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SOMEONE SPECIAL IS COMING
Shepherds, Why This Jubilee?
Adam Wiebe
Thursday, December 12
Luke 2:8-20
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
When do you start playing Christmas music? Is today the first day you've thought about it, or have you been playing carols for months? I’m not playing many before December starts, but whenever I start the annual tradition of playing carols, there's a line that always gets me excited.
"Shepherds, why this jubilee?"
It's a question I sing every year as I celebrate and anticipate Christmas but admittedly it's one I never thought to answer! This year I invite you to take a look at the jubilee of the shepherds along with me.
The story of the shepherds is recorded in Luke. It ends with the shepherds running through town telling everyone about the baby they had just seen! And then they returned to their duties that very same night. They had to return. Nobody else was watching the sheep, and sheep need to be watched. Constantly. They have no defense mechanism, they are not very bright, nor are they very fast. Still, to these shepherds this flock of sheep represented the survival and security of their family. So when you see a group of shepherds running through town, having abandoned their livelihood and leaving them at risk, it's worth asking: shepherds, why this jubilee?
I hope you or I would join the shepherds in running head over heels through the countryside at the request of a sky full of angels, but that's not the reason it fascinates me. It's what the angels said to them that I think holds all the answers. "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Once the shepherds knew who the baby was, nothing else mattered. They had been brought up on the promises of Messiah's coming. They knew one day this figure would emerge, and with the Messiah would come freedom from sin, a restoration of worship: one day God would truly come to dwell with them. They had faith in the things not yet seen, and as evidenced by their reckless jubilee, they desperately desired to see those things come to pass.
As Christians today, we live between two advents. Sometimes we call it the "already, not yet". We have just as much to hope for as our shepherd friends did. We are promised a heavenly inheritance and beautiful life with God forever. All things made right, one day. I pray that we will be found as the shepherds, not distracted by our temporary obligations, but ready in a moment to see the eternal king.
Where have I put my hope? In what ways have I already placed my hope in Jesus, and what ways can I pray for grace to place my hope in Him again?