Christmas Meditation: Hearing God

Scripture: Luke 2:8-20

⁸ Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. ⁹ The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰ The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. ¹¹ Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. ¹² This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” ¹³ Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

¹⁵ When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” ¹⁶ They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. ¹⁸ Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. ²⁰ The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.

Questions

1. What does it mean that an angel appeared to the shepherds, was this a vision or was a being standing in front of them, what was this being?
2. Why does the angel tell the shepherds the child they find will be a “sign” rather than saying they will find the “Christ”, how would the shepherds have interpreted this message both in the moment and after finding Jesus?
3. Is it significant that the armies of Heaven are delivering the message to the Shepherds, how?
4. What were the shepherds thinking when they left the manger?

Background

Related Scriptures: Isaiah 1:3, 9:2-7, Luke 1:46-55

It is possible that the “census” in 2:2 may reflect an order by Augustus that all of Herod’s subjects must take an oath of allegiance to Augustus.

There is no historical record of people returning to ancestral homes for a census, it is far more likely that Mary and Joseph would be with family (Zechariah & Elizabeth?) for the birth and the timing was coincidental and not casual.

The shepherds and the manger represent the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth and begin to fulfill Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55

The ox and donkey in your nativity scene is a reference to Isaiah 1:3 and a reminder to recognize the one in the manger even when he takes a form we don’t recognize.

The shepherds are a sign both of humility and since they are from Bethlehem symbolically represent Israel’s royal house who Ezekiel describes as shepherds from David’s line (Ezek 34).

The response of the people the shepherds told is exactly like those in 1:63 about John’s name “wonder” which has an element of uncertainty or confusion, contrasted by Mary’s reaction which is to meditate on the situation.

Reflection

We often want the dramatic revelation about our place in the universe or what we should be doing and so cry out to God “just give me a sign” or “just show up”. What we are looking for in these moments is the angels coming to the shepherds. The angels appearing to the shepherds is impossible to miss, there is no way a group of people who have witnessed what the shepherds witnessed can do anything other than follow the instructions the angel gives them. We do not know what the people in the town of Bethlehem would have seen that night on the hills but we are told what the shepherds witnessed, they had a profound vision from God about the future of humanity. Many seem think of this event as a public display lighting up the night sky and visible for miles around. But I tend to think that this was a vision given to the shepherds. Visions are no less real than other events but they are private, and it makes sense that God would give this message to the shepherds in a private vision. The message of the angels was cultivated for the shepherds so they could witness to God’s work in the world. And this compelled them to leave the sheep where they were and search out the sign the angels told them about. While the rest of the world is forced to ask if they are going to believe that God sent this message of the coming savior to a group of shepherds rather than to priests, kings, or experts on the Scripture. When people hear this story does their conception of God allow them to believe that God would speak through such people or are they simply lonely, perhaps drunk, nobodies looking to make a name for themselves.

Modern nativity scenes often depict the shepherds kneeling in front of Jesus recognizing that he is the Christ that the angels spoke about. But notice how generic the angel’s words are, “Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord”. And though for us who know the story it is easy to see they are talking about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, is that what the shepherds would have thought? Would they think of Bethlehem or Jerusalem as David’s city? Would they think the Angels were sending them to the child that was the savior? It is possible that they heard “This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.”, in the same way Ahaz was told of the birth of a boy in Isaiah 7:14. In that passage the boy spoken of was not the deliverer but the sign the prophet’s words were true and could be trusted. It is possible the shepherds understood that the angel was telling them that this was the proof they could trust the message. Would the shepherds have thought this baby, born to obviously poor parents who didn’t not even have a room for him to sleep in, could possibly be God’s anointed one who was destined to restore Israel? There seems to be confusion among those who hear the shepherd’s’ story, I think that confusion might be due to this problem with identity, people were debating if the angel’s words meant this child or another.

I would not blame the shepherds for not understanding the baby they went to see was in fact the coming Christ, Jesus was not what most were expecting. Throughout Jesus’ life on earth he dealt with the issue that many people did not believe him because he was not what they were expecting the Messiah should look like. His response was to compare his character and actions with those of God, but so many simply wanted him to fit into their mental image and would not listen. These people wanted the powerful sign, and were unprepared for the subtle pedestrian nature Jesus often presented.

This is often how we are, we call for God to show up and we are expecting a chorus of angels but easily miss the ordinary means that God uses to connect with us. We are not always able to recognize the fact that God works most frequently in the small details of life. The shepherds saw Jesus but may have had difficulty recognizing him, especially if they did not stop to hear Mary’s full story. If the shepherds would have sat and listened to Mary and Joseph tell their story and compared it to theirs, I imagine, they like Mary would have meditated on the story and likely come to the conclusion that God was working through this family to bring salvation to the world.

For us recognizing God’s hand can present the same difficulty, this after all is the message of the donkey and ox in our nativity scenes. These animals are a reminder of Isaiah’s words:

The ox knows its master,
    the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.” (Isaiah 1:3)

These animals are placed next to the manger to remind us to understand who Jesus is and to be ready to recognize God in our lives. How do we do this? We meditate on the character of God, in places like Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55, and recognizing how Jesus emulates the Father. We look places where those grieving are comforted, the poor and downtrodden are cared for, where humble and isolated people are shown community, rest is offered to the weary, where people are committed to living out righteousness and justice, where people are trying to bring peace and unity rather than division, where joy defines life. Recognizing God is not about the glorious mountaintop experiences with the angels, it is about slowing down in our daily lives to meditate on those people, places, activities, and events that are trying to bring peace, joy, hope, and love into the world. It is in these places that we can find God’s presence in the world recreating the world, in these places we can be like the ox and donkey recognizing our lord, even when, like the newborn baby laying in the feeding trough he is difficult to recognize.

Takeaway

We often want God to be present in large public displays like our vision of the angels but God often uses private and common means to work in the world and we need to be attuned to those if we are going to truly encounter God.