Luke 2:8-20
“The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see–I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord…So the shepherds went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:10,16)
“He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he became a wandering preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things one usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of humankind’s progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of humanity on this earth as much as this One Solitary Life.”
(adapted from a sermon by Dr. James Allan Francis, 1926)
In what ways has the one solitary life of Jesus, born in Bethlehem, affected your life and the life of your family?
Loving, all-powerful God, like Mary, may I treasure these words and ponder them in my heart; then, renewed by your Spirit, may I be counted among the shepherds who glorified and praised your name for all they had heard and seen; for the sake of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Led By Love @ DPC 