Lambs are cute. Sheep not so much. Lambs are soft and cuddly, sheep are big and rough.
Tonight a baby arrived in the world. To very little notice, frankly, considering the significance of why He is here. Even before He was born he was referred to as the Lamb. A lamb is a baby sheep. Lambs were used in the old law as sacrifices to God to atone for sin. A first-born. A lamb grows up to be a sheep. Babies grow up to be adults. God the Son came as a baby, the Lamb of God, just as we do.
The Angel of the Lord arrived in the fields where the shepherds were watching their sheep, and announced to the world, to the “sheep,” don’t be afraid. There is great news. And then a huge concert happened right there out in the sky above the wilderness. The first flash mob? Is that too irreverent?
The shepherds of that time were on the lower end of the totem pole, so to speak. They were always outside of the city, minding the sheep. I’m thinking there were lots more sheep there than people. Not a lot of folks to talk to. And they probably didn’t get to town much. Nobody else to take their place. But God, who doesn’t work in ways that we do, decided to announce the birth of His Son, to the shepherds. Not to the elders and rulers and Pharisees. He went straight to the people; the commonfolk. The less glamorous of the day, but people, still. And so other than Mary and Joseph and maybe a few people near the stable, the shepherds were first to know that the Christ child had arrived.
And they went to see what this was all about. And they knew this was from the Lord. And so the story begins. Actually, it continues, because it started way before this.
Next is the Fantastic Star.
