Good News...for All People! Mostra

Good News for All

This vision for unity is borne on the wings of the good news of the gospel. It’s good news and it’s for all the people. It’s the good news that Luke proclaimed, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11). This supernatural announcement is one of the most compelling signs that God intends for His gospel to reach all nations and cultures.

That the angel would appear to make this announcement of Jesus’ birth is big news by itself, but that this angel would choose shepherds in the fields as his target audience is even more noteworthy. This is significant for at least a couple of reasons. First, some say the shepherds in this culture would have been considered “outcasts of society,” occupying a lower rung on the class ladder of the day. Some suggest that these shepherds would have been separated from others in the Jewish community because of their inability to follow the Mosaic laws of cleanliness due to their dirty jobs. This would be right in line with the arrival of a Messiah who later would clearly identify with the “least of these” in society.

And there are still other ideas about why God chose these shepherds to receive the good news of Jesus’ coming. According to one scholar, the flocks of sheep at the location where these shepherds worked were likely reserved for sacrifice at the temple. So these shepherds had to keep their flocks safe from blemish or harm since their sheep would be used for temple sacrifice. If this was the case, then these were no ordinary shepherds. They were people who understood the importance of a sacrificial lamb in a very intimate and direct way.

Then the angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy.” This was something the world had been waiting for since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. Death, violent crime, and wickedness had entered the world. Mankind’s nature had moved from constant communion with God to the practice of greed and self-preservation. Satan had done a job on us with the fall. We knew we were messed up, but we couldn’t stop ourselves from doing wrong. Only God could do that. And so we began to anticipate a time when God would make things right and return us to a state of harmony with Him.