“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So my question is – - What happened to the sheep?
These shepherds are sitting in a wide, remote area,
tending their flocks, when
-BOOM-
they tear up the road on their way to Bethlehem.
Did they take the sheep with them, or leave them behind?
I am guessing that during this busy new ‘tax’ season in Bethlehem; large herds were not so welcome inside the city gates. After the awesomeness that the shepherds witnessed, I believe they must have had complete faith that their flocks would be okay, leaving them confidently behind in the shelter of the angels who had delivered the Good News. The shepherds left everything behind in order to see the newly born Christ.
This passage made me stop and wonder how much our own personal “flocks” might be distracting us from the word of God?
How focused are we when it comes to putting Christ first, before everything else?
Do we have the faith to hand over our flocks as the shepherds did?
So they 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.
Can you even begin to imagine what this must have been like for Mary?
She was so young,
in the blink of an eye
she became the womb of the earth’s salvation.
She was pregnant and unmarried;
bearing a child in a lowly stable…
…but Mary “treasured up” all these things and pondered them in her heart.
How many times do we judge the circumstances, and condemn the journey, before we even know the Creator’s plan?
On this very day that we celebrate Christ’s birth,
we give endless trinkets to those we love,
but how many heavenly gifts do we truly “treasure up”?
Or are we lost in our own self-portraits of despair?
The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen,
which were just as they had been told.
The angel had told the truth
– but don’t you think the shepherds already knew that before they left?
Did they ever really doubt like we do?
Or like Mary,
did they face that wind of uncertainty
leaving all they knew completely behind
in order to see and experience
the supernatural?
That’s where I want to be
– forget the sheep,
give them to the angels to tend…at least for tonight,
Christ the Savior is Born!
GOD REST YOU MERRY, GENTLEMEN
God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay.
For Jesus Christ our Savior, Was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan’s power, When we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.
In Bethlehem, in Jewry, This blessed Babe was born,
And laid within a manger, Upon this blessed morn;
The which His mother Mary did nothing take in scorn.
O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.
From God our heavenly Father, A blessed angel came.
And unto certain shepherds, Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born, The Son of God by name.
O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.
Fear not, then said the Angel, Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Savior, Of virtue, power, and might;
So frequently to vanquish all, The friends of Satan quite;
O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.
The shepherds at those tidings, Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding, In tempest, storm, and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway, This blessed babe to find
O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.
