Our story begins with simple men. The Evangelist Luke recorded in his book the great proclamation of the birth of the son of God made by heavenly beings (Lr 2:1-14), but this great proclamation was made to the shepherds. Manual workers. Men whose hands and knees were insensitive because of the harshness of service; face cut by cold and auroras awake; Animal smell in clothes, hands and hair. Simple rural workers, Jewish workers, small and unknown in the midst of this already so stratified society, so full of social strata. And the big announcement is made to the peasants. Think about it, these men had no idea what was going to happen, they were just living their normal life: another night’s work, I imagine that after completing their tasks, entering the nightly vigil, they talked about the everyday affairs of a life without great adventures It was their daily life. They were not at the center of the world and were not looking for things that were too extraordinary for them, they were shepherds. They took care of the sheep.
Then the text tells us that on one of those normal nights an angel appeared to them. He says that a lot of light has invaded the stage: the glory of God has filled the meadow; It filled that cold field where they were and an angel appeared to them!
Have you ever seen an angel?
Imagine what it would be like to see an angel? How would you react? What would you say?
Angel is the Greek word for “messenger. ” They appear early in the Bible. Are your manifestations called? Angelofania?y, most of the time, moved from our humanity and manifested themselves as men, being able to even eat, drink, sleep and even fight. We have examples in the visit of the angels to Lot, oa Abraham and Sarah, or even in the struggle with Jacob, to be left alone in the book of Genesis. In the New Testament, the author of Hebrews encourages us to be hospitable and says that many have unknowingly already received angels in their homes (Heb 13:2).
But we also have astonishing descriptions of these heavenly beings. In Isaiah we see these beings called “seraphim,” who stand before the throne of God. Beings with 6 wings, 2 covering the face; 2 covering the feet and 2 to fly. They shouted, the text says: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies. The text says they had hands (they used their hands to bring coals), they had feet (with wings), they had faces and they had a voice; He says they stole too!The prophet Ezekiel, on the other hand, speaks of cherubs. They’re even stranger beings. In Ezekiel 10, we read that these beings had 4 wings and 4 faces: a cherub face; the face of man; lion’s face; Eagle face. His whole body, back, hands and wings were full of eyes; the tatalar of his wings made a loud noise. In Revelation 4 we read living beings who have 6 wings, full of eyes and cry restlessly: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty God”. The biblical text still speaks of “voices” like many waters; like thunder?.
We don’t know what the angel who appeared to the shepherds looked like, but we know they had PEUR. Not only was it unexpected, but it was a completely disruptive new experience. They were scared. But they heard what the angels had to say. Oh, that was of great importance. They played their lead role: the messengers, these angels brought a message from Heaven, brought a EVANGELIO, good news of great joy and said: It is that today you were born in the city of David, the SAVIOR, who is Christ the Lord.
Look at the angel ad! They talked about good news, a gospel, about a child born in the city of David, as promised in the scriptures, who is the Anointed One of God, Christ, as promised in the scriptures, and who is the Savior and Lord of men. . , as the scriptures promise, imagine how many centuries passed before this great day came, the heavenly beings who attend in God’s presence have tirelessly been able to descend to earth and proclaim before these simple witnesses the greatest event in the world. human history GOD CAME TO THE WORLD! GOD REVED HUMANITY; IF IT WAS HUMAN. They couldn’t hold back and did their thing: they loved it! Now they have appeared in the militias, thousands of thousands of people tearing apart the black sky and illuminating this field, this sunrise around Belem and they shouted: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HEIGHTS AND PEACE ON EARTH TO THE MEN GOD WANTS WELL!
Notice the message of the angels. It is not men of good will, but men whom God has wished to spread his grace to; Note that the initiative comes from God, he is the one who gives peace for the coming of his son.
When they announced these things, they sent the men to verify: Will they see the child in the village of David, wrapped in strips and lying in a manger?
They ran there. They left the scene of the angels, made no altars, and did not call people to see the place of angels; they were not full of curiosity and did not even think about enjoying the religious experience; they did not become gurus and guides of men, for they witnessed the power of God; they didn’t decide to write a best-selling book about “The Angel Comes,” but they left in a hurry!They ran to see Christ and met a little boy. They saw the incarnate God, the God who made himself. man, God who humbled himself and sought in our humanity, in our fall, in our sin, in our contradictions, in our alienation of himself, came after us and became like us, coming humbly, reversing the logic of this world.
The shepherds told the fathers of Jesus and all those who were there what they had seen and heard and now have returned home happy, glorifying God for what they have seen and heard, not because of the appearance of angels, but by man-God. they saw; it is no longer the cry of the angels, but of Christ, the Savior.
