“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

- Luke 2:8-11

The angels listen.  There is also a deep interest in angels today.  But from this particular account, they seem scary.  I’m guessing the ‘appearance’  frightens in a weird way.  The shepherds use this magnificent word, ‘terrified‘.  Doesn’t that word just push through, and make it seem as though we have abdicated our control over reality?

These shepherds were exceedingly watchful.  They are quite meticulous as they look over the flocks.  Actually, this is quite marvelous in itself.  There is a ‘brain-numbing’ issue that afflicts shepherds at 2 in the morning.  But they see everything this deep dark night.  They make ‘star’ witnesses.

All of a sudden, and angel appears and things start getting weird.  The weirdness quickly grows, and fear begins to push through.  Fear is a very good way to a deep understanding of things that are pretty much out of our league.  We turn and we discover ourselves ‘stripped’ of all we held of value.  Reality is now going to be interpreted God’s way. 

The ‘angel’ carries a very significant message to our souls. “Have absolutely no fear’!  I carry to you, an awesome idea, that all of your nasty evil sins, are quite forgiven.  There is someone special, a saviour. Who is Christ, the Lord.  Needless to say, the shepherds are pretty shooked up.  The way the ‘message’ unfolds is ‘one’.  The radical idea of ‘two’ is quite extreme.  Forgiveness?  This isn’t what they thought this would be.

Joy is an immediate and proper response.  We turn to ‘joy’ to express this extremely astonishing bit of news.  What has happened is on the very edge of, the very ‘tip-toe’ of a spiritual reality.  (It’s like our toes are curling over the cliff’s edge.)  He reaches to us in the very second that we needed Him too.

The angels very quickly ‘defuse the fear.’  This is not the best ‘atmosphere’ for their message.  They need to do something to evacuate the urge to panic.  One of the things they do is to speak a deep and penetrating word of promise.  Obviously this is very significant.  And the shepherds are sponges,  and they truly absorb all that happens. They are ‘official’ witnesses to this night’s events.

‘A Saviour is born”.  He hasn’t ‘appeared’ or even ‘arrived’.  But He has been born.  This reliance on ‘old-fashioned’ approach, brings a much slower development to His message.  A birth slows everything down. It’s like ‘slo-mo’ TV.  It forces things to develop in a natural and a timely way.  He has been ‘born’.  But have no doubt, He is the ‘Messiah”.  He is the one, who has been eternally chosen.  Wait and see.

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