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Luke 2:15
December 13, 2024 by Rebecca Littlejohn
DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE
Luke 2:15 – When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” (NRSV)
The second verse of our Advent theme carol addresses the “Shepherds, in the fields abiding, watching o’er your flocks by night,” saying, “God with us is now residing, yonder shines the infant light.” The implication is very much that the shepherds are supposed to respond to this announcement somehow. Indeed, the chorus answers the “How” question: “Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King!”
The obvious point of both the story and the musical re-telling is that the good news of Jesus’ birth is supposed to make us DO something. We are called to respond to the idea that God is now living here with us. The shepherds are exhorted to worship, but their example also shows us how important it is to be willing to testify to what we have seen and heard, all that we have learned about what God is doing in the world.
The prophet Ezekiel writes about God, the true shepherd, in chapter 34, telling us of the care with which God will seek out the lost sheep and bind up the injured. They will be fed on good pasture, but also – a word of warning – the sheep that are trampling the grass and fouling the water for the others will be fed with justice.
Shepherds in the fields abiding may seem to lead a quiet, calm existence, but they have to be ready to act on a moment’s notice. When the threat of danger arises, they must be prepared to protect the weak and the vulnerable. When the news of God’s birth is proclaimed, they were equally ready to “come and worship!”
Are we ready to respond to when God arrives in our midst? Are we prepared to feed the hungry, to bind up the broken-hearted, to protect the vulnerable, and speak justice to those who would do harm? All of this is the worship the Christ Child asks of us. May we follow as faithfully as the shepherds.