Creator, Father, King #355

After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED what would’ve happened if Jesus’ birth was a little more grandiose—something more befitting the King of kings and Lord of lords?

For instance, what if Joseph and Mary were a regal couple and Jesus’ birthplace was an ornate palace nursery? What if the shepherds were a company of royal courtiers trumpeting the news from the castle ramparts and official couriers on white steeds delivering the news through neighboring towns and villages with great fanfare? What if the wise men were visiting monarchs from allied nations coming to pay their respects?

Just imagine if Jesus’ birth had played out this way!

But of course, it didn’t. That’s not the way God works, and it’s certainly not how the eternally ordained incarnation of his Son transpired. Not at all.

What’s It Mean?

God sovereignly chose people and places who were much less ostentatious—a poor carpenter as Jesus’ earthly father; a nondescript girl as his mother; and a dirty manger as his crib.

And what about the two groups who visited the Christ-child? One was a grubby group of Jewish field workers. The other was a cohort of pagan Gentile astrologers, likely from Persia. Neither group was whom you might expect Scripture to highlight as the long-awaited Messiah’s first worshipers. Don’t think the biblical spotlight on the shepherds and wise men is coincidental. God loves flipping the traditional human script (1 Corinthians 1:27-28).

Meanwhile, Israel’s leaders were largely oblivious to the Savior’s arrival. It’s telling that God didn’t send his angels to announce Jesus’ birth to the Jewish priests, Pharisees, or other members of the Sanhedrin. God’s people had been waiting, literally, millennia for the Messiah, and when he came, the religious establishment was too blinded by its religiosity to notice.

Look around you. In many ways, today’s world is no different. Some people are ignorant to the Messiah. Elsewhere, religiosity abounds as people desperately try to earn God’s favor while ignoring his Son. Ironic, eh?

Neither apathy nor religiosity pleases God. Rather, take a cue from the people whom Scripture highlights: those who rushed to worship the Savior, then hurried to tell others the good news. This Christmas, may we be like the shepherds and the wise men, who bore no pretense of piety, yet humbly worshiped the Messiah and joyfully told others.

Now What?

Tell an unbelieving friend or family member about the Savior who came to save them today!

Did You Know?

Israel’s leaders identified Bethlehem as the Messiah’s birthplace (Matthew 2:1-6) but apparently didn’t connect it to Jesus!