Have you ever considered why God made a workplace such a crucial part of the Christmas Gospel?
The Christmas gospel, as it is given in Luke chapter 2, is usually the one being read in our churches and families at Christmas. Most often we refer to it as the story about when Jesus was born. There is nothing wrong with that. But if the birth of Jesus was the only point in the story, the Christmas gospel could have ended already in verse seven of the chapter. It does however continue for 13 more verses. So, the main part of the story is played out among workers in a workplace.
Workplace proclamation
Usually, when a future king is born, the news is announced through official channels. Other rulers, ambassadors and people of power will get the news first. It is thus amazing to see how God decided that the birth of Jesus should be proclaimed in a different way. The first ones to hear the good news were not the Roman emperor, Augustus, nor Quirinius who was the governor of Syria. These high-ranked people are mentioned in the gospel just to tell the people when the event happened. When God decides who to share and celebrate the news with, he does however choose the shepherds tending their sheep outside of Bethlehem – people who did not have a high standing in the society. They were at work when they got to hear an angel say, “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.” (Luke 2:10-11, NLT). They also got to see a whole choir of angels singing and praising the newborn king.
Why shepherds?
Many people have tried to figure out why God decided to make the good news about Jesus known for shepherds first. Here are a few of them:
· The famous evangelist, Billy Graham, believed that God through this act wanted to show that his love is for everyone.
· The Jewish, biblical scholar, Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889), believed that God’s act with the shepherds was a prophetic declaration. The men watching the sheep received a message about the ultimate lamb who would take away the sins of the world.
· One of the writers in Christian Today, JB Cachila, believes God chose the shepherds because he wanted to reveal Jesus as the ultimate shepherd.
No matter what the right reason is, we can conclude that people at a workplace got the news about Jesus’ birth before anyone else. We can also rejoice in the fact that when we bring the gospel of Jesus to our workplace, we are doing the work of the angels.
By Steinar Opheim