Luke 2:1-20

Be Still: God of Wisdom, please guide my reading by your Spirit. Speak to me today. Amen

Read: Luke 2:1-20

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (v20)

Encounter: Today’s passage includes words that are probably etched into the brains of many of us - spoken dramatically (or probably, reluctantly and incredibly quietly) by children up and down the country in Nativity plays in December.

And yet here we are reading it today, in April, post Easter, 245 days until Christmas. The wild and wonderful thing is that the truth and hope and joy of today’s passage stands as true today as it does in December, and as it did 2000 years ago. 

Something I've found myself wondering is – what happened to the shepherds after they visited baby Jesus in the manger? We read that ‘they returned’: what did that look like? They’ve had this incredible encounter, and yet the sheep still need looking after. How did they shepherd differently after that first encounter with Jesus? Were there still lonely moments on the hillside? Yes, but they knew 'Immanuel, God with us' even on the dark hillside. Were there still scary moments protecting their sheep from predators? Yes, but they knew the 'Prince of Peace'. Were there moments where they still felt like the outcasts? Yes, but they knew that the Lord had chosen them to meet his son. 

Yes, the shepherds returned to the hillside, as we too return to everyday life after first meeting Jesus, but they and we were changed for ever. 

Apply: Wizzard sings ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’, and, for us, it can be! Yes, life isn’t all fairy lights and crackers, but we can know the ‘good news of great joy’ every day. In April as well as December! We need to remember the glorious news of God become Man in the mundane of day-to-day life, just as surely the shepherds continued to do, day in day out, on the hillside with their sheep. 

Devote:  We don’t have to save this traditional Christmas blessing for December –
May the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, the obedience of Joseph and Mary and the peace of the Christ-child be yours this (Christmas-time) April day!