Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Tuesday, December 25, 2012 Read – Luke 2:8-20 The story we know so well continues. Who will announce the birth of the Son of God? One might expect the announcement to come from a more substantial representative than the shepherds. But they are the ones that God chooses. Shepherds were not held in high regard by anyone in Israel at that time. Shepherds were outcasts. And the announcement to them fits well with the Song of Mary sung earlier and with the song Hannah in 1Samuel. The announcement is made by an angel who is joined by a multitude of angels who announce God’s good news. Angels were really only messengers from God. We need not think of them as being clothed in white or even as flying in the heavens. Most angels in the Bible apparently looked like ordinary human beings. Sometimes they are mistaken at least for a time as being ordinary human beings. Such may well have been the case here too. The shepherds are given a sign – they will find a baby wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. The wonder of the story is that the shepherds heed the directions of the angels. And their journey is rewarded – the find Mary and Joseph and Jesus, just as the angel had told them. They leave praising God and as far as the story goes they tell no one. Luke ends the story by telling us that Mary pondered everything in her heart. The announcement has been made to us too. And like the shepherds we come to see and we leave rejoicing. It will take other writers to fill in the whole picture for us. Luke has done his part. John will give us the theological explanation for it all – “the Word became flesh and lived among us” – God has entered into God’s creation in Jesus. Christmas is a time for us to simply marvel in the wonder of God – the amazement of God’s grace. There will be time tomorrow and the next day to contemplate the meaning of it all.