The shepherds were simply minding their own business that night. They lived on the fringes of society, shunned by the popular and powerful, so they assumed they’d have another quiet night.
But don’t make assumptions when God is on the move!
All of a sudden, without warning, an angel stood among the shepherds, shining God’s glory—no wonder they were terrified! Think a Special Forces commander elevated to divine status and power, looking you straight in the eye, saying, “Don’t be afraid.”
You have got to be kidding me!
And rather than taking the shepherds out, the angel announced the Savior was born and they could find him in a manger.
Huh??
Then the armies of heaven joined the angel, singing praises! Armies singing?
Not what the shepherds expected when they rolled out of bed that morning!
Now the shepherds are the “trust but verify” type, so they decided to go to Bethlehem to see if what they heard was true. Their clue: a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Again, the unexpected intrudes. Who chooses to put a newborn baby to bed in a manger? If the shepherds do find this newborn baby in a manger, the angels must have known what they were talking about, and so the rest of their announcement had to be true, too. Could it really be? The Messiah that all creation had been waiting for, for millennia, had arrived?
You know how the story goes—the shepherds went, they saw, they believed. Then the shepherds (the ultimate outsiders) imitated the armies of heaven (the ultimate insiders who stand in God’s presence) by telling others, inviting them into the same experience the shepherds had. Seeing is believing.
What the angel had done, the shepherds did as well. See, believe, share.
Will you?
Questions for reflection:
1. Are you a “trust but verify” person? Why or why not?
2. What strengthens your faith?
3. Who could you invite to worship so they could see and then believe? Make a plan to ask them today!