The Shepherds

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."

The meditation starts with the general pronouncement that shepherds had a bad reputation in Israel; they were regarded as dishonest and unreliable. Yet God chose to announce to ones “such as these” that the Savior of the world had been born.

What was the response of the shepherds? The Scriptures tell us that they “hurried off” to see the Christ. This is absolutely the right way to respond when God calls us.

What can we learn from the response of the shepherds so many years ago?

1) We have more in common with the shepherds than we might suppose.

We are outwardly fairly respectable people, without the bad reputations that the shepherds had.

But most of us have a good idea what we are inwardly. What if our past histories, all our secret thoughts, intentions, motives and desires on any given day were broadcast for all the world to hear? I wonder how many of us would have such a great reputation then?

2) The shepherds show us the right away to respond.

Just as God revealed His Son to these lowly shepherds, God reveals His Son to sinful ones “such as us” through Bible readings, sermons, prayer etc.

What should be our response when we effectually hear the call to “come and see the Christ” or to “repent” while there is yet time?

Our response should be just like that of the shepherds: to “hurry off” without delay to see the Christ. I’m afraid, though, that we very often “delay”.

The reasons why we delay are as varied as the number of people reading this blog. Laziness. Pride. Idolatry. Unwillingness to repent or to give up a certain pleasure or lifestyle. Some vague feeling that we have to be “absolutely sure”.

All of us have some idea what is holding us back.

I can’t help thinking, though, that we must “hurry off” when God calls us to “come and see”, simply as an act of faith. The shepherds did, and they became changed men. They “spread the word concerning what they had seen and heard”. The shepherds did just what we imagine we would do if we were “better” Christians.

God graciously reveals His Son to us many times. To delay is to potentially miss the time of God's coming. To delay too long is fatal. We must “hurry off” when we hear His voice. As God says, “Today if you hear My voice, do not harden your heart” (Hebrews 3:15).

3) They were new people in the old situation.

The shepherds returned to their lives as “new people in the old situation”. They were never the same after what they had seen and experienced. They were inwardly changed.

Whoever is born of God goes back to their old lives, their jobs, their homes, but as new people.

This Christmas, when Christ is proclaimed as the newborn King, let us all “hurry off” and go to Him without delay, that we might worship Him, as the shepherds did. There we will behold the glory of the Son, as the shepherds did, "full of grace and truth". And may His Holy Spirit “guide us to His perfect and glorious light”.