A Sign for the Rejects
This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12)
A sign is defined as a gesture or object pointing beyond itself to convey a message.
The angel appearing to the shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem announced the birth of a savior who would be good news for all people. As I pointed out in a previous devotional, shepherds were social outcasts in Israel. Their occupation made them unclean. They were labeled “sinners.”
And yet, the good news of the birth of Jesus came first to these lowly, social outcasts. (I might add that it also came to Gentile pagan astrologers from Persia.)
I can only imagine the thoughts and emotions filling the hearts and minds of these shepherds. How could this savior be for them? How could the Messiah even begin to relate to their questionable social status?
I believe it was for this reason that the angel promised the shepherds a sign, and I want you to notice exactly what the angel said - “This will be a sign to you.”
And what was that sign for these poor, unclean, despised shepherds? Their savior was wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feed trough.
The birth of Jesus is a sign for all people, and the gospel of Jesus Christ really is good news for the rejects, outcasts, and despised in our world.
In Christ,
Dan
‘Tis the season to lift up the lowly and despised.
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