Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 2-3.

When the angel appeared to the shepherds, the first thing it said was “Do not be afraid.”  I make note of that because every time we see an account of an angel appearing to a person to bring them revelation, one of the first things it does is tell them some variation of that.  This allows us to realize that if someone experiences a supernatural visitation where the visitor does not immediately attempt to calm their fears, that visitor is either bringing a warning to the one they are visiting, or the visitor is not from God.  I also want to write about something I often think about when I read the accounts of Jesus’ birth.  The angels did not appear to the priests in the temple, or courtiers in Herod’s court.  I have seen different things about how shepherds were viewed in First Century society, but at best they were not thought of highly.  I think they were probably comparable to janitors and trash collectors .  The relatively low social standing of the shepherds would have contributed to the amazement felt by those who heard their account of angels appearing to them.  However, there is another aspect of how I think people likely viewed shepherds which would also have contributed to that amazement: shepherds were not likely viewed as people who spent much time and thought on God.  Those who rose up to proclaim themselves Messiah did not emerge from among those like the shepherds.  Those who emerged to call for social change, or religious reformation, did not come from among shepherds and those like them.  God chose to reveal His incarnation to the “working class”, not the intellectual class, from whom human movements to transform society always emerge.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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