Reflection by the Rev'd Dr. Deborah Broome

The Best News of All 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.

Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,    and on earth peace among those whom he favours!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.    Luke 2:1-20

Imagine being out there on the hillside with the shepherds.  If you’ve ever sat outside for long enough, with or without sheep, you start to hear things: vague rustling sounds, things the wind stirs up, noises that could be anything.  So the shepherds can hear something and they don’t know what it is.  I guess, when you think about it, “not knowing” is a basic part of Christmas.  Mary and Joseph didn’t know where they’d be staying that night, the shepherds didn’t know what they heard, no-one at the beginning of the story really knew what was going on … and maybe some of us today don’t know what to make of it all. 

So the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks, and they hear something – and all of a sudden they realise it’s an angel.  The most common instruction in the Bible isn’t “be good,” “don’t misbehave” or “have faith.”  It’s “fear not,”  “don’t be afraid.”   And that tells you something about human beings: it tells you we seem to spend quite a bit of time being scared.  (Maybe you can relate to that.)  Certainly the first thing a visiting angel says is always “Do not be afraid” – so we can guess fear’s always the immediate reaction to an angel turning up. 

So we’re out there on the hillside with the shepherds, and they’re terrified because there’s an angel there, and the angel tells them that this is, in fact, good news.  Good news of great joy for all the people.  And coming at the end of a difficult year – cost of living increases, health challenges, and difficulties getting jobs, and all the conflicts abroad – we could do with some good news.  And this is the good news of the birth of a Saviour – for even if we don’t imagine we need a saviour, we do know what it feels like to step in the messiness of life and walk away leaving dirty footprints.  We realise something’s broken in the world around us, and we don’t know how to fix it, but the thought that someone, somewhere, might is indeed good news.

So the shepherds on the hillside are getting the good news, and being sent off to find a baby in a feeding trough – and they probably feel this is the most exciting thing they’ve ever done.  And I think they’re right, because that’s what I’ve found.  The search to find God’s special baby, seeking to connect with God and let God connect with me, trying to work out what all this means for the world I live in, the world we all live in, is absolutely the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.  And I think it will go on being the most exciting thing for the rest of my life.

So the shepherds are searching Bethlehem until they find the baby in a manger, just like the angel said.  Everyone knows finding a baby in a manger is more than somewhat unusual – but not nearly as unusual as who that baby was.  For that baby was God, coming in search of us, coming into all the broken messiness of our world to find us and bring us home.  That baby was Jesus, the one who came to bring love and forgiveness, and to turn our world upside down.

God came searching for us, wanting to find us and connect with us.  Jesus came as a baby not only to show us what God is like but also to show us what human beings can be like, to show us how we can be, when we’re living as God intended us to live.  Christmas is when we remember how heaven and earth, God and humanity, are forever linked because of Jesus.  Something changed that night, and it was to a bunch of ordinary shepherds – country folk – that the news was first announced.  And ever since then the news has been announced to ordinary people, and we hear it as good news of great joy.  And when we hear it like that, then we somehow become a little less ordinary, a little more what God meant us to be.  Because then we can go out and, like the shepherds, track down the baby in the manger who is God, and let him bring love and forgiveness and healing into our lives, and the lives of those around us.  So do not be afraid, for Christ is born, and this is the best news of all.