| “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…” |
| —Luke 2:17 |
The shepherds, who had fallen flat on the ground with their faces pressed into the earth when the angels began to sing, suddenly realized the singing had stopped and the cool night air was again filled only with the sound of the startled, but now calming, sheep. What in the world should they do now?
I don’t imagine there was much conversation. Instead, they hurried toward Bethlehem, as Dr. Luke records in Luke 2:16-20:
So they [the shepherds] hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Once the shepherds had seen the baby Jesus, the most natural thing in the world for them to do was to go and tell others what they had observed. And, what a story they had to tell!
It occurs to me, as I think about our response to the good news that God has sent His one and only Son to occupy human flesh—to be completely God, yet completely man, to teach us how to follow in His footsteps, to die on the cross in our place with His shed blood covering our sins once and for all, to rise from the grave on the third day, and to ascend to heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the throne of His Father—the only natural thing for us to do is to tell others what Jesus means to us.
As we begin another day, let us do what the shepherds did. Let’s tell others about Jesus. As the Holy Spirit prompts us to speak to the people who cross our pathway, let’s talk about Jesus in the most gentle and respectful way possible. Let’s be instruments of God’s grace in spreading the good news about His Son. Let’s take on the responsibility that is rightfully ours to spread the news about Jesus.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, December 29, 2016
