The angels didn’t need to tell the shepherds what to do. The Bible says when they heard the announcement, they ran “with haste” into town and found the family of the baby Jesus (Luke 2:16). The story is told in the barest detail. We’ll need to rely on our sanctified imaginations to picture how they found the newborn child. Was it an accident? Did they hear the cries of a baby? Did they go from house to house waking up the village as they went? What did they say when they knocked on the doors?
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was what they saw when they finally found the Christ-child. Contrary to the Christmas card portraits, there were no halos around the heads of Joseph, Mary or Jesus. No rays of light beamed out from the straw as painted in the Renaissance. They saw a very tired mother, a very worried father and a tiny, baby boy who made noises and cried when he was hungry.
We don’t know what the shepherds said or the questions they asked. “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart,” (Luke 2:19) but what matters most is what they didn’t see. No angels hovered over the child. No animals were singing. No drummer boy was rat- a-tat-tatting. No wise men. (They came when the child was older.) There was nothing special – out of the ordinary, yes (babies aren’t usually found in mangers) — nothing to cause them to think this was anyone other than another Jewish baby boy.
But they knew better. The angels had told them, “a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord,” (Luke 2:11). Joseph knew better. The angel Gabriel had told him, “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins,” (Matthew 1:21) and we know better and that is why Christmas is special.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. … From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known, (John 1:14 – 18).