Travelling Toward Christmas – 3. Shepherds

3. Shepherds, first on the Scene

Right mouse click to save this Podcast as a MP3.

Hi there! This is Jim Harris with the third talk in our series, Travelling Towards Christmas. Having previously discussed Mary and Joseph, this time we’ll have a look at the shepherds, who apparently were the first people to see the new-born Son of God, the one we now describe as ‘Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,’ This would be a good moment to read Luke 2:1-20, for that’s where we find their story.

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. The Shepherds and the Angels 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Shepherds were not sophisticated middle-class people. They were down-to-earth, rugged, hard working men, who tended and took care of flocks of sheep, mostly belonging to rich people. Some of them had a special role in looking after the flocks that produced lambs for the Temple sacrifices at Jerusalem. It’s known that these were pastured on the fields surrounding Bethlehem, because of it was close to Jerusalem. With that in mind, consider the fact that Jesus was to become ‘The lamb of who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29) Isn’t that remarkable?

But there’s something else, too. Jerusalem was King David’s city but Bethlehem was his home town. That’s why Joseph had to travel to register there, ‘because he belonged to the house and line of David.’ (verse 4) With these ideas in mind it’s good to reread verses 8-11 again. It all comes together into what we can only think of as God’s superb plan for introducing His Son to the world..

These shepherds may have been ordinary people, representing the rank and file of human kind, but they were very privileged people too. That night out in the fields, unexpectedly, the curtain between heaven and earth was drawn back sufficiently for God’s messengers to be seen and heard. ‘An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.’ Then a little later we read, ‘Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel.’ The message they brought was ‘Good news of great joy to all the people’ – the Saviour had been born in Bethlehem. It was made pretty clear to them that they were to bear witness to this tremendous event by visiting the Baby, then passing on the good news to others. What does all this say to us, as we approach Christmas by crossing Shepherds Fields?

First of all, that Jesus is for all people. Good news of his birth was entrusted to what a poet has called ‘a few farm workers!’ News of his resurrection was entrusted to a woman with a dubious history, Mary Magdalene. Jesus is for everyone, whatever their social rank or moral background. He’s the Saviour – he specialises in forgiving the past and creating a new future for all who put their faith in him.

Then, they did what was required of them. They went off immediately to find the Baby and confirm what the angel had said. They were eager to do what God wanted from them, which is a mark of true faith. Mind you, if we’d been among them, I think the excitement of heaven breaking through in the encounter with the angels and in the birth of God’s Son, would have sent us hurrying down to Bethlehem as well.

Then, they told everyone what had happened. They witnessed to others about their experience and the message they’d heard. Another mark of genuine faith is that we become so thrilled with what’s happened to us, that we simply overflow. We tell everyone about it. That’s what happened with Jesus’ disciples about thirty three years after this. They just couldn’t stop telling everyone the good news that Jesus was risen from the dead.

Finally, the shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things they’d seen and heard. They did not draw attention to themselves. They did not entertain a ‘special status’ mentality because God had chosen them for this important role in the nativity. It’s a mark of true spirituality that all glory goes to God for the experiences he grants us.

We sign off with another question for you to consider. Verse 19 reads, ‘Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.’ The question is simply, ‘Will I give some time this Christmas to pondering its significance for me?’

Right mouse click to save this Podcast as a MP3.

If you find these resources helpful to you, please do prayerfully consider making a donation.  Thank you

 

Advertisement

Travelling Toward Christmas – 2 Joseph

TRAVELLING TOWARD CHRISTMAS

2. Joseph, betrothed to Mary

Right mouse click to save this Podcast as a MP3.

Hello again. This is the second talk given by Jim Harris in our series, ‘Travelling Towards Christmas.’ It’s about Joseph, betrothed to Mary.

