Mennonite Weekly Review

When the angel of the Lord first appeared to the shepherds in the field, their first response was one of pure terror. One moment the night seemed like any other — the animals had settled down, the shepherds were tired after a long day — but then suddenly there was a bright light as the glory of the Lord shone around them and as God interrupted their quiet night by sending an angel. It was like a burst of fire all around them, and the shepherds were terrified.

April Yamasaki is lead pastor of Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Abbotsford, B.C., and author of several books and many articles.

The first thing the angel did was to reassure them with these words: “Do not be afraid” (Luke 2:10). Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the temple, the angel’s first words to Zechariah were “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:13). When Gabriel appeared to Mary to foretell Jesus’ birth, the angel’s first words to Mary were “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30). Just as “good morning” or “how are you” might be standard greetings for us today, “do not be afraid” seemed to be the standard greeting of angels in their encounters with human beings.

No fear

Once the shepherds had heard the angel’s good news of Jesus’ birth, and once the heavenly host of angels had disappeared, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (Luke 2:15). They were no longer afraid. Unlike Zechariah, who had earlier doubted the angel that appeared to him, these shepherds believed and acted on their belief.

The shepherds hurried off, and found the baby Jesus wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger just as the angel had said. Soon they were spreading the word that this child was the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Everyone who heard their story was amazed, Mary treasured what they said, and the shepherds themselves returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God.

Spreading the news of Jesus

One of the lessons of the shepherds’ part of the Christmas story is that God comes to ordinary people in the course of their lives, and that ordinary people can spread the news of Jesus. While the shepherds were tending their sheep, just as they did every night, God sent an angel and spoke to them. So too God comes to us in the midst of our ordinary lives. Just as God was out there in the fields with the shepherds, God is with us in our back yards, the farm, the kitchen, the school, the church, the construction site, the office, wherever we may be. God comes to ordinary people in the midst of life.

That seems like such an obvious message, I’m tempted to press the delete button and start all over. And yet I think it’s a message that I and all of us need to be reminded of again and again.

I was not part of the recent meeting with President Ahmadinejad of Iran. I am not actively working for peace in a setting of obvious conflict like Colombia or the Middle East. But I can still spread the news of Jesus in my own small corner of the world, and so can you. Wherever we may be, we can receive the good news and act on it, just as the shepherds did.