Listen

Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.

The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

Luke 2:8-14

Think

Nadia Bolz-Weber once wrote that “every time we draw a line between us and others, Jesus is always on the other side of it.” The shepherds in Luke’s Palestine lived firmly on the other side of Jewish lines, often considered by religious people to be unclean and unscrupulous – some even believed that shepherds’ sabbath-breaking was an impediment to the return of the Messiah.

We tend to “other” people by default, excluding those who are different enough to feel like a threat or who otherwise don’t follow our rules. But in the first announcement of Christ’s birth, we encounter yet another harbinger of the upside-down Kingdom of God; the angelic messengers do not appear to political leaders or religious exemplars, but to a group of social outcasts. The people who have been “other-ed” enough to live on the margins of respectability are the ones who get the good news before anybody else.

This is how the Gospel blooms before Jesus even says a word: God’s love is for all, and the least of these comes first.

Holle Tubbs

Pray

God, thank you for being a friend to the powerless.

Bring your good news to my own places of weakness and teach me how to trust it.

Give me strength to exalt the humble and to see your love in overlooked faces.

Amen.

Go

Lord, purge our eyes to see
Within the seed a tree,
Within the glowing egg a bird,
Within the shroud a butterfly:

Till taught by such, we see
Beyond all creatures Thee,
And hearken for Thy tender word,
And hear it, “Fear not: it is I.”

Christina Rossetti in “Judge not according to the appearance” (1892)