THE SHEPHERDS’ RESPONSE

“So the [shepherds] hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this Child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”  (Luke 2:16-20 NIV)

The greatest brightness of the whole birth narrative comes in the shepherds' response. You see, had the shepherds only heard the message and gone back to sheep tending, we would think they were foolish. Had they found a baby and then gone home with a satisfied knowledge, we might consider them extremely fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. Yet, what they did was greater. They proceeded to tell everyone around them, everywhere they could go, what they had heard and seen; and then they praised and glorified God for it all. The shepherds took on the role of the angels themselves, new messengers of salvation and good news; and in doing so, they extended the light of God's loving Word far beyond where it might have gone otherwise that night. The light of this news, this new day, was carried far and wide; and all who heard it were amazed and still are.

As we hear the shepherds' story, we find our task as the followers of Christ this Christmas. That is, we are called to bear the light of the news of the coming of Christ to this world, to carry the brightness of this gospel… The extent of this light is only limited by our self-limitation and unwillingness to share the message, or lack of faith in believing that the message is that profound, that world-changing… Who do you know who needs the light of Christ's love offered to him or her? 

-- Randy Cross in “Born to Save: An Advent Study Based on the Revised Common Lectionary”

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