Just as They Had Been Told

Just as They had been told

Luke 2:19 – But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. 20 – So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.

The words of the angel was true. The shepherds verified it with their own eyes. They had become evangelists of the birth of Jesus Christ. There was nothing that could be done or said that would change their message. The truth was irrefutable.

Mary treasured the words of the shepherds, pondering them, parsing them, defining them, digesting them. These men carried such energy and conviction of what they had seen and heard. Her baby was not just a birth of unusual circumstances. Her baby was special. He would have a special purpose and she needed to believe this and raise him according to that purpose. She did not see the heavenly army and did not share in receiving the message that was given to the shepherds by the angels. Her experience with God was unique being the person chosen to bear the promised child.

The message of Jesus and His arrival was multi-faceted containing many witnesses and they all needed to believe that this baby would grow to become the Savior of the world. Which messenger affected you the most? The angels? The shepherds? Mary? Joseph? Is your imagination charged with scene of all-powerful angels or is your heart beating with hope that this same Jesus which was born and laid in a manger is the same person who is coming again in all his glory to save you and me?

Living during the time of Roman rule was not easy, nor is living under today’s pressures millennia after the birth of Jesus. Has it become easier or harder to believe? Does the star of Jesus still shine brightly in our hearts or have doubts begun to creep in that things seem to continue as they always have since the beginning?

Let’s recapture the wonder of Jesus’ birth; the power of the angels; the conviction of the shepherds and the heart of Mary and Joseph. They were real people challenged to believe an incredible message. A message of hope that this world will not just self-destruct at the hands of its oppressors. This world is loved by God and a way has been made for deliverance. That way is Jesus Christ. The message is just as real today as the day it was first delivered.

Romans 8:38 – For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 – nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.