2:20 So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.
Beloved, Why would God choose shepherds to receive the good news that His Son had been born? Why would He not have chosen townspeople or the priests or perhaps local leaders? Maybe it was because shepherds knew what it was like to care for something that cannot take care of itself. Perhaps shepherds understood best of all what utter dependence meant. A shepherd’s sole purpose was caring for sheep. Nothing else mattered. Shepherds were not really interested in local politics or power. They were not concerned with running a profitable business or the study of rhetoric. They were concerned with providing whatever was needed for their flocks; sheep that were completely dependent on them for everything. Shepherds, because of their occupation, understood that dependence meant that there are no other options. Sheep do not have several shepherds that they can choose from. They have one shepherd and they know him so intimately that they can distinguish his voice from all the others. It is he that they trust to take care of them. In the same way, there is only One who would care for you. He is not first in a list of options you can exercise, He was the only option. Do you see God as the first or the best on a list of options? Be honest. Do you consider your own strengths or resources to be an option for you if you need them? If you do or if you look to any other thing besides God, then you cannot be fully dependent on Him. The interesting thing about this account in Luke is that the shepherds do not seem to question what they have been told. They simply accept it as being absolutely true. Yes, God sent the heavenly host of angels to deliver the news which must have been an amazing sight, but this seems to be more as a celebration of the Savior’s birth than to validate the message. Whatever the reason for the host, the shepherds responded to what God had revealed to them much like the sheep responded to their commands; with whole hearted trust and dependence. For the shepherds, nothing else mattered. I wonder how many other new born babies there were in Bethlehem that night. It was time for the census and no doubt there were many other people there who had come to register. Certainly there were other babies there too. How were the shepherds to find this one special baby? The angel had said, “you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” A manger? Who in their right mind would put a baby in a manger? That just doesn’t make sense. None-the-less, the shepherds “hurried” off to find this baby. Again, nothing else mattered. They only wanted to see this thing that God had told them about. The details of how to find this baby were not important. What was important was that God had said this had happened and that was that. Do you accept the revelation that God has given to you as being absolutely true or do you discount what you have been told because it seems too “far fetched?” Do details of how things are going to work cause you to doubt what God has said? Finally, the shepherds rejoiced over finding the baby. Verse 20 says, “So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.” What was it that made the shepherds act this way? It was the very fact that what God had told them, no matter how amazing it sounded or how unbelievable it may have been, had actually taken place. They realized that God had chosen them to receive this good news and they had seen it with their very own eyes. The shepherds had not been told all the details of what God was doing that night. They knew nothing of Mary’s divine conception, the plot of Herod to kill this child or the Magi who were probably already on their way to see the baby also. They only knew what they had been told, nothing else. When you stop to consider the angel’s words to the shepherds and what they had been told, you realize that these were the very first people to believe in Jesus as the Messiah which means that their humble belief in what God had told them was the means of salvation for them. “I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2: 10 – 11). Jesus had not spoken the first word nor had He performed the first miracle and yet the shepherd’s belief in what God had told them about His Son was all that was necessary for them to receive the gift of salvation. God’s word is what conceived the child in Mary’s womb. It is what moved Joseph to take Mary as his wife in spite of the shame and ridicule they received from their community. And, it is the very thing that brings salvation to anyone who is willing to trust in it. If the shepherds had not trusted what God had told them, they would have missed out on the one thing that all people need; a restored relationship with God. It is this unwavering trust and utter dependence found in genuine humility that finds a source of hope that does not fear. It is not proofs or evidence that leads to salvation; it is trust and dependence without anything else added. Are you willing to believe that God wants you to live a life without fear? Are you willing to let go of everything you know and trust Him without any tangible proof that what He says is true? Remember, details don’t matter; only trust and dependence can lead to a life with no fear.
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