I am always amazed and astonished by the Biblical story of the birth of Christ in Luke 2:1–39. I love to read it at Christmastime, plus I find myself reading it several other times each year. I love that account of Mary and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem for the birth of the Christ Child. Humanly speaking, I am saddened that the birth of our Lord—the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Creator of the universe—took place in a manger and not in a grand and gorgeous palace. I can intellectually appreciate the role that prophecy played in that location, but my heart hurts because of the place that the world had for Him.

It is for that reason that I tend to look at Luke’s account of this event as a masterful three-act drama that culminates with the response by the shepherds to the angelic pronouncement of the birth of Christ. Imagine with me the unfolding of this magnificent production. (more…)