TGIF
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths 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, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!””
(Luke 2:8–14 ESV)
The angel announcing the birth of Jesus was a very poor systematic theologian and a poorer evangelist.
He pronounced the good news, the best news of all time.
Unfortunately, he neglected to tell the shepherds the bad news first.
Those of us who are more theologically sophisticated than mere angels know that we must first use the law to break people, then tell them the good news to put them back together.
You don’t just go willy nilly around telling people that God has come and put on human flesh and now everything is different.
Good news is only good news if you know the bad news first and you’ll only see a doctor if you know you’re sick and… on and on…
This silly angel neglected to cite even one of the Four Spiritual Laws.
He obviously missed a turn on the Romans Road.
His choice of an audience indicates that this angel either wasn’t using Google Maps or had neglected polling demographics as he ended up in a pasture talking to guys who were ankle deep in sheep stuff instead of people who could make proper appointments to the Sanhedrin.
He blurts out the best news ever to a bunch of nobodies, calls his friends like he did it right, they sing a song, and disappear.
How’s that supposed to work?
It worked.
The shepherds responded and the rest is history.
In a day when we are bombarded with bad news, when we are as divided as a society as we’ve ever been, when the church is shrinking and splintering…we need some good news.
We forget that the message of the angel was for us… and for all of “them”.
We have even better news…we know the rest of the story.
The baby God in human flesh grew up and His entire life and death were for our eternal benefit.
He’s coming back.
Perhaps instead of making sure we are carefully defining both our enemies and our doctrine we should throw caution to the wind and just tell everybody this good news of great joy.
Good news.
Great joy.
What a message.
Haven’t heard it on Twitter.
We need some angels.
Make your own application…
Good news, indeed… All the year round…
Amen…though I see all the related articles are Christmas themed… 🙂
Well…… David started out as a shepherd…… Hmmm….. Maybe pastors would gain from sitting out under the stars talking to God and guarding the sheep?
There must be a principle there …. Somewhere…… ? ….
#2 Michael
We’ll fix that on Monday ?
“..we are as divided as a society as we’ve ever been, when the church is shrinking and splintering…”
Is that REALLY how your local church is, Michael?
I think not.
Nor is my local church.
Ohhh we need some sanctification and love and maturity, but I think, when we look at our LOCAL church, that has specified members (as opposed to all the different churches in our city, definitely not what social media or other forms of media say), we see harmony. Messy harmony, but a group Jesus put together gathered around the good news.
I hope this “counterpoint” help…it’s helping ME.
JTK,
My church is fine unless we veer off into anything political.
The church as a whole in my city is very divided, sometimes to the point of hostility…a picture of the church as a whole in this country.
That’s simply a fact…
I would venture a guess that this is not a standalone encounter with this angel and a new unexpected message. The angel is delivering a message to a people who are already in a covenant relationship. These folks have already lived under the “bad news” message of this relationship as they have had it preached to them weekly under the guise of the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament.
The shepherds are there representing those in the covenant waiting the delivery of this message – this gospel – the good news first announced in Genesis 3 and later in the prophets.
So when the angel says – “here it is” – that is not new or a surprise but expected – .as they awaited anxiously through the so called 400 years of silence and we can see their expectation in the way they received John the Baptist.
The gospel unattached to the Law, the bad news rings hollow. I remember back in the day people would come to me and say “Jesus loves you” and I would reply”that’s nice, tell him thanks.” and I would move on.
Oh, i think those sheep herders were surprised…. How many encounters with angels in the night sky are recorded? Let alone a multitude of “heavenly hosts” (what are they? ) singing and praising God…. ?
An anticipated event, yes, but the actuality unfolding that night would be surprising for any human, i think