Besides Jesus, Mary and Joseph, my favourite characters in the Christmas story are the Shepherds. There’s hardly a more unlikely group to be first recipients of the news that God’s Son was born on earth. Shepherds were the kind of blokes last on anyone’s list to share something valuable with. They had a reputation of being untrustworthy and unholy, which made them unwelcome by almost everyone. The Shepherds inclusion as first responders in the Christmas story, is what makes it so surprising. 

It was to this unlikely bunch God sent a mighty messenger from heaven, surrounded by the light of his glory and accompanied by an army of angelic warriors. The message announced was also unlikely to Shepherds who would have expected bad news from God. But it was good news of great joy for all people…even shepherds…even you and me! 

Christmas can be quite familiar to us, to the point we don’t expect anything unlikely to happen. Yet the first Christmas was unlike anything that’s happened before or since. Elizabeth Elliot wrote, A thousand times in history a baby has become a king, but only once in history did a King become a baby. 

The unlikely happened, and if you consider yourself unlikely to receive something good from God, then Christmas is for you. God came to this world in an unlikely way, and announced his coming to unlikely people, which kind of wrecks our protests of being an unlikely person that God would care about. It’s the whole point of Christmas. God is not like what most people think he is like, and we are not like those we think God would love. That’s the good news of great joy for all people. 

The King who is born is a Saviour. As unlikely at it seems, God came to rescue us from fear, loneliness, boredom, hatred, addictions, empty pursuits, dead end streets, broken dreams, despair, guilt and annual cycles of regret. Jesus came to turn our lives around, from the inside out. He came to wipe the slate clean, to start again in a new relationship with him. There is no greater Christmas gift than to receive the King who was born, and all the benefits of walking with God everyday as his child. 

What we thought was unlikely, is actually the most likely thing when we experience it. It’s what we were created for and born to live. The God shaped hole can be filled, and the life we long for can be lived. We finally discover that we were made to be like Jesus, made in the image of God, made to be filled with his love and to fulfill his great purpose. 

May you know the blessing and love of Jesus this Christmas, and in 2025 you are so welcome to come worship Jesus with us and share his love in our neighbourhood.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours, Marty and Leanne Luke