Actions Need Interpretation
Sometimes we see or hear things that we don’t understand until we receive further information. We might be stuck in traffic in the middle of the day and wonder why until we realize there’s an accident. We might notice our grass or plants dying and wonder why until we realize we haven’t turned the sprinklers on. We might have newly planted vegetables in our garden disappearing overnight until we realize that rollie pollies are eating them.
Things often happen for reasons that aren’t immediately obvious. Actions often need interpretation. An act without an interpretation can leave us confused. The why behind actions is rarely clear and discernible.
In our study of Luke’s Gospel, we’re coming to another famous Christmas passage, the account of the angels and the shepherds (2:8-20). It’s a well-known passage but we may miss just how important it is. After Jesus’ birth, an angel appears to explain the significance of his birth. The action needed interpretation.
Hearing, Seeing, Becoming
God doesn’t leave us in the dark to figure out Jesus’ birth on our own. He sends an angel to interpret it for us, and, like the shepherds, those with ears to hear the angel’s words and eyes to see God’s Son will become something they never thought they would.
The main point of our text today is that hearing God’s word and seeing God’s Son creates worshippers and witnesses. We can outline our text this way: hearing God’s word (vv. 8-14), seeing God’s word (vv. 15-16), and becoming God’s worshipper and witness (vv. 17-20).
Hearing God’s Word
First, hearing God’s word in verses 8-14. The first people who received word about Jesus’ birth weren’t who you’d expect.
Shepherds in ancient Israel were not the kind of people you bragged about knowing. They had one of the dirtiest jobs in that culture. They worked outside with animals. Shepherds smelled awful and had terrible reputations. The cultural elites looked down their noses on shepherds, viewing them as “scoundrels and lowlifes” who used other people’s pastures whenever they wanted.[1] Shepherds lived a nomadic existence, removed from human communities and culture for long periods of time. This separation created suspicion and scorn. Their reputation disqualified them from being legal witnesses. Tax collectors, gamblers, and shepherds were all listed as despised trades in the Jewish rabbinical writings. One third-century rabbi said, “There is no more despised occupation in the world than that of shepherds.”[2] No one liked or trusted shepherds.
The amazing thing is that at all the highest points in salvation history, God worked through shepherds. For example, Abel was a “keeper of sheep” (Gen. 4:2), Abraham had sheep herds (Gen. 12:16), Jacob’s sons were shepherds (Gen. 46:32-34), Moses was shepherding his father-in-law’s flock when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush (Ex. 3:1-2), David was “keeping the sheep” when Samuel called him in to anoint him as the next king of Israel (1 Sam. 16:11), and the prophet Amos was a sheep breeder when the Lord called him to preach to the pagan kings of Israel (Amos 1:1). Ancient Israel wasn’t fond of shepherds, but their God was.
So when the angel goes to the shepherds, the Lord is doing what he’s always done. He’s going to unlikely people and raising them up to lead his people and speak his word. Of all people, it’s shepherds who’re the first to hear of the birth of the Good Shepherd. This fulfills what the Lord said to Isaiah, that he’d send his good news to the poor (61:1). The only thing these shepherds could afford to bring was their joy and praise.
No one would’ve predicted that shepherds would receive the first invitation to come see King Jesus. But God’s ways aren’t our ways, and one of the ways his glory shines the brightest is when he turns human expectations upside down.
God’s Glory Shines through the Ordinary
This parallels Jesus being laid in a manger (2:7). Jesus’ first bed was an animal’s feeding trough and his first visitors were shepherds. This teaches us something about the ordinary and mundane things in life. Listen to pastor and professor Dale Davis:
“If Christ stoops so low, to such a ‘common’ level, does this not sanctify all that seems common and ordinary and unimpressive in the lives of His people? To be quaint and go back a few years – the weaver laboring at his loom, the farmer putting up hay, the mother cleaning her oven; or the teacher tutoring…(a) student in reading, the accountant preparing tax returns, the pastor reading in his study, the doctor diagnosing a perplexed patient. Jesus’ feeding trough suffuses all the glamorlessness of our callings with a touch of His humble glory.”[3]
Jesus’ first bed and first visitors teach us that God’s glory shines through ordinary things. Preparing spreadsheets, changing diapers, praying over the phone with a church member, and sharing kind words with a stranger are glorious, not because they’re big and obvious, but because they’re not. Don’t miss the sacredness of what you do every day.
“Good News of Great Joy”
The message of the angel starts in verse 10. The “good news” was news “of great joy.” It’s not news about a general euphoria or news about an emotion caused by positive vibes because of favorable circumstances.
“Joy” in Luke is a result of God’s salvation, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (15:7), and a response to Jesus’ resurrection, “He showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement” (24:41, NIV), and Jesus’ ascension, “While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (24:51-52). Joy is a necessary result of having truly understood what God is doing in and through Jesus.
