What was Jesus Like as a Boy?

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Most images of this event in Luke 2 can be somewhat misleading. The boy Jesus came to learn, not to teach.

“And the child (Jesus) grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:40-52)

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God’s Word is the greatest treasure on earth. There is nothing on earth that can give you the blessings that God’s word can give. God had the Holy Bible written to show us what He has done to save us, so that we might trust in Him and be saved through that faith. God Himself works through His Word to bring you forgiveness and salvation. Nothing else in all the world can save you from sin and death and give you eternal life in God’s paradise. That is why God’s Word is such a great treasure.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

God’s Word is such a treasure that God has made sure that from the time that Moses wrote the first five books about 3,500 years ago until now, the Holy Bible has been preserved so that at all times in history God’s people could hear it or read it and learn that God is our loving Father and creator and redeemer. God’s Word first shows us that we are all sinners, descended from Adam and Eve, and we would all be under God’s condemnation, but for God’s mercy. This is likely why more people do not appreciate this great treasure. Sinners don’t like to be reminded of the truth of our sin. We like to think we are better than we are, and more holy. The truth, however, is that we are rebellious sinners, and we all desperately need God to save us from death, which is the condemnation of sin. Every person who ever lived on earth before 1903 has died. That includes the one man who never sinned nor deserved death, but who gave His life to redeem us all from the curse of sin. That man is Jesus. We need to hear the truth of our sin, no matter if we want to or not. If we deny the truth of our sin, then we will deny the blessings God has provided for us in Jesus. But, as Saint John wrote, “If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

God became incarnate as a man to redeem sinners from sin and death.

God’s Word does not only tell us how bad we are, and how much we need a savior, but it also shows us what God has done through Jesus to rescue and redeem us from the consequences of our sin. God, in His essence, is a Spirit, and He is eternal and cannot die. In order for Him to provide for our redemption the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as a baby who grew into a man. He is like us in every way, except without sin. Jesus had to be a man so that He could not only keep and fulfill God’s Law, but so that He could offer His life in payment for the lives of all of us sinners. We might not know any of this, except for the fact that God had it written down and preserved for us to hear and read and know, so that we may be saved.

The Bible was not just written for you and me. God also had it written and preserved for Jesus, also. When Jesus read the Bible it was a little different! The Bible Jesus read was not different than what we read today, but Jesus is a little different than us because He is holy and sinless. Also, because the Bible is all about Jesus, it affected Him a little differently. Jesus once told the Pharisees, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

In His state of humiliation, Jesus did not remember being equal with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. He had to learn about God the same way we do – by reading the Holy Bible. Jesus also had to trust that the Bible is God’s Word, and is completely true. This was especially important when Jesus was dying on the cross. When He was suffering the Father’s wrath for the sins of the world, He only had to rely on God’s promises in the Holy Scriptures that this was God’s will, and that everything He was doing would work out for the glory of God, and the salvation of the human race.

God’s Law is good and righteous but it condemns sinners. Jesus had no sin and was not condemned by God’s Law.

God’s Law did not condemn Jesus – because He did not inherit the corruption of sin from His mother, and He committed no sin in His life. Jesus happily obeyed God’s Law because as the Son of God, the Commandments of God completely fit with His holy nature. Where we would naturally rebel against God’s commands, Jesus naturally obeyed God’s commands, and was happy to do so. We, too should be happy to obey God’s commands, because they are good and right and beneficial to each one of us and to our neighbors, but because we are corrupted by sin, we don’t always do so.

Also, Jesus had a slightly different perspective concerning the salvation promised for us. Jesus did not need salvation from sin, since He had no inherited sin. Also, because Jesus was sinless in everything He did, He was not condemned by God’s Law. However, Jesus was the one sent from God to pay the price for the salvation of us sinners. Though, because the price was the sacrifice of His life, the promise of salvation which gives us great hope and comfort was a death sentence for Jesus, if He was willing to endure it. Jesus would need to trust in God the Father to rescue Him from death if He accepted the Father’s will and desire that He would give His life in exchange for our forgiveness and salvation. The Father did not force Jesus to give up His life, and suffer and die for sinners, but because it was the Father’s will that Jesus would redeem us from our sins, then Jesus was willing to please the Father and do what was needed to save us from our sins – including innocently suffering crucifixion and God’s wrath over our sins, and dying to pay the price for sin.

Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem every year for the feast of the Passover. He doesn’t tell us if Jesus went with them also, but, whether He did nor not, the year he turned 12 was special. He had attained a certain level of maturity, and was likely allowed a little more freedom and autonomy than before. I’m sure it helped that Jesus was perfectly obedient and sinless, because Joseph and Mary knew they could trust Him to do what He ought to do. Though, on this occasion, what Jesus rightly did, was not particularly what they expected Him to do.

It is likely that Jesus came to learn about God’s mercy for His people in the events of the Passover.

Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus and the teachers talked about, but an obvious topic of conversation would have been the Passover, and its meaning for Israel, and for the Messiah. He might have asked something like, “What was the Passover all about?” They would have told Him, “The Passover was the salvation of the people of Israel. God had decreed that the firstborn in every household of Egypt would die. However, among the Israelites, God would accept a substitute – a lamb – who would be sacrificed instead of the firstborn. The substitute, the lamb, would die, so that the firstborn child would live. This showed God’s mercy and love.” Jesus would have learned that it is good and right to love God with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. God is a just and righteous God, but He is also merciful and forgiving to sinners, and loves them. Because Jesus is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He also felt the same way about sinners, even as a boy, and even later as a man.

If people sin against you, you likely would want revenge, or at least just punishment. You are not likely to suffer and die for the people who betrayed you, or hurt you, or murdered you. But Jesus is different.

When the twelve year old Jesus was talking with the teachers in the temple, He might also have asked what the events of the Passover had to do with the Messiah. If they didn’t have a quick answer, Jesus likely would have quoted other Scriptures which would have led them to the correct answer. “Why does Isaiah write, ‘Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’”? Something like this is likely why the teachers were impressed with the questions that Jesus asked. The events of the Passover were a prophetic type of how the Messiah would come and save the world from the condemnation of their sins. The Messiah would offer His life in place of all people – like a substitutionary sacrificial lamb, so that He would take the punishment of death, and so all people would have forgiveness. Not everyone would receive the benefits of this forgiveness, only those who believe, but the forgiveness was there for everyone, if they wanted it.

What this meant for Jesus was that He was the sacrificial lamb of God who was going to have to offer His life to God the Father in place of all sinners in the world, so that He would bear the punishment for our sin, so that we would be forgiven and live. The amazing thing about the love that Jesus had for God the Father, is that when Jesus realized that He would have to endure God’s wrath for all the sins of the world, and die for wicked, rebellious sinners like all the rest of us, Jesus did not reject this plan, but agreed to do it because it was God’s Will. Jesus was willing to suffer and die as an innocent lamb to pay for the sins of every wicked sinner who ever was conceived on earth, and whoever would be conceived until the last day. This is the great love that God has for us – that He would live as a man in a sinful world, and still die to save sinners!

Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The Word of God brings all this to us, but that is not the only treasure that God gives us. God also combines His holy Word with water in Holy Baptism to wash away our sins and to give us a new birth as God’s beloved children. Jesus also combines His holy Word with bread and wine to give each one of us His body and blood which he sacrificed to pay for our sins. Just as the Israelites in Moses’ day ate the sacrificial lamb who saved the firstborn from the Angel of Death, and thus received the blessings of that sacrifice, Jesus offers us His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper that we may receive the blessings of His sacrifice. These blessings include the forgiveness of sins, and victory over sin and death. Jesus shares these treasures with us to make us His children and keep us in the faith until he comes to take all His children to His heavenly kingdom where we will live forever in holiness with Jesus.

When Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem He told them that He had to be doing His Father’s business, but Jesus also submitted to His earthly parents and obeyed them like a good and holy child. All this Jesus did out of love for you, so that you may know the love of God, and trust in Jesus to save you from your sins. What a great treasure we have here today. May you treasure God’s Word as the most valuable thing on earth, and trust in Jesus to save you from your sins and give you everlasting life.

Jesus is always doing His Father’s Business

500th Anniversary of the Reformation

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses on indulgences Sculpture from the Creation Museum

October 31, 2017 is the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther posting the 95 theses on Indulgences in Wittenberg, Germany. This event sparked the Lutheran Reformation. Luther did not intend to break away from the catholic church. In fact, Luther never broke away from the church, but instead, the Roman Catholic church broke away from its Scriptural foundations and wrongly declared Luther a heretic and excommunicated him.

