Good News for All People

Good News for All People

Shepherds

Read

Luke 2:8-20

Devotional

Common.  Less than.  Outcasts.

Nobody wants one of these labels used to describe them.

But these are the words people would have used to describe the shepherds of Jesus’ day. At best they would have been seen as common. At worst they would have been treated as outcasts. Everyone would agree that this occupation was less than.

So, when God Almighty decides to choose the first people to announce the birth of His Son, the long-awaited Savior, the most significant Person ever, why choose shepherds? Why not choose kings, or priests, or scholars? Why choose shepherds?

Because this good news of great joy is for all the people.

And to prove that it is for all the people, He goes to the ones who are considered common, less than, outcasts.

But considered common, less than, outcasts by who?

By other people.

The shepherds had heard these words all their lives. Other people let them know that their lives were just common. Other people let them know that their very person was less than. Other people let them know that their status was that of outcast.

Other people considered the shepherds to be these things.

But NOT God!

God is making clear His right and authority to define our lives, our person, our status. He has the final say.

And to prove it, He sends a multitude of angels to the people who were considered so common, certainly less than, often outcasts. And He tells them, “Even you. Especially you. This good news of great joy will be for all the people.”

The shepherds were not common. They were included in the greatest story ever told which is still unfolding.

They were not less than. They were elevated when they received the greatest news ever announced.

They were no longer outcasts. They now had an invitation to be a part of God’s family.

And now, the ones who had been overlooked became to the first to share the news of the Messiah. As they went to go and see this thing that the Lord had made known to them, the shepherds shared this good news that is meant to be for all the people.

We too have been included in this story, have received the greatest news ever announced, and have been invited to become a part of the family of God.

This advent season, as we remember the good news that the Lord has made known to us, as we experience the goodness of our Savior, let us be like the shepherds and share this good news with others.

A Savior has been born. He will save His people from their sins. And this good news that brings great joy will be for all the people.

Reflection Questions

1.     What part of your life feels “ordinary,” overlooked, or unnoticed right now?

2.     Why do you think God chose people like the shepherds to hear the good news first?

3.     What does it reveal about God that He shows up in places we wouldn’t expect?

Prayer

Father,

You are the God who steps into places we never expect. You choose fields instead of palaces, night shifts instead of sanctuaries, and people the world overlooks before the people the world celebrates. You did not call the impressive first, but the tired, the unnoticed, the ones simply doing their work in the dark.

Thank You for being a God who draws near to ordinary lives. Thank You for speaking into routines that feel small, unseen, or unimportant. Thank You that Your glory does not wait for a perfect moment, a perfect setting, or perfect people. It breaks in where we least expect it, and it turns ordinary ground into holy ground.

Open our eyes to see You in the places we have stopped looking. Open our hearts to hear Your voice in the middle of our everyday rhythms. Break the lie that we need to be more impressive, more knowledgeable, more gifted, or more put-together before You can use us.

Give us the courage of the shepherds, the courage to move when You speak, to obey before we understand, to seek You with urgency, and to take the next step You put in front of us.

And when we encounter You, even in small ways and ordinary spaces, let it change us the way it changed them. Send us back into our fields, our workplaces, our kitchens, our neighborhoods with hearts that worship and mouths that testify. Make us witnesses to what we have seen of Your faithfulness. Make our ordinary lives shine with Your glory.

Lord, let the story of the shepherds become the story You write in us. Begin Your work in the places we overlook, speak to us in the places we undervalue, transform us in the places we feel unworthy, and send us into the places we already live as people who have seen Your light in the dark.

Amen.