What about those angels?!
Angels don’t show up a lot in the Bible, but every time they are recorded arriving they have to tell the person they are visiting to not be afraid. I made that into a game when my kids were young and I read aloud from the Bible to them a lot.
Every time an angel showed up in the story and I read, “And the angel said -“, I would pause and the kids would yell out, “Do not be afraid!” I know we were reading from an English translation, but that is usually exactly what the angel says!
This makes me think that various representations I have seen of the MULTITUDE of angels that showed up to the shepherds have been quite inadequate. This was no starched choir. And they left no doubt about their message. The shepherds went straight to Bethlehem and in a hurry!
It also really makes me wonder why there was not a huge crowd at the temple when they took baby Jesus there about a month later (according to Leviticus 12:6-8). At least there is no mention of it in the narrative. After all, the shepherds made everything widely known!
The very short story of Jesus as a 12 year old boy really makes me want to know more about his childhood. We can only guess. Being his parents had to be the oddest mixture of hard and easy. Hard knowing how unique he was and feeling a huge responsibility for keeping an eye on God’s son. Easy in that he was a perfect child.
I started a new Bible News Press series for Luke and I covered the temple incident in Lost 12 Year Old Boy Returned to Parents After 3 Day Absence.
If you want to listen to me read Luke 2, it is in the recording.
