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 Instead, they said to each other,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
- Luke 2:15
Some 2000 years after that first and great announcement I can think
of all sorts of reasons why they shouldn’t have gone. It’s late,
it’s dark, it’s dangerous, we can’t leave the sheep. There are a lot
of reasons not to go, but the shepherds did and I’m wondering – what
would you have done?
Would you, like the shepherds, realize that you had just received
good news from God? Would you, like the shepherds, realize that
nothing in your life would ever surpass what had just happened?
Somehow and someway the shepherds grasped that their lives would be
radically, drastically, and thoroughly changed – so they left.
And what they understood is what we need to grasp. That Jesus
changes everything. True man and true God, He was born into the
world so that the sting of death would be removed and sin would no
longer be our eternal curse.
Knowing that, the shepherds left to go see that which the Lord had
told them about.
What about you? This Christmas season allow your thoughts to go back
to that field, to a place without Christmas trappings, trees, or
toys. Look around and listen again to the angels tell of God’s Good
News, just as the shepherds heard it. Look to the manger with eyes
of faith and see the real gift – God’s Son.
In 1865, Philip Brooks an Episcopal preacher, traveled to the Holy
Land because he wanted to spend Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. In his
diary Brooks told how he visited the shepherd’s field and how he
went and worshiped God’s Son, his Savior. As he headed home, Brooks
looked over his shoulder for one lasting glimpse of the place where
God’s plan for salvation became flesh. It was out of that experience
that Brooks wrote these well known words:
O
little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by;
Yet, in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting Light:
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.
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O holy
Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell;
O, come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!
Jesus was born in the hearts of those shepherds.
That’s why after they witness this great miracle they told everyone
they could about what God was doing and how God was going to change
everything.
This Christmas season be like the shepherds and worship this
precious and life-saving Child. You don’t have to travel over 5,000
miles to do this because the message of Christmas comes to us.
Emmanuel – God with us. Look to His Word and there you will find
God’s Son, your Savior wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger.
Jesus our Savior changes everything. He wishes to come into your
heart. He waits patiently for you. The shepherds thought it was
important to see the Savior. I pray you do as well.
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