The Augsburg Confession, and all the confessions in the Book of Concord (Concordia), are clear that the Lutheran doctrine is not only pure Biblical doctrine, but is also consistent with the true orthodox teachings of Christians throughout history. Just as in Biblical times, when the majority of the church decides to take a path away from God, the true believers must break away to keep the truth going. Or, as in the case of the Babylonian Captivity, God protects His faithful people, and takes the rest away, and destroys them.

The Word of God is life and salvation for all who believe.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther was intending to have a discussion of the anti-Scriptural abuses in the practice of selling and offering indulgences. The Pope took this as an attack on the financial aspect of the church, and condemned Luther for reasons other than his doctrine. Pope Leo X was more interested in power and wealth than doctrine. The main problem with this is that neither power nor wealth saves people. The church ought to be about how Jesus saves us from our sins, by God’s grace through faith, not how rich and powerful the Church can be. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic church didn’t learn the right lesson, and nearly all the abuses that Martin Luther wrote against are still part of Catholic practice, including veneration of the saints (including the near deification of the blessed virgin mother of our Lord), false teachings on purgatory and good works, and indulgences. In the past 500 years the price of indulgences has been reduced, but the practice of offering indulgences is still practiced in the Roman Catholic church.

Those Lutherans who are still faithful to the Holy Scriptures and to the Lutheran Confessions (Concordia) maintain the same faith as Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, King David, Isaiah and all the prophets, the Twelve Apostles, Saint Paul, and all faithful believers of all time (including those who remain faithful believers in the Roman Catholic Church). We believe that Christ’s Church will continue to the end wherever there are believers, as Scripture promises.

“Now to him (God, the Father) who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

The True Power of God’s Word

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The Power of God’s Word is seen when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by simply saying, “Lazarus, come out.” (John 11)

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” 
(Isaiah 55:10-11)

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Words are very often seen as weak, malleable things that can be twisted and turned into unrecognizable things bearing little resemblance to their original meaning. You know it is bad when even in literature words are disparaged. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius sees Hamlet reading a book and asks, “What do you read, my lord?” and Hamlet answers, “Words, words, words.” Which is to say, the content of the words doesn’t matter – they are just words.

The problem isn’t with words themselves. When used properly, words can be used for great things even in this sinful world. The problem is that sinful people misuse words. Sinners use words to lie, cheat, and twist and spin the truth. Even when people speak the truth, people can ignore good words. This all makes words seem weak and ineffective.

All people are descended from Adam and Eve. God created one race of people and two sexes. There still remains one race and two sexes.

For example, in the beginning God created one race of people and two genders – male and female. Today people twist words to say that there are many races and many genders. Some people even say that they are a different gender than what God created them to be. Despite what people say, there is still one human race, and only male and female genders. What people say does not change the reality of the world, it just makes people look foolish, and it makes us distrust words.

Sinners go to great lengths to justify their sin to themselves. Thieves say, “I didn’t steal that thing which didn’t belong to me. I just ‘borrowed’ it.” Or adulterers say, “I didn’t cheat or betray my wife (or husband, as the case may be), it was true love.” Well, “love” is a powerful word. Who can be against “love”? But when “love” is used to justify even the worst kind of betrayal or all kinds of sexual perversions, then it is just a “word”.

Jesus taught God’s Word, and many people heard it and were saved, but some did not believe and were condemned.

Since words are so weak and untrustworthy, you have to wonder why God uses words as a primary Means of Grace – that is, the means by which God delivers to you the salvation that Jesus won for you in His life and death. If words are so weak, can you really trust God’s Word either? That is the wrong question. It needs to be asked, but it is the wrong question. Of course you can trust God’s Word, as long as it truly comes from God. The Holy Scriptures are the true Word of God. A better question to ask is why do people misuse words so much? It is because God relies so much on His Word that the devil tempts us to lie and otherwise misuse words so that we don’t even trust the Word of God.

God does not misuse words. God does not lie or twist the truth when He speaks. God’s Word can be trusted and relied upon to be true at all times and in all places. More than that, God’s Word has power to do what it says. In Isaiah 55, God tells us, “My Word goes out from my mouth (and) will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, and the light was good.

We see this very clearly in the creation account in Genesis 1. On Day One God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, and the light was good. Likewise, on each of the first six days of creation, God created the universe by speaking it into existence, and ordering it according to His will. God’s Word has power, and it is good, as God is good. When people speak it does not change the reality of the world, but when God speaks, He can change the world.
 
