In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
If you have ever read The Lord of the RingsTrilogy or C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters or The Chronicles of Narnia or many other great works you have probably marveled at the great men and women whose imaginations came up with such wonders.
As one scholar put it, One of the powers that dramatically separates human beings from all other creatures and one of man’s most stupendous powers, a power that makes possible so much in human life, is the power of imagination. We can visualize in our mind’s eye other people, other places, other times. We can invent a world inside our heads. To be sure, we waste this power far too much of the time, daydreaming merely to entertain ourselves, or to indulge our covetousness or practice our pride.
Perhaps you know someone who is a masterful story-teller and as they speak you can all but see the scene perfectly in your mind…you can hear the characters and you feel as though you can see the characters whom you have never met.
Imagination is particularly important when we read the biblical narrative, scattered with all manner of characters as it is, and here is why. Have you ever thought about how rarely we are given a lot of information about the people in the stories of the Bible? We often will leave the narrative wondering, what happened to, say…Micaiah…or Naomi? Micaiah is thrown in prison for faithfulness by king Ahab and then we never hear about him again!
We leave Naomi rejoicing once again with children playing at her feet. We often wish we knew more about the lives of those we encounter in the pages of our Sacred book.
We know just a little about Joseph, a little bit more about Mary, but very little, indeed almost nothing about the shepherds and the wise men. We know nothing of their stories, of their lives they lived before all of this. In a brief moment they came and went from the stage of history and even in that moment we see them only in a scene or two.
We know quite a lot about the personal history of Augustus, comparatively little about Quirinius; but a good deal about Herod, the client king of Judea. We read about these men in Roman materials and in the works of Josephus. Their names appear on monuments and that type of thing. In two cases they have cities named after them.
But there are no biographies, no archival records, not even a mention in any first century writing of the individuals who take center stage in the narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ. If it were not for the information given to us in the pages of the Word of God we would know absolutely nothing at all.
They were not rulers or prominent people…they were not folks of reputation or those who do the kind of things that make people sit up and take notice…they were, not trying to be unkind…but they were nobodies. They appear on the stage for a moment and then disappear, most of them never to be heard from again.
I read that there are some 53 individuals mentioned in the Bible that are also mentioned in historical materials from this period of history. 53 people mentioned in the Bible from the time period when Jesus was born are mentioned in other writings from this same period. But none of these characters from the Christmas history are among them.
The Christmas narrative has cast such an aura of sanctity around this group of shepherds that we tend to idealize and sanitize them…we clean them up without much thought or imagination as to what this meant and why to shepherds?
Well, we say, of course the angels would make their announcement to shepherds because nothing would be more appropriately beautiful on a Christmas card! There are the hills just outside of Bethlehem: men in robes with staff sitting around a fire, with cute sheep in the background. How quaint!
But that is our sentimental version of things. In Judea in those days, shepherds were not generally viewed in a positive light. Their manner of life made strict religious observance to the temple, the festivals and all that was Israel’s corporate practice difficult if not impossible. Consequently, they were considered unclean by the more seriously religious. More than that, their occupation did not have a reputation for being very honest.
These men disappeared from history as quickly as they had appeared on the hillside outside Bethlehem and then shortly thereafter when they went to see the baby of whom they had been told…and then…nothing.
Here were men who saw what almost no one had ever seen before them, a company of angels. They heard one of these angels deliver the most astounding words, in their own language and then they heard the entire host of the angels singing “Glory to God in the highest.”
They were stunned at this news to be sure…frightened even and who wouldn’t have been. But they didn’t just sit there in stunned amazement. They understood what had been said to them and they hurried to witness for themselves what the angel had told them had happened. And, sure enough, they found everything just as the angel said they would. And they told Joseph and Mary what they had seen and heard.
To be continued…
Prayer: Father, thank You for your faithfulness to Your people. Help us to cheerfully see ourselves as set apart for You and to be servants in the eternal Kingdom. You have graciously allowed us to taste that perfect peace and we long to taste it in fullness. Subdue our restless hearts and may we find the peace that rests in the Savior, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Peace, Perfect Peace