READ: Luke 2:8-9 NLT
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.
Of all the many surprises in the Christmas story this surely is one of the greatest. We have long since got used to the fact that the birth of Jesus was announced to shepherds, but they were surely the last people who you would have expected to hear about it. They were always last to hear the news. Their work forced them to live away from their communities. But more than that, shepherds were smelly and ritually unclean because of their work. How amazing that God gave them the front seats in the Christmas story!
If we had been given the responsibility of compiling an appropriate guest list to welcome the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I would guess that shepherds might well have not made an appearance. We would certainly have included the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. If Jesus was their Messiah surely it would be crucial for them to be there? And then we would have thought about him meeting faithful worshippers who had been praying for this moment for years. We could have come up with a long list quite easily but the idea of including some smelly, ritually unclean shepherds from the fields might well not have occurred to us.
But it did occur to God, and during Jesus’ ministry he consistently reached out to people who lived on the margins of society or beyond. The tax collectors, the prostitutes, people suffering from leprosy, the children – they were all really welcome because the Kingdom that Jesus came to bring was open to everyone.
It is tragically true that every society pushes some people to the margins. In our own day it is often determined by ethnicity, colour, age, wealth and physical fitness. That means that as we follow Jesus we need to keep a special eye on those who might get overlooked – because God will never overlook them, and he calls on us to embrace them with his love.
QUESTION: Who are the equivalents of the shepherds in our own society?
PRAYER: Thank you Lord that your love reaches out to all. Help us to pass on your love to those who are overlooked by society. Amen.

Released on 28 Dec 2020