Good News For All

Helen Francis

Recently, the book I'm reading focussed on words from some of the carols and, despite having heard them repeated every year for decades, something new jumped out at me. So I thought I'd share it.

The carol in question was "While Shepherds watched". It's the gospel account from Luke 2:8-12. I doubt there'll be anyone reading this who hasn't heard it and/or sung it (or even acted it!). It is the angel witnessing to shepherds the good news that the saviour of the world has just been born. Under the title "Good News for Everyone" the Message bible puts it like this:

There were shepherds camping in the neighbourhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Saviour has just been born in David’s town, a Saviour who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:8-12 (MSG)

Good news for everyone, all mankind - that's how I have thought about it and read it and, although that's not wrong, what hit me when I read the NIV and King James versions of the scripture were two words that are missing in the Message version:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Luke 2:8-12 (NIV)

Did you spot them? Those two words, repeated in the passage, are "to you".

Shepherds were usually young lads who hadn't come of age or those on the fringes who were somehow less important. Remember the story of David being chosen as King from amongst Jesse's sons?

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”
1 Samuel 16: 6-7, 10-11

Being the youngest and the shepherd meant such a low status that his father hadn't even bothered to call David to join them. He'd been automatically discounted!

The angel in Luke stresses twice that the shepherds are not discounted from this glorious event of salvation, it is for them, and in a wonderful moment of divine irony they are the very first witnesses to the low status birth of Jesus: an often discounted "Shepherd" that had come to save the world.

However overlooked and discounted we may feel at times, it’s good to remember the "to you" of Luke’s account. Jesus is a personal saviour, who cares about us individually and looks on our heart not our status. When everyone else looks away, he does not. He invites us to come and see him.