Sometimes you just need some good news! We find a group of people in the Christmas story who need some good news. You might have heard of these guys. There was a group of shepherds, we don’t know how many, but there was a group who lived in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.
Why did the Christmas shepherds need good news? Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. The Old Testament primarily tells us about the Israelites and the struggle they had to keep God’s law. You might remember Adam and Eve and their sin. You might remember Noah’s Ark where God wiped everything out to start over. You might remember Moses and the Ten Commandments, God’s hope that ten straightforward, written laws might help the people. And, you might remember the people breaking every one of those laws. Also, in the Old Testament, we find 330 prophecies or promises of a coming savior. 330 promises of hope. After Malachi, there is 400 years of silence. No prophets, no angels, nothing spoken from God.
We find these shepherds watching after their sheep, wondering if God was real. Wondering if those 330 promises would ever come true. The shepherds needed good news because 400 years of silence had given the people lots of power to do things their way, but little hope because they always messed things up. The government at the time was so corrupt, just look at how they treated Jesus. The temple wasn’t much better. The priest could still sacrifice animals and come before God, but Jesus would call out the sinful actions of the Pharisees, the religious leaders, more than he called out anyone else. After years of sin, darkness, and silence the shepherds needed some good news
400 years of darkness and then boom! Angels lighting up the sky! Angels didn’t just appear to people back then! This would be the same as an angel showing up at your work tomorrow. Can you imagine the shepherd’s surprise? Maybe they thought they were hallucinating or dreaming. The Bible says they were terrified! Their good news came in a way that they never expected.
Jesus was and still is the good news! Maybe you haven’t heard from God in a while, or maybe your life is looking dark. The good news of Jesus, breaking through darkness and silence, is exactly what we celebrate at Christmas time.
O come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him Born the King of Angels
The shepherds were faithful even when life was dark and God seemed quiet. We are called to the same faithfulness today.