Daily Reading: Luke 2:16-20
Big Idea This Week:
Experience Jesus. Share Your Story. Go Back Changed.
Questions to think about:
Whenever we read the story of Jesus’ birth or attend a church Christmas play, we expect the shepherds to play a prominent role. Every nativity scene includes a cute little angel and gentle shepherds. They’re just part of the package. We may easily embrace shepherds as key characters in the story, but a Jewish person 2000 years ago would have found this insane. For the birth of the Messiah, surely God would invite kings or political influencers, priests or religious insiders, but never shepherds. God wouldn’t invite shepherds.
Shepherds were social outcasts. They were poor, uneducated, uncultured, and uncouth. They were rough characters in a small town on the fringe of society, so much so that their testimony was not even admissible in court. If you were with your family, walking through town, you would likely go to the other side of the street to avoid them.
Shepherds were religious outsiders. Because of the work of caring for the sheep made them ceremonially unclean, they were not allowed into the temple courts or to be an active part of synagogue worship. Religious leaders often considered them on the same level as prostitutes. When it came to religion, they were always on the outside looking in.
God invited a group of guys who had been labeled as outcasts and outsiders by everyone, and placed them at the top of the invite list for the most important birthday in history.
Who on the outside could you invite to the party? Invite them to one of our Christmas Services this Sunday, December 22nd.
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