12. Everyone is Welcomed Here

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” [Luke 2:12]

Have you ever imagined what the night sky was like two thousand years ago, before electricity and pollution? Can you imagine the inky black sky pierced through with billions of pin-pricked lights, the galaxies laid bare in breathtaking beauty? Our Creator paints the night sky for the whole world to see—spreading it over palaces and ghettos, empty desserts and crowded cities alike, proclaiming the same song of delight over all of creation. And maybe the stars were especially brilliant that night, or maybe it started out like any other night.

For a small band of men gathered beneath the sky somewhere outside of Bethlehem, watching over their dozing sheep, it would unfold into a night that would echo through eternity. This was the shepherds’ sky, they had spent countless nights camped beneath it and they knew it well. They would never look at it the same after this night. In Luke 2:9 we read, “an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear.” One sentence is all we get. Luke, seriously, we need more here—this kind of sounds like a big deal. When God’s glory is mentioned in other parts of the Bible, we read that it sounds like the crashing of mighty waters, it’s a blinding light or a consuming fire. Luke didn’t give us many details or tell us who the angel was, but earlier in Luke, Gabriel appeared to both Zechariah and Mary. When he spoke to Zechariah, he told him, “I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God.” (Luke 1:19). Some theologians believe it was Gabriel who was sent to announce Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. Whoever it was, he brought with him the very light and glory of God’s presence. And he announced to them the incredible news that the Savior had arrived.

After heaven opened up to reveal an army of angels praising God, the angel told the shepherds to go find the baby. The problem was that He was a king, the Messiah, someone who warranted an angelic messenger and an entire angel army. He was a king and they were shepherds. They were uneducated, unclean outcasts and definitely not the sort who would be welcomed into a wealthy home—the type of home where you’d expect to find the Messiah. If they showed up at the door of that sort of house, they would be scoffed at and turned away, humiliated. And it just might be that the shame and humiliation of being poor outsiders was something they knew too well, something they avoided at all costs.

That’s why the angel told the shepherds about a sign, just for them. They would find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. This should stand out to us. Luke only used one sentence to tell us about something as significant as an angel and God’s glory. So, why on earth would he waste so much space on useless details like a baby’s blanket and bed? The Lord loved the shepherds so deeply and knew them so well, that He anticipated their fear and hesitation at the idea of going looking for this important new baby. He made sure that His messenger passed on the special sign to the shepherds. A swaddling cloth and a manger? That’s exactly where you would find one of their babies. In His great love and gentleness, the Lord wanted the shepherds to know that this baby was just like one of their own babies. And the house they were being sent to? It was a peasant’s house, just like theirs. This wasn’t at all what they’d expected. This truly was great news.

The shepherds were entrusted with a weighty message. In the Roman Empire at the the time, when there was a new Emperor, messengers were sent throughout the Empire to proclaim the “good news.” They would carry a written message to read out. If you were a Roman messenger, you could read. This wasn’t a time when many people could read. Being able to read and write meant you were among the elite members of society. And yet, when God was ready to tell the world the Good News of His Son, He didn’t send the important guys with all the knowledge and “degrees” to proclaim the message (the Scribes and Pharisees). Instead, He sent illiterate shepherds. He delivered the Good News to the shepherds in a language they could read and understand—He spoke to them through a messenger, He wrote it in the sky. He dignified them and gave them a place of honor, a place usually reserved for the educated.

Luke tells us that the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem.They had such incredible news to share! And we see that they were welcomed in and told all those in the house what the angel had told them, what they had seen and heard. Lean in here, don’t miss it. The story of the Messiah begins with the outsiders becoming welcomed guests. It begins with the lowest and outcast members of society being the first people entrusted with the most important announcement ever made. As He drew His first breath, the Son of God was already drawing the outcasts, the commoners and the lowly to Himself.