“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger … Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying that was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” — Luke 2:11-12, 17-18, NKJV

It’s Christmas once again; Churches are presenting their programs and cantatas; and Preachers are preaching their “Christmas messages.” We know the Bible stories that surround the birth of Jesus and every year we celebrate this miraculous event, it is truly a wonderful time to be a Christian. 

I also like to look at the “rest of the story” as Paul Harvey was so fond of saying. We know about the coming of John the Baptist as the one who prepared the way; but do we think about the Shepherds? They were after all the first to be told of Jesus’ birth and the first to come and see the newborn Christ child. We know that they left the manger anxious to tell the good news of what they had seen; do we know whether or not they continued to tell their story long after the heavenly host had vanished? Were they still testifying of what they had experienced when Jesus began His ministry? We have no Biblical record that speaks to these questions and it is pure speculation to assume anything concerning the Shepherds.  

But … from my own personal experience, I find it extremely difficult to think that they could simply forget what happened that long-ago night; when the angels descended and gave them the Good News of a Savior born for all mankind. I find it hard to imagine that having had a personal encounter with the newborn Son of God, they would ever cease to tell their story.

Ah, but what about us? Have we ceased to tell others about our own encounter with Jesus? 

Maybe it was long ago and the angels didn’t appear in the night, but our story, like the Shepherds’, is still worth telling again and again. Somebody needs to hear it, and marvel at the words, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.”

Rev. Bobby Thornhill is a retired pastor.