Linus and the Shepherds

    "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"
     This is the cry of exasperation given by Charlie Brown.  His good friend Linus steps forward, calls for lights and begins to read the Christmas account of the Shepherds from the Gospel of Luke.  At the end, Linus declares, "That is what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."
     Clever, however, if you had to sum up the meaning of Christmas in a sentence after reading the Shepherd account, what would you say? 
    There is the story of shepherds, an angelic announcement, the visitation of the shepherds to see the Christ child.  How does this add up to the meaning of Christmas?
     In New Testament times, shepherds were outcasts.  These are the men who could find no work, took a low paying job, did this job half-hearted, and lived a life with little hope.  They needed everything and received nothing.  They had earned nothing from life and deserved little.  Most lived out their lives drinking and hiding in the fields, in an existence which was going no where.
     When God, the Father, announces the birth of His Son, it is not to Kings, to the rich, those people who thought they had no need.  It was to those who needed grace, to people who needed hope, who's only chance at life was an undeserved gift.  The announcement to the shepherds is a picture, of a God who gives what is not earned, who comes to provide a life that is not deserved, who places Himself in the form a child who take on the sins of all those who believe in Him.  He comes to anyone who can relate to the shepherds.  The only gift the shepherds can give is their worship, to see the worth of the one in the manger.  The angels direct them and they freely go to His birthplace and accept.
     Christmas is the realization each person comes before God not on the merit of their own efforts, but on the reception of a gift.  You may not be exactly in the place of a shepherd in terms of job and status, but before God your need is the same.  Here is the one with the answers, who gives freely to you if you will only recognize His worth.
     And that is what Christmas is all about.

Linus Video