15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
The shepherds are so excited they leave their jobs. Not that tending sheep in the middle of the night is an intense job. Our modern equivalent is a night watchman. Most of the time nothing happens and it is boring. You have to work to just stay awake. But when something happens, you have to be ready for action. The angel has shown up and broken the quiet of the night. Now their adrenalin is pumping and they go into town to see the fulfillment of the angel’s message. The delivery of the message is filled with excitement, but the contents of the fulfillment are not. Who gets excited over a baby in a feed trough? There are lots of poor people and lots of babies. But not many babies whose birth is announced by an angel with a backup group of heavenly hosts. So the shepherds head into town to see for themselves the baby whose PR team did a good job letting them know. Today as you think about the upcoming Christmas celebrations, take time to remember the real meaning of the event. A baby was born in whom all of God’s hopes for humanity lay. God had not second game plan. Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection was the only plan to deal with mankind’s sin. If this baby fails, God fails. And if God fails, we are all doomed. This story is not about a baby, but about mankind’s failure and God’s unexpected solution. We celebrate Jesus’ birth because He is our only hope of survival in life and in death.
The Arnold Journey 