Savior, Christ, and Lord
The reason for the “great joy” is given in verse 11. The angel says that someone was born that very day in Bethlehem who is three things at once: Savior, Christ, and Lord.
“Christ” is from the Greek word for Messiah, or the anointed Davidic-King. “Lord” is a translation of the word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament for Yahweh. The angel doesn’t say that the baby is “the Messiah of the Lord,” but is “the Messiah who is the Lord.” This is very high Christology from the beginning of Jesus’ life.
“Savior” sounds less exalted than Messiah or Lord, but it’s actually more remarkable in this context. The fact that he’s called “Savior” counteracts Caesar’s claim to be “savior of the world.” One ancient Roman historian says that Caesar Augustus actually preferred being called “savior” rather than “Lord.” Luke is pushing back on the political idolatry of his day by saying that Jesus, not Augustus, is the true Savior of the world.
Jesus coming as a Savior is both good news and bad news because it implies that we have a need to be saved. If someone gives you deodorant and mouthwash for your birthday, the gift comes with an unspoken message!
Jesus coming as Savior is an offensive gift, offensive because we don’t like to admit that we need what he came to give. The gift is for “all the people,” or the covenant people of God, Israel.[4] This means that God sent a Savior to those who thought they were already saved, to those who attended worship and kept the rules. Israel’s outward law-keeping couldn’t save them. They, and we, needed a Savior.
Jesus’ title shows us our need. God didn’t send a life coach, financial advisor, mentor, philosopher, economist, politician, psychologist, or entertainer. He sent a Savior because our deepest need is rescue. You know this. This is why you long for someone outside yourself to see you, cherish you, love you, and protect you. Jesus came to do all that and more.
An Army for Peace
Then, in verses 13-14, the curtain is raised behind the angel, revealing a choir from heaven singing praises to God. The word for “host” in verse 13 is “army,” and this army is huge, “a multitude.” This military choir is praising God and declaring that peace has come to the earth. What a paradox! “An army deployed for peace rather than war.”[5]
The second part of their song is a bit wordy, “and on earth peace among those with whom God is pleased” (v. 14). The CSB translates it more smoothly: “peace on earth to people he favors.”
Peace for God’s People
The angel’s song isn’t a declaration of peace to all humanity, but rather peace to a specific group of people, “those with whom God is pleased,” or “people he favors.” Who are these people?
This is referring to the elect. The clear and repeated testimony of Scripture is that God is the sovereign Lord over everything that happens, including the eternal destinies of every single human who ever lives. The Bible says that God chooses some for salvation and passes over others. This is hard teaching, but if it’s in the Bible, we must come to terms with it.
The angel’s song says that, as a result of Jesus’ birth, peace will come to God’s elect. Luke’s friend and coworker Paul fills this out for us in Romans. He says that peace with God comes to those justified by faith (5:1), and that those who’re justified are justified because they’re predestined (8:30). Peace with God comes through faith in Jesus for God’s elect.
How do you know if that’s you? First, you have to understand that you don’t have peace with God, that you’re an enemy of God (Rom. 5:9-11).
The Bible says we’re born enemies of God and thus deserving his judgment (Rom. 3:10ff). This isn’t the way some people are, it’s the way all people everywhere are. Those without Christ are God’s enemies.
This sounds harsh, but why would Jesus die if we’re basically good people who just make mistakes sometimes? How is the gospel good news if it’s just about self-improvement?
It’s good news because the bad news is that we’re enemies of the God who made us, choosing to love anything and everything more than God, and in our blind pride running headlong into an eternal grave, many even thinking that they’re okay because they’re religious or good people, assuming that God is somehow impressed with their performance.
Our only hope is if God himself steps in and cuts us off at the pass before we reach the grave and does something about our sins and gives us new hearts so that we’re inclined to run to him rather than away from him and inclined to love him not use him.
A Peace Offering
God sent Jesus to die as a peace offering. As Paul says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace” (Eph. 2:13-14). On the cross, Jesus endured the hell of war for us so we don’t have to. Then he rose from the dead to prove that his work ended the war with God for everyone who understands their need, for anyone who turns away from their sins and turns toward Jesus in faith.
Jesus came to give objective and subjective peace to God’s people, objective through justification because we’re declared right with God, subjective through the Holy Spirit who begins to grow in us deep, sweet, abiding, surprising, and strengthening peace, a kind of peace that can’t be explained (Phil. 4:7).
Do You Have Peace?
A missionary friend in China would ask people we shared the gospel with, “Do you have peace?” Well, do you? Or do you live with a restlessness and you can’t quite figure out why? You have so much but you still feel empty and driven to prove yourself or be something or perform for someone’s approval? Or maybe you have low-level anxiety and nervousness and racing thoughts and consistent fear of the worst happening?
