and quite a choir as they praised God and pronounced His glory as He brought peace on earth through the holy baby in the manger, the One who came to be the Prince of Peace.

And then it was over. The angels disappeared into heaven as quickly as they had come and the shepherds were left where they were before the great proclamation happened. The surroundings had not changed but they were changed forever, having gone through an experience they would never forget. It was such an incredible happening that we read where the shepherds decided to “go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They were excited to go, seek, and find the Savior of the world.

As Christmas has come and gone, we have returned to our familiar surroundings and working in ways we did before we celebrated Jesus’ birth. We have a choice to just let things return to normal or seek the Savior whose birth we just celebrated.

The great proclamation of the heavenly host announced that hope and peace for all mankind had come through the prophesied Messiah. That hope and peace is still here and so shouldn’t we be just as excited as those shepherds were on that chilly Judean night? Shouldn’t we want to go, seek, and find the Savior of the world and experience Him either new or anew in our lives?

Is there ever too much time we can spend with the One who came to save us?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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