Encounter
In the rhythms of everyday life, it is easy to miss the things that are most important and beautiful.
1.
What do you think prevents us from noticing extraordinary things in our day-to-day lives?
As we start our journey with Luke, we begin with his record of Jesus’ birth: the account of the first Christmas.
Read Luke 2:1-3
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
Luke is a doctor who wrote an ‘orderly account’ of Jesus’ life by carefully gathering the stories of eyewitnesses.
2.
What do verses 1 - 3 suggest about the kind of account Luke is writing?
Luke is writing real history. His account begins with a young couple named Mary and Joseph.
They are ordinary. Normal people, living in an unimportant town, under Roman rule.
They also face challenges. Mary is not yet married but has been told by an angelic messenger that she will give birth to the Son of God (see Luke 1:35). Being pregnant and unmarried in that culture would have been very shameful. Moreover, the Romans have now imposed a census on the people. Joseph and the heavily pregnant Mary are forced to make a 90-mile journey to Bethlehem.
Read Luke 2:4-7
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Mary is likely one of the eyewitnesses that Luke spoke with.
3.
Look through verses 4 - 7 and imagine you are Mary. How might you be feeling as you travel and then give birth?
Read Luke 2:8-15
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Luke draws our attention to a group of shepherds. Shepherds lived on the margins. They were often poor, seen as non-religious, and had a reputation for being thieves. Yet it is to these men, in the dark of night, that a crowd of angels announce the birth of a saviour from God: the birth of Jesus.
Luke was writing to a non-Jewish audience. Talk of angels would have sounded as strange to them as it may do for us. Yet Luke does not shy away from recounting events that were clearly supernatural.
4.
What do the shepherds see and hear? Why do you think they respond in the way they do?
The scope of the angels’ announcement is huge. The saviour will bring joy to ‘all the people’. Yet the shepherds receive this personal message: he has been born ‘to you’.
5.
Consider the kind of people the shepherds were. What does it suggest about God, that he would announce the arrival of his saviour to them before anyone else?
Going about their normal lives, the shepherds encounter a reality bigger than themselves: the arrival of a ‘saviour’ who will bring widespread joy.
The angels call this saviour ‘the Messiah’. It is the name for a promised king that God’s people had been waiting for. Their scriptures were full of promises about how this figure would come to rescue and restore them.
One of these promises was written by a prophet called Micah. He spoke of this Messiah coming from the town Mary has just given birth in: Bethlehem.
Read what he says:
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are the smallest town in Judah. Your family is almost too small to count, but the “Ruler of Israel” will come from you to rule for me. His beginnings are from ancient times, from long, long ago.
3 The Lord will let his people be defeated until the woman gives birth to her child, the promised king. Then the rest of his brothers will come back to join the people of Israel.
4 He will begin to rule Israel in the power of the Lord. Like a shepherd, he will lead his people in the wonderful name of the Lord his God. And they will live in safety because then his greatness will be known all over the world.
5 He will bring a time of peace.
Micah 5 (ERV)
6.
What does Micah say the Messiah will be like?
7.
In Luke’s account, what will be the ‘sign’ that the shepherds have found the Messiah? What does this ‘sign’ suggest about the kind of saviour Jesus might be?
Jesus is the strong and powerful Messiah. He is ‘the Lord’ (verse 11), a title given to God himself. Yet he comes as a helpless baby into the mess, dirt, and difficulty of life
As Jesus the Messiah comes in vulnerability to a broken world, it is ‘good news that will cause great joy for all the people’. God has come close to help and to heal his people, a help and healing that we will see as we read through Luke’s account.
Read Luke 2:16-20
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
8.
Why do you think the shepherds are no longer fearful, but joyful?
9.
Imagine you are Mary. The shepherds arrive, sharing the angels’ announcement about your new baby. What might you be ‘treasuring’ and ‘pondering’?
Just like the shepherds, amid her struggles Mary has encountered a bigger reality. Could it be that this story of hope, joy, and salvation is really coming true?
Process Together
Luke ends this section by showing a range of responses to Jesus’ birth.
Mary ponders these things. The shepherds erupt in praise. People who hear are amazed. What about you?
10.
What opinions do you have about Jesus? How have you come to those conclusions?
Mary and the shepherds lived ordinary and often difficult lives. Yet they encounter something extraordinary. Their experiences show them something: they are part of a bigger story. A story of hope and joy. A story centred on Jesus.
Not everyone has experienced angelic revelation. But many people’s circumstances have led them to wonder whether this bigger story of hope might be true.
11.
Have your own circumstances ever prompted you to want God to be real?
Whoever you are, Luke invites you to experience his account of Jesus, and, like Mary, to ponder these things for yourself.