The First Worshippers
The First Worshippers
General Shaw Clifton
Scripture: Luke 2:8-20; 9:51-56; Job 38:6-7
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night (Luke 2;8).
Mark’s Gospel records nothing at all of the birth of Jesus. John’s Gospel teaches us that Christ pre-existed the whole of creation, as also the epistles of Paul, and offers no data of a supernatural birth. In contrast, Matthew and Luke offer detailed narratives and it on these that we focus in the season of Advent. We note that their accounts have much in common: the birth at Bethlehem; supernatural signs attending the event; mentions of both Mary and Joseph; the extraordinary miraculous nature of our Lord’s birth; the home life of his family in Nazareth.
All of that said, we notice the divergent nature of Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts: Matthew writes of the Magi, the star, the murder of the innocent infants, and the holy family’s flight into Egypt; Luke mentions none of these aspects, but records instead the appearance of the angel to the shepherds, the change of the angelic host, the locating of the baby in the stable straw, the visit of Mary and Joseph to the temple in Jerusalem, and the words uttered by the aged Simeon and Anna. The markedly different Advent content of the two gospels suggests that verbal narratives of contrasting content were in circulation well before either Luke or Matthew compiled their written material. We are blessed that many centuries later we have access to both traditions. I am treating the shepherds as the first worshippers to kneel before the infant Jesus. Some traditional paintings depict both shepherds and Magi being present together after the birth of, but there is no scriptural evidence of that.
What is undeniable is that both Matthew and Luke see the hand of God in all of the events they record for us. We note that Luke makes several references to the Holy Spirit being at work to achieve God’s purposes and the first of these can be found in Luke 1:35 in the words of Gabriel to Mary (see also Luke 3:22; 4:1; 4:14, 18). Especially to be noted is that the divine voice of the Spirit is then explicitly combined with human obedience to make the outcome part of God’s intention. All of that is still true today and deserves to be a central theme of the Advent season.
Before we consider the theme of worship, let us be bold and bring into sharper focus by pondering its opposite, namely the rejection of the Savior.
Rejection
Luke 9:51-56 describes Jesus entering a Samaritan village. Note the setting of this account in the larger scheme of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus has completed the major part of His three years ministry and is travelling south again to Jerusalem through Samaria and Judea (see Luke 9:51-18:14). For centuries Samaritans and Jews had been at odds, something John’s Gospel makes clear in the remarkable encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman in the town of Sychar (John 4:1-42). Luke records that some of the disciples went ahead of Jesus to make preparations in the unnamed Samaritan village. It appears that hospitality was refused. The disciples, James and John, reacted with fury and urged that divine retribution be invoked. Jesus would not hear of it. Perhaps the silent turning away of the Lord was more tragic for the villagers than if fire had descended as the disciples wished. Silent rejection of the Lord is always a tragedy.
Worship
Luke is at pains to record that Jesus arrived in humble style. He came without pomp or ceremony into the midst of humble people in humble circumstances. It was shepherds in a field who first were told of the Savior’s birth. Their duties toward their flocks left them little time to worship in the temple, and the rest of Judaism saw them, for this reason, as inferior. How wonderful then that the angel appeared first to them, the glory of the Lord shining all around them. Echoing the words of Job 38:6-7, “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.”
A great company of heavenly beings appeared with the angel to proclaim glory to God and also peace to those God favors. No surprise then that, apparently without delay, the shepherds hurried back to Bethlehem. There they found Joseph and Mary. They also found Jesus, lying in a manger bed. Thereafter they spread the news of His birth and repeated what the angel had told them about Him. It is not difficult to imagine their reports being repeated wildly again and again, perhaps eventually reaching Luke with his gift for writing things down in and orderly account and as faithfully as he could, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses (Luke 1;1-4).
The account by Luke of these first worshippers is infinitely precious. During the Advent season let us seek for ourselves the openness they displayed to heavenly things and their readiness to “go and see.” Let us also celebrate the One they found, for as the words of the hymnwriter, Edward Henry Joy, say: “You need not fear disappointment” (The Salvation Army Song Book 427, verse 3). Finally, let us too return everyday lives “glorifying and praising God” (Luke 2:20).
Excerpt from Sacred Risk by General Shaw Clifton. Published by The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 2021. All rights reserved.
Our Corporate Prayer
Dear Lord, Help us not to be like those who resisted Your Son and so risked losing everything. Rather, let us be like the shepherds, who when they heard the good news of Jesus' birth rushed to find Him and when they did, they knelt to worship Him. I want to worship You now like it is the first time I saw You, like I was one of the shepherds on that night. Let me love You with a fresh love, with a sense of wonder at the thought that You came here to save me. I pray this in the name of You who came to be my Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen
Reaching Out to Others
In many of our Salvation Army centers we have Christmas parties, distribution of Christmas gifts and food parcels, sharing in nursing homes and taking food and gifts to shut-ins. Are you involved in this?
Notable Quotables
“The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.” —Ralph Washington Sockman
Close now with "The Carol of the Bells."