We meet and learn about Joseph in both Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of the birth of Jesus. He is the quiet man in the story but also a spiritual person who wished to live his life and make his decisions in accordance with God’s will. Please read Matthew 1:18-25.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the me Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Jewish society at that time had an arrangement for approaching marriage called ‘betrothal’. It was a kind of engagement period, in which the prospective bride and groom lived under the same roof but did not consummate the relationship sexually. That was reserved for their wedding day. Mary was pledged in this way to be married to Joseph. It is likely that he was older than Mary, as there is no mention of him during Jesus’ adult ministry. Perhaps he’d died before Jesus reached the age of thirty, which was when he went public.

Travelling Toward Christmas – 1 Mary

Travelling Toward Christmas

1. Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Right mouse click to save this Podcast as a MP3.

Hello. My name is Jim Harris. I’ve been asked by Dave to provide some talks taking us towards Christmas Day. He’s also asked me to introduce myself so you know where I’m coming from. I’m a retired Christian Pastor, Evangelist and Teacher, having spent about 31 years in full time ministry.

In the run up to Christmas it is inevitable that we begin to think about the characters involved in the original events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Where better to start than with Mary, to whom was given the great privilege and awesome responsibility of carrying and giving birth to God’s Son, the Messiah.

Please read Luke chapter 1, verses 26-30.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 3

Mary was probably a teenager when she received the visit from the angel Gabriel to tell her that the Lord had chosen her for this very special purpose. Hearing his greeting she was greatly troubled. Meeting an angel isn’t exactly an everyday experience. But there was something deeper disturbing her peace of mind – the content of his greeting. ‘You who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ That set her on her guard. Whatever was coming next?

Gabriel sensed her fear and told her she need not be afraid. He was bringing good news not bad. The time had come for God to send his Son into the world; to be born as every human being has to be born so that, in due course, he would become the Saviour that the world needed. Hence the name they were to give the child –Jesus – which means ‘God saves’. Just imagine the mounting excitement in Mary as he went on with his message. That was every godly Jewish woman’s dream; to be chosen to be the mother of the Messiah.

It all sounds very cut-and-dried, when we read ‘You will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus.’ Despite the way it sounds, God wasn’t forcing Mary into this role, but he knew her heart well enough to realise he’d get a good response. We have an insight into how she thought and felt about God in the song recorded by Luke in verses 46-55. She knew the Old Testament Scriptures well and used them as a basis for her outpouring of praise and thanksgiving. Mary was a spiritual woman, however young she might have been. She loved God and wanted the best for his people, which isn’t a bad description of spirituality.

But – life is full of buts – there was just one not-so-little practical problem. She was a virgin and, as Mathew’s account tells us, she was betrothed to be married to Joseph. Virginity up until the time of marriage was essential for the marriage to be recognised as legitmate in that society. That could be a huge problem for Mary; how could it be overcome? Conception would occur through the power of the Holy Spirit, said the angel, then, ‘Look what’s happened to your cousin Elizabeth; that’s a miracle for sure!’ Now for the punch line, ‘Nothing is impossible with God.’ Which takes us right back to the start, ‘The Lord is with you.’ That’s the key; God will take care of every detail, so don’t be afraid, however big the ask might seem to you. God is in control.

I can imagine Mary sinking to her knees, or even prostrating herself on the floor. in an act of worship, as she responded with the simple but whole-hearted words, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.’

Mary was unique, but the message for us is the same, ‘Nothing is impossible with God’. The Christmas story has been wrapped up in romance and fantasy by our commercial world, but we mustn’t let that blind us to the truth inside, that God is looking to us for a response of love and submission to his will, so that He can do great things in and through us. That’s not a cheap advertising slogan like so much that’s about at the moment. No, it’s more like a serious challenge to a costly commitment but, ‘He’s worth it!’

Here’s a question to think about as we travel towards Christmas. What will it mean for me, if I follow Mary’s example and accept God’s will for my life?

Right mouse click to save this Podcast as a MP3.

If you find these resources helpful to you, please do prayerfully consider making a donation.  Thank you