29. The Right Audience

Isaiah 40:9-11 and Luke 2:15-20

Key Verse: When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 

Luke 2:17-18

"You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain.  You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!'" (Is. 40:9) and that's what the shepherds did!  How wonderful that the Isaiah passage says God tends his flock like a shepherd, and then when He is born into the world he calls shepherds to announce the good news!

These simple men did what should come naturally when confronted with the glory of God.  They went to the stable and saw for themselves.  Then, they spread the news to anyone who would listen!  They talked about the angels.  They told about the baby, the simple parents and the humble birthplace.  They told what they could about what they knew and had experienced. 

They were the first witnesses to God's plan of salvation, but they didn't keep it to themselves.  How could they?  As far as they knew, all of Bethlehem may have been awakened by that incredible sight of angels in the sky!  If some thought that they were crazy, or making it up, too bad for them!  They had missed a miracle!  The shepherds told of their experience anyway because no one, no matter how skeptical, could take away what they knew, that they had come face to face with God's glory and that it was more than they could have ever hoped or imagined.
 

Then, there is Mary, with another amazing incident to add to all the others.  "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19) She may have had no one else to talk with about what she was experiencing.  No one could help her figure it all out.  What an amazing story this child was creating.  It could only be a God thing. 

The shepherds may not have understood, as the learned men would, that prophecy was being fulfilled.  They may not have fully comprehended just what exactly they had become part of.  They knew that what they had experienced was amazing.  So they left Mary in her wondering to talk to anyone they could.  What if our experience with God effected us that way? 

It makes me wonder, why aren't we more like the shepherds?  Why do we keep so much of what God has done in our lives to ourselves?  The shepherds show us how to witness.  Mary teaches us how to drink it in and change us.  One thing is sure.  The world can't take away what we know and what we've experienced unless we let it. 

Some will say, “The shepherds are an example of ‘seeing is believing.’  They talked about what they had seen with their own eyes.  I have been a Christian all my life and I believe it, but I haven’t seen anything as spectacular as what the shepherds reported. Surely if I did I would report it.” 

Here is one response.  We can spend time pondering on God’s Word and pray with the psalmist: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” (Psalm 119:18).  Then we will have something to report as we are thrilled in our hearts by what we learn of God. May we ponder like Mary and share like the shepherds. 

Hymn: "Go Tell It On The Mountain"

 & from The Messiah, "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion"