Variety: luke 2v15-20

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, 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.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. LUKE 2:15–20

Reflection

Have you ever noticed how few words are devoted to the shepherds’ actual encounter with Jesus? Even the words we do have, ‘when they had seen him,’ are used to set the scene for the shepherds moving on. 
 
This whole account is focused firstly on the absolute resolve to investigate the angels’ news – it’s hard for English translations to do justice to the level of urgency described here – and secondly on the shepherds leaving to tell others, glorifying and praising God.
 
It’s sometimes easy for us to picture the nativity scene as rather static. In nativity plays, each character arrives on stage and often simply stays there – hopefully standing or sitting as motionless as possible. I remember my own son mastering this as a shepherd by falling asleep! 
 
But the reality is much more action-packed. The shepherds don’t just fade into the wings. They return to their work having been changed by their encounter. They continue to pass on the angels’ news, and the people who hear them are amazed.
 
The same is true for Mary. The description of her treasuring and pondering the events in her heart describes the whole of her life, far beyond the moments in the nativity scene. And by verse 21, Jesus has also moved on to the next stage in his journey.
 
As beautiful as the nativity scene is, no one stays there, and neither should we. Our call, like that of the shepherds, is to go and carry the good news out from the gathering place, into the world.

Prayer 

Lord, please show me what the unchanging Christmas truths are for me today. This Christmas, help me to freshly investigate, contemplate, and celebrate you. And when I move on from the nativity scene, let me copy the shepherds – telling others about you and living every day in the reality of your unchanging truths.