Devotional 12-25-12

Luke 2:1-20
I’m pondering the message of the angel to the shepherds in Luke 2:11,12…

“To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
“This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger“

This sign for the shepherds, was it meant to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, Savior, and Lord? How does being wrapped in rags and lying in an animal’s feeding trough prove that Jesus is any of these things? I don’t think it does. The circumstances of Jesus first days did not prove that he was Savior, Lord, and Messiah; all of the angelic singing and radiance was proof enough of that. The circumstances of Jesus’ first days proved he was the Savior, Messiah, and Lord given to the shepherds. Suppose this child had been born in the city of kings, Jerusalem with all of its grand and well-guarded splendor, rather than in the city of David, Bethlehem. Suppose he rested in a regal palace instead of in a stable. No common shepherd could have hoped to approach his quarters, let alone gain entrance or audience with the royal family. So instead his quarters were open to all. Any and every person from every walk of life had access to this infant king. Any and every person could approach his infant throne so long as they didn’t mind the smell of animals and the utter lack of finery. His were the most common and lowly of quarters with no guards or gates, no ramparts or walls. In the city of a lowly shepherd boy was God the son born as the son of man; so that all people might behold him, know him, and go out upon the mountains to tell of his birth.

It is no small matter that even a shepherd could look at the face of God in Jesus of Nazareth, behold his humble poor beginning and say “this is a savior for me! After that, they told all whom they could. Eventually they went back to their work, but from then on their eyes saw their days and tasks differently, for God had deemed their common, ordinary moments so worthy as to visit them with the good news of Jesus Christ. Thus every common moment thereafter was heavy with the possibility of a visitation from the sacred.

“To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

My prayer for you today is that you will take that “you “ personally. Jesus the Christ has been given to you in all of his loving, redeeming, living power. He is Lord forever, giving himself to you and calling you to give yourself to him. Live in the joy and assurance of this unfading eternal gift.

Rev. Joe Hill