Advent Trail December 21st - Luke 2:9-10

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”. (Luke 2:9-10)

In Luke’s account of the Christmas story, an angel of the Lord has twice already appeared to people with an unexpected message from God (Luke 1:13,30) and now it’s the shepherds’ turn. On this occasion, the angel was accompanied by a visible manifestation of God’s glory, and that was particularly appropriate at the birth of Jesus: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory...” (John 1:14).

Simply seeing an angel had caused Zechariah to be “gripped with fear” (Luke 1:12) so it’s not surprising that the shepherds were terrified when the splendour of the Lord blazed around them. Awe and wonder are the right and proper reaction to the realisation that we are in the presence of the holy and almighty God (Isaiah 6:1-5; Rev.1:16-17). Yet, just as with Zechariah and Mary, the angel speaks reassuringly, telling the shepherds that they don’t need to be afraid.

For the revelation of God’s glory is “good news of great joy that will be for all the people”. The content of the good news is spelled out in the next verse but before going on to consider that, we do well to pause and share the shepherds’ awe at what was taking place. The deeper our realisation of the glory and wonder of the Christmas message then the greater will be the depth of our joy.