What a fantastic day for these men. They’d never be the same again. They heard the gospel, saw Jesus, saw the savior, and glorified God.
And they went home. They went back to their routines, they went back to raising sheep. Who knows, between one vigil and another at night, tell the story. Who knows, even after being old, near a crackling fire, telling his children and grandchildren what they saw and heard.
And this story continues, to this day, so many centuries later
Since the birth of Christ, the proclamation of angels has been repeated and we are told the story of how the creator of heaven and earth humbled himself and became man. How to learn from this story?
Some lessons from this great event:
1. La glory of the Lord will find us wherever we are. The shepherds met where they were. That’s how God finds us. Where we are, how we are, how we are. It will not be so much because of the overwhelming religious experience; it won’t even be in our frantic quest; the truth is that we will not experience happiness and glory away from God, understood by Augustine of Hippo in his beautiful prayer, recorded in his Confessions. Look what he senses:
In the afternoon did I love you, oh Beauty so old and so new? In the afternoon I loved you! Thirty years I was away from God. But, during this time, did something move in my heart? Was he restless, someone who was looking for happiness, was he looking for something that he had not found? But you felt sorry for me and everything changed, because you told me about yourself. But did you call me, yell at me, and did your cry break my deafness? ? Did you let me in myself? In order not to look inside, I hid. But you took me out of my hiding place and put me in front of me, so that I could see how unworthy I was, how misshapen, stained and dirty I was. You shone, you shone on me and you chased my blindness. You have exhaled its scent and inhaled. You found me where I was. Now I love you, I love you! I tasted you, and now I’m hungry and thirsty for you. You touched me and now I burn for your peace. “God begins to dwell in you when you begin to love him. ” I saw in me the Immutable, Strong and Bright Light! Who knows the truth knows this light, oh eternal truth! Real charity! You are my God! I sigh for you day and night since I met you. And then you showed me who you were. And you radiated your strength on me by giving me your love! I loved you late! I loved you late, oh beauty so old and so new! Too late I loved you! Here you were inside and I was outside
2. Angels watch over the glory of the Lord. Angels glorify God because God is worthy to be praised, worshiped, and glorified. These celestial beings assist in the presence of God and can do nothing but worship him tirelessly. We are called to be worshipers of God, as angels have been doing since they were created. The apostle Paul teaches us that we glorify God with our lives. When we interact with people and in our “eating and drinking”. In the morning when we order bread and coffee from the bakery, when we hug our children and husbands, when we exercise our vocation and work throughout the day, when we look with compassion on the needs of others, when we participate in life. of the city, when we tolerate the pain of those who suffer and act when we “love our neighbor. ” We also glorify God in the experience of worship, in the exercise of our spirituality when we gather to worship each Sunday. When we do this, we must have a very clear notion that the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit hears and receives the words of worship: even more, he sees our hearts. He knows how we stand before him. Do you know if our worship is a tradition, it is custom, it is hypocritical, it is empty? Or is it sincere, real, experiential? like that of the angels who knew GOD. Like them, moreover, we are called to know God, to contemplate him, to adore him and to glorify him. That is why we must love him, because we cannot worship God as the angels did if we do not love him.
3. The gospel is that God became man, was born in this world, and came to save the sinner. The angels said the good news is that the Savior was born. This shows our need for salvation. We need to be saved, we need to be saved, we need God’s action in our lives. The angels knew it and announced it, like these shepherds, we need the same announcement, we need a savior. Shall we run to Christ, as did the shepherds? Keep in mind that after running to Christ, they began to glorify God. We are called to glorify God, but we cannot do so without first meeting Christ. Remember that when your sins overwhelm you, do shame or defeat, you can run to the humble savior, the baby who came to save people from themselves, their sins, and their estrangement from God, to save their people from sins.
4. These shepherds have returned home. They went back to work, to grazing, to boring, cold and animal nights. Knowing the glory of God will not make us different from who we are. Redemption works like this: we reconnect with God and with our own humanity. We are sanctified to become better versions of who we already are. We are called to glorify God by doing what we do, being who we are, but now renewed in our minds, hearts, and wills. Now connected to the born baby and calls us to a new relationship with him and our neighbor. We’re the same but not the same. We don’t need to become priests, ministers, theologians, missionaries. Can we continue in the same vocation? if he glorifies God; we can follow our path, but now with the reference of a life turned to God, a life that returns every day in the same house but who sees God and glorifies him. This is what Christ’s Christmas does when Christ is born into our hearts.
By: Tiago Santos. © 2016 Let’s Go back to the Gospel. Original: Gloria in excelsis Deo?4 Learned in the Christmas story of Luke 2.
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