Advent Day 16: Luke 2:8-12

Read & Journal

Read Luke 2:8-12 and meditate on what it reveals, using these questions to guide you.

• What does this passage teach you about Jesus? About His character or purpose?

• Examine the angels’ announcement to the shepherds in verse 10. For you personally, how is the news of Jesus’ birth—the fact that He came to live among us and die for our sin—good news?

• What does this passage help you to understand about the gospel and who it is intended for?

• The angel interrupted the shepherds’ daily grind with unexpected favor. How has God shown unexpected favor to you recently?

Ponder

Due to the nature of their work, shepherds were generally considered unclean and were widely regarded as dishonest. Yet these unlikely outcasts were the first to hear the news of the long-promised Messiah’s birth.The good news would soon reach the ears of kings and nobles, but on that first night, it came to the dirty, smelly shepherds no one wanted to be around and no one trusted.

When God wanted to announce that the time had come, that the plan of salvation He had been telling the Jews about for centuries and had been faithfully working to bring to fruition was at hand, He chose the outcasts to tell first.

We can make a lot of guesses about why He chose the shepherds. Maybe in their lowly state, they would have better recognized the extravagant goodness of the news. But rather than guessing, let’s consider what the announcement to lowly shepherds teaches us about God’s character and His salvation. The good news would be for all people. The outcast shepherds, the unclean, the Jews and the Gentiles. It was for those who knew all the religious rules and followed them and those who obeyed no rules. It was for the oppressed and the oppressors. All people, every nation, tribe and tongue (Rev. 7:9).

When you are a sinner and you know it, the news of God’s salvation is good. You who are on the outside are being invited in. And on that night outside Bethlehem, those unclean, untrustworthy outcasts were the first recipients of that invitation. As the radiance of God’s glory (v. 9) brought light into their darkness, the shepherds received the good news that the Messiah was coming for all people. God was doing a new thing, and the people who everybody pushed away got to play a part.

And that includes you.

Today, let the radiance of God’s glory and the extravagant goodness of His good news shine light and hope into your life. You, who were on the outside, are being invited in.