Advent Devotional Day 28: The Goodwill Offering

 

Luke 2:13-20

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

 

In the previous verses, an angel was talking with the shepherds, when suddenly, an entire congregation showed up in the sky.  Can you just imagine?  If one angel caused fear and trembling, what would a host of angels do to your heart?

The message first gave glory to God in the highest.  Glory all the way up to heaven where He dwells- and where, up until that time, Jesus had also dwelled. (Of course, Jesus is omnipresent, present everywhere, all the time. But at conception and birth, He also had a physical body.) The angels pronounce peace and goodwill to all men. Jesus, the Goodwill Offering, had come.  With Him, there was a tangible connection between heaven and Earth, God and man.

After this astounding visitation, the shepherds wasted no time saying, let’s go check this out! When they arrived in Bethlehem, they found the scene just as the angel had declared.  There was indeed a child lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes!  Not their usual lambs, but a human.  And with him were His mother and stepfather.

They came before Him in awe, with the words of the angels still ringing in their ears.  A Savior had been born! All that were told, marveled at the words.  And we should as well! It is marvelous that God would lower Himself to our standards- would come to earth as a Goodwill and peace offering for us.

The shepherds were stoked!  They told anybody and everybody who would listen what they had discovered.  God Most High, had become Jesus, the Lowly.

The shepherds returned to their flocks- but their lives were changed.  They would always remember the night that heaven came down- to them. 

Mary was left reflective.  She “stored up” all that the shepherds had told her and treasured them in her heart.  What had been her “little secret” had been now told to Joseph, Elizabeth, and now even to strangers!  Shepherds. The Good News was no longer hidden.  It had been revealed to Earth.  “Let Earth receive her King!”