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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.\xa0 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. (Luke 2:16-21)

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The heavenly messenger angels come to the shepherds, but then the shepherds become the messengers.\xa0 Would Mary and Joseph have known there were angels blazing forth in glorious praise of their son out in the dark hill country of Judea?\xa0 No.\xa0 But the shepherds told them.\xa0 Would the people of Bethlehem and the surrounding country have known about the angel visit or the baby born as heir of David, the Lord Messiah and Sviour of them all?\xa0 No.\xa0 But the shepherds told them.

God sent angels to the lowliest of the low.\xa0 The unclean ones who, up until that point, were unable to be part of the people of God.\xa0 Unable to visit the temple.\xa0 Unable to receive forgiveness.\xa0 Unable to celebrate and sing with the festive throng.\xa0

But all of a sudden, the shepherds were at the very heart of things.\xa0 They had a place, a purpose in the story and salvation of God: they were, in fact, the only ones who got to be part of the festive song!\xa0 And as the angels told them, so they saw and believed: this saviour, this sacrificial lamb without blemish, wrapped in cloths in their manger was for them.\xa0 Born to them.\xa0 The Messiah was given to them!\xa0 Forgiveness, salvation, and the kingdom of God had come to them!\xa0 What a blessing!

Unlike the world that excluded them, they excluded no one as they burst out to spread the good news of great joy for all the people.\xa0 And all those people were amazed.\xa0 Amazed at the news and probably a little amazed at the messengers too.\xa0

In Luke\u2019s gospel there\u2019s no Magi from the East carrying gifts fit for a King.\xa0 The only treasure is the gift the shepherds brought: a message of angels, a response of joy.\xa0 These were the things Mary treasured up in her heart and pondered.\xa0

As the shepherds return, they glorify and praise God for what they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.\xa0 If you remember back to last Sunday\u2019s sermon on 1 Samuel 3\u2014isn\u2019t it striking that the word of the Lord came through angels to those with the eyes to see and the ears to hear?\xa0

No one in the little town of Bethlehem had room in their busy and reputable lives to offer costly hospitality to social outcasts, but the shepherds did.\xa0 Perhaps no one in the little town of Bethlehem were looking or listening for God either, but the shepherds were.\xa0 Their eyes were open and they saw angels and the saviour of the world right there in their own little manger!\xa0 Their ears were open and they heard the good news proclaimed to them!

It\u2019s just these sorts of folks with open eyes and open ears who God speaks to and sends out into the rest of the world with the treasures of his good news.\xa0 Today and tomorrow\u2014Christmas day and eve\u2014may your eyes and ears also be open and attentive to the glorious treasures of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Saviour!

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