Luke 2:8-11 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (9) And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. (10) And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
If you are like me, I hear so much bad news that if we focused on it, we could easily spiral into depression. We turn on the evening news and hear about natural disasters, plant closings and countless people losing their jobs, more murders, missing children and deaths in war. It seems sometimes that all there is is bad news or worse news! When we do hear good news, we want to truly embrace it because it is so rare. One of my favorite good-news stories is when we hear of a person doing something heroic to save another person.
In our text today, we find that shepherds in the countryside of the land of Israel are getting a rare visit by an angel of God. The angel starts off by stating that he brings Good News of Great Joy. In so many ways, the statement of “Great Joy” is quite an understatement! I get great joy from being married for 24 years (today is my anniversary...I love you Peggy...Thank you for 24 awesome years), I get great joy seeing a baby laugh. I get great joy having my 20 year old daughter come home for the weekend to visit. But nothing compares to the joy that we should have at the news that the angel brings.
The angel then reveals the good news of great joy: The birth of a Jesus! I don’t know about you readers, but from my vantage point, the news of the birth of Jesus seems more significant to me than it could have ever meant to them. Surely it had to be unbelievably significant to them since the news was delivered by an angel of God. What an impact it must have made to see the glory of the Lord shine round about them in there presence. No doubt they had to take notice that something of huge and of vital importance was taking place.
But in hindsight, we have the ability to truly see the impact of what that event meant. For the real significance of Jesus was not just in his birth, but in his death. The buying back of our sins! (Eph. 1:7) The washing away of our iniquities! (Rev. 1:5) The reconciliation back to God! (Eph. 2:16) The transformation into his kingdom! (Col 1:13) The opportunity that we can be his children! (1 John 3:1) And the possibility that we can spend eternity with God some day! (John 14:2)
It may have been a life changing event and may have been the best news that those shepherds ever heard, but truly, if we understand the significance of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death and sacrifice, this should be the best news we have ever heard as well. May we be truly mindful of God’s great sacrifice and live today acting in a manner that shows our gratitude!