Your lack of peace may be because you aren’t right with God or because you’re struggling to trust him day by day. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, but the difference is huge. You can be on your way to hell as an enemy of God all while assuming you’re good with God. Or you can be on your way to heaven as a friend of God all while grasping for peace in your life, wondering why it seems to constantly escape you. Talking to a pastor or trusted friend can help you sort these things out. My prayer for you is Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way” (2 Thess. 3:16).
Seeing God’s Word
The shepherds heard God’s word, then in verses 15-16 they go and see God’s word. The angel said in verse 12 that there will be a sign for the shepherds.
Without the sign, the angel’s word could easily be forgotten or disbelieved. Without the word, the sign could easily be overlooked or misunderstood. Without this word from God, who would’ve imagined that this baby in a manger is “Immanuel, God with Us”? God gives signs, like baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to compliment his word, and God’s word gives the signs meaning and power.
The sign is more spectacular than anything else the shepherds saw that night. In the baby Jesus, they would see the “entire fullness of God’s nature” in bodily form (Col. 2:9), the image of the invisible God (1:15), the Word made flesh (Jn. 1:14), and “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature” (Heb. 1:3). But the sight of him drew them in instead of scaring them away.
Remember when God came down on Mount Sinai? It was a terrifying experience (Ex. 19:16-20a, 20:18-19). Now contrast that with God’s appearance in Bethlehem. When Jesus took his first breath and cried for the first time, there was no thunder or fire or earthquake.
When the shepherds find the baby in a manger, their hearts aren’t filled with fear, but with joy and comfort and peace. When God comes to us with the law, he comes to judge us, but when he comes to us with the gospel, he comes to save us.
If you’re relating to God based on law, no wonder you don’t have any peace. You’re trying to prove yourself but you’ll never measure up. But if you’re relating to God based on the gospel, your fears are relieved through grace because though you know you don’t measure up, you know Jesus’ righteousness covers you.
Becoming God’s Worshipper and Witness
After the shepherds hear and see God’s word, something happens to them they couldn’t have expected. They become worshippers of God and witnesses for God (vv. 17-20).
When the shepherds see Jesus, they share the word that’d been shared with them (v. 17). The shepherds become the first witnesses for Jesus, declaring what they’d been told about him.
Their testimony results in three things. First, verse 18 says that everyone who heard their testimony “wondered,” or “were amazed” (NIV). People weren’t amazed because of some song and dance the shepherds performed, but because of the word of their testimony. Amazement isn’t the same thing as faith, but it can be a first step toward faith. In other words, just because you’re amazed by Jesus doesn’t mean you’re saved. But to be saved, you have to first see him as amazing.
Second, verse 19 says that Mary’s response was to “ponder” these things in her heart. The word can mean to “preserve” but has an ongoing effect, so it can mean “to ruminate” or “to wrestle with.” The shepherd’s response is primarily active while Mary’s is primarily reflective. Mary is chewing on these things, tossing them around in her mind, trying to make sense of it all. She’s a model of a careful, thinking disciple. Many don’t view Christians as careful thinkers, so Mary is an example for us and reminds us that we often don’t come to understand things immediately or instantly but rather need time to mull things over and think about what God has shown us.
And third, verse 20 says that the shepherds leave the scene worshipping God “for all they had heard and seen.” Hearing and seeing the word of God changed these shepherds into worshippers. Notice they didn’t leave their work but returned to it. Their work was where they would live out their new life as witnesses and worshippers.
Unexpected Witnesses
The shepherds were outsiders, so much so that they were disqualified as legal witnesses in court. But they become the first witnesses to Jesus’ birth because in God’s kingdom the last are first.
And then, that first Easter morning, the last are first again. Do you remember who were the first witnesses to the resurrection? It was the women who followed Jesus, Mary Magdalene in particular (23:55, 24:10).
Shepherds were the first witnesses of Jesus’ birth; women were the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. Neither could be legal witnesses in court, but God chose both to be his witnesses.
What does this teach us? That salvation is by grace. The shepherds and Mary Magdalene were both social outcasts (Lk. 8:1-3), but Jesus says to both, “You’ll be my messengers.”
Jesus is saying that he doesn’t save on the basis of pedigree or moral attainment, not by our work but by his work. He’s saying, “I don’t save people who think they’re strong, I save people who know they’re weak.” Behold, the grace of Jesus Christ!
[1]Rhyne R. Putman, Conceived by the Holy Spirit: The Virgin Birth in Scripture and Theology (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 137.
[2]Quoted in James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 74.
[3]Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 1-13: The Year of the Lord’s Favor, Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2021), 46-7.
[4]See Darrell L. Bock, Luke, Volume 1: 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic), 215-6.
[5]Edwards, 78.