Tonight is Christmas Night, when all good things happen. When we give/receive the magical gift of our love to each other. It is really the celebration of the birthday of one of history's great personages, Jesus Christ, for some a good man who offered His life so that others could be saved; for others, one of the greatest teachers mankind has seen. Yet for others He is God made man.
On a night like tonight - but 2009 years ago, and probably on a Spring (not winter's) night - He was born into a typical Hebrew family in a moment when they were caught travelling in the wilderness as they fulfilled their Roman masters' orders to register themselves for a national census. I think we can picture the scene clearly because you've probably read the nativity story hundreds of times in your life. I picture it with some detail too because I actually was there, in Bethlehem, not so long ago. Among the things that remained impressed in my mind was what is called The Shepherds' Fields, the site where they
actually tended their flocks, as the carols go, and heard te angels proclaim the birth of the Son of God. There is a church there now, on the cave that traditionally marks the site where the shepherds rested at night, and the old dome frescoes tell the story in a poignant and illustrative manner.
actually tended their flocks, as the carols go, and heard te angels proclaim the birth of the Son of God. There is a church there now, on the cave that traditionally marks the site where the shepherds rested at night, and the old dome frescoes tell the story in a poignant and illustrative manner.
Today we accept this part of the story without question, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, forgetting that in those days, perhaps even right up to today, the shepherd in that area was considered more of a social outcast, and had no rights allowing them to even attend Temple services to pray. Yet on this great night, when the Saviour was to be born, they were the chosen ones to whom the message would be spoken. They stood with prophets and priests to celebrate the arrival of the hope of the ages! Bill Crowder in "Windows on Christmas" (Discovery House Publ., ISBN 978-1-57293-228-9) puts it nicely indeed: Shepherds celebrating at the birth of a lamb - what could be more appropriate?
Driving through those hilly fields speckled with rock, rough in terrain and still populated by scattered sheep, Crowder wondered, like I did, about how easy it was to visualise the nativity scene in this wilderness so many years before. Mary must have been greatly surprised when this band of ragtag shepherds arrived at the stable telling of angelic hosts and "a star of wonder" - all announcing the birth of her son!
Bill Crowder writes: And as I looked at the hills and tried to visualise that holy night so long ago, our guide asked the driver to stop the bus. Standing on the roadside were two young boys, no more than 12 or 13 years of age, holding a small lamb. They were Bethlehem shepherds. Two thousand years after the birth announcement of the Son of God was delivered to poor, forgotten, ostracised shepherds, these shepherds were still working the fields and "watching over their flocks". As the boys walked down the aisle of our tour bus almost every person placed a hand on the head of that little lamb. It was a wonderful moment. Shepherds from the shepherds' fields presenting a lamb. (Photos here by Kevin Plumpton)
In 2009 we continue to celebrate the Lamb and the New Light that He brought with Him right from the moment of His birth. It is a light that still shines today, both literally (as this photo of the Bethlehem nativity church shows) and figuratively... since He still brings the Light of Hope to our own world today. As we join the company of shepherds who were the first to honour Him with their simplicity, let us allow Him space in our busy - no, crowded - life so that He can re-ignite it again with a Light that will transform us. If we see ourselves as the shepherds did, isolated, forgotten or depressed at the way life treats you, tonight feel thrilled to hear the angels proclaim that you are not cast out or forgotten by God, a fact that He proved by having the shepherds be the first to hear the message of hope: "Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). This is our message of hope too. Tonight.
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