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Responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Reflections on the Response of the Shepherds to the Birth of Christ
We find in this story the very first response to the birth of Christ that is recorded in Scripture. We are merely left to imagine the response of Joseph and Mary and the others who may have been at the scene of the birth before the shepherds came, but Scripture describes in some detail the response of the shepherds. What we find in the response of these men are three responses which must also be our own response to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Response #1
When the shepherds heard the Good News of the birth of the Savior, they went to receive Him.
Look at verse 15. “When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, ‘Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’”
We are told what the angels told these shepherds. Not only was a baby born, but a Savior—the Savior. This was Good News, or literally ‘the Gospel’ for all people. But even though they had this tremendous news given to them, they could easily have become preoccupied with the concerns of their work, or the needs of their family. But instead, they went directly, and without hesitation to receive this Good News.
Just as these shepherds immediately received the Good News of the birth of the Savior, so also all of us are called on to receive the Good News—the Gospel—of Jesus Christ. And what is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It is the Jesus Christ “came into the world to save sinners” like you and me (1 Timothy 1:15). And to all who have received Jesus, “to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (1 John 1:12).
Response #2
The shepherds made known the Good News of the Savior to others.
Verse 17: “When [the shepherds] had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.”
These shepherds had witnessed a miracle. They had been tending their sheep when they encountered an angel of the Lord who declared to them the Good News of the birth of Jesus. But the information that they gained—that this Good News that a Savior for ‘all people’ has been born—they did not keep to themselves. They knew that this information was vital to share with others. So when they came to see the Child and his parents, they declared the Good News to them. The shepherds knew that the significance of this Child could have been overlooked. The Child was simply a child—no “stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Is 53:2). The significance had to be told. And the shepherds shared the Good News, and Mary took the Good News and “treasured [it] in her heart.”
Just as the shepherds declared the Good News of Jesus Christ, all of us who have received the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ are called on to tell others this Good News. We often take for granted the purpose for which we have received the Good News. As 1 Peter 2 tells us, we are the people of God “that we might declare the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” So often we fail to share this Good News which is for all people, for all have sinned and are in need of a Savior. We have witnessed a miracle—our salvation—but so often have kept it to ourselves. We have assumed that others already know the Gospel. But we should take note from the shepherds who did not take the Good News for granted, but shared it even with Mary and with Joseph, the parents of the Child. And because they did, they were able to begin to piece together what was happening through and to them.
Response #3
The shepherds worshipped the Lord for the great things He has done.
Having received the Good News, and having declared it, look at the last thing the shepherds did in response to the Good News: “The Shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”
Praise is the natural expression of those who are in awe of something or someone. The shepherds were in awe of the Good News that they had heard. We are commanded again and again throughout Scripture to praise the Lord. Indeed, the oft repeated word that we use in church life today is “Halleluiah!” which is from the Hebrew and is a command which said, “Praise the Lord!” And Who is more worthy of praise than our Lord? Knowing Him and His Good News should well up in us the desire to go out “glorifying and praising God” for all that we have seen, just as the shepherds did after that first encounter.
And so, we learn from this very first response to the Good News—the Gospel of Jesus Christ—that we are to receive it, that we are to proclaim it, and finally that we are to worship the Lord because of it. And so now, let us worship with these words:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing