Most of us have heard the "Christmas story" countless times. Across the world for thousands of years, people have read and pondered, over and over, Luke's account of Jesus' birth. One might almost think that there is nothing new to find in it.
But there always is. As I was reading it this year, I found myself struck, and not for the first time, by the thought that the first people to hear about Messiah's birth were shepherds. In the twenty-first century, most of us do not think much about shepherds. In Jesus' day, however, shepherds were an integral part of the economy of the ancient world.
Yet shepherds were despised, viewed as the lowest of the low. Few wished to associate with them. They spent their days--and nights--largely apart from the rest of the people, living lonely lives in the fields and hillsides of the nations.
The shepherds can teach us much about Christmas. Many of us devote the Christmas season to finding the most expensive gifts we can afford. We strive to go one better than we did last year. The last thing we aim for in our gift buying is humility. But the first group of people to whom God revealed the birth of Jesus were people whose lives were steeped in humility: lowly shepherds.
Christmas doesn't encourage greatness; it calls for humility. It calls us to look not at how we can spend our money on ourselves, our friends, or family, but rather what we can do for others, what we can do for the "shepherds" among us. Christmas teaches us to reach out to those on the margins.
Jesus came not to aggrandize, but to serve. So did he say that, "The Son of Man [a name that he often used for himself and which reflected traditions deep in the Hebrew worldview] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for the many" (Mark 10:45). Jesus came to give, not receive.
So ought we. So ought we see Christmas as an occasion for humbly recognizing what we can do, not for ourselves, but for the world.
But there always is. As I was reading it this year, I found myself struck, and not for the first time, by the thought that the first people to hear about Messiah's birth were shepherds. In the twenty-first century, most of us do not think much about shepherds. In Jesus' day, however, shepherds were an integral part of the economy of the ancient world.
Yet shepherds were despised, viewed as the lowest of the low. Few wished to associate with them. They spent their days--and nights--largely apart from the rest of the people, living lonely lives in the fields and hillsides of the nations.
The shepherds can teach us much about Christmas. Many of us devote the Christmas season to finding the most expensive gifts we can afford. We strive to go one better than we did last year. The last thing we aim for in our gift buying is humility. But the first group of people to whom God revealed the birth of Jesus were people whose lives were steeped in humility: lowly shepherds.
Christmas doesn't encourage greatness; it calls for humility. It calls us to look not at how we can spend our money on ourselves, our friends, or family, but rather what we can do for others, what we can do for the "shepherds" among us. Christmas teaches us to reach out to those on the margins.
Jesus came not to aggrandize, but to serve. So did he say that, "The Son of Man [a name that he often used for himself and which reflected traditions deep in the Hebrew worldview] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for the many" (Mark 10:45). Jesus came to give, not receive.
So ought we. So ought we see Christmas as an occasion for humbly recognizing what we can do, not for ourselves, but for the world.
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