Even when Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate the forbidden fruit, God came to them that very day and had mercy on them and in cursing the serpent, God promised to send an offspring of the woman to crush the head of the serpent, and bring salvation to people. God kept His promise, and Jesus came as the Son of God to fulfill the law in our place, and to pay the price for our sin, which is death. In doing this, Jesus won our forgiveness and eternal salvation. God’s promises are not like the promises of wicked and devious sinners. God’s promises can be trusted.

God remembered His promise to Adam and Eve,and saved Noah and his family from the great flood.

When God determined to destroy the world in the days of Noah, He remembered His promise to Adam and Eve and spared Noah and his three sons, and each man’s wife, along with two of every kind of animal on the surface of the earth. Also, later when the Israelites turned away from God to idols, though God sent the Assyrians to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Babylonians to destroy Judah, He saved a remnant of the Judahites (or Jews, as they came to be known) so that His promise could be fulfilled, and the savior of the world would be born from their descendants.

One day when Jesus had entered the city of Capernaum (Matthew 8:5-13), a centurion came to Him and asked Him to heal his servant who was paralyzed and suffering. Jesus said, “I will go and heal him.” The centurion said to Jesus, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one,’Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Jesus was astonished at the faith of the centurion, and said, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant has healed at that very hour. A centurion’s word can command his soldiers and servants, but the Word of Jesus can command healing and bring life where there is death. Jesus also raised Lazarus from the dead by calling out to his grave, “Lazarus come out.” At the word of Jesus, Lazarus was given life after being dead four days. (John 11)

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.

This is why John writes that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. Jesus is not only the fulfillment of God’s promises to send a savior into the world, but Jesus is God, Himself, become incarnate into our flesh to take away the guilt of our sins and give us salvation and eternal life. Because Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, you can trust God’s Word more than anything else in this world. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

God’s Word is eternal, and God will never forget or take away his promised forgiveness and salvation. Psalm 105:8 says, “(The Lord our God) remembers His covenant forever, the word He commanded, for a thousand generations.” Isaiah (40:8) prophesies, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” So when God’s Word says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” You can know that Jesus will save you, because he remembers and keeps His promises forever.

God’s Word is freely spread among all people, like a farmer throwing seed all over his land so that everyone who believes in Jesus will be saved.

God’s Word is a means of grace. That is to say, God’s Word is a delivery vehicle for our forgiveness and salvation. We can’t get to God to get forgiveness and salvation from God, but God comes to us where we are in His Word and Sacraments. In the words Christ’s Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23), God’s Word is a farmer who brings the seed which gives us salvation. Like the farmer, God spreads His Word freely, to all people, that it may accomplish salvation. As the seed is generously spread on all the different soils on the farm, so God’s Word goes throughout all the world so that it may bring forgiveness and salvation to all who believe.

I wondered above why God would use something as weak as words to bring to us our salvation, but it is by God’s grace that He uses words to bring this great treasure to us here today. Because words are weak they can be rejected. Anyone who doesn’t want Christ’s forgiveness and salvation can reject it. God won’t force anyone to receive His salvation. He gives it as a free gift. So those who are saved are saved completely by the work of Christ without any help or cooperation on our part. Those who are condemned, on the other hand, are condemned by their own doing.

God’s Word was made flesh in Jesus but He had to live in obedience to the Father, and suffer and die to save us from our sins.

Our salvation comes to us through God’s Word, but it was won for you by the actions and work of Jesus. God is a just God, and according to His nature, He could not just wipe away sin with a word and pretend it didn’t matter. If he had done so, he would have either had to accept sin – and become evil Himself – or He would have had to destroy us all with our sin. So in order to save us, and still punish sin, Jesus offered to take our place as our substitute. Jesus had to live as a man and live a perfectly obedient life in order to fulfill God’s Law which we broke. Then Jesus had to suffer and die in our place to take away the punishment for our sins, which is death. The Word of God is completed in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus worked to win our forgiveness and salvation in His life, God’s Word is fulfilled, and salvation comes to us today through the Word, so that whoever believes in Jesus as their savior from sin, is saved.

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is [God’s] word that goes out from [His] mouth: It will not return to [Him] empty, but will accomplish what [He] desire(s) and achieve the purpose for which [He] sent it.” God’s purpose and desire is that you believe in Jesus and receive His salvation, and live with Him in Paradise forever. Jesus is your life and your salvation. He is the truth that saves you. We thank and praise Him for His Word that brings to us this precious gift.

The Incarnation of God

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The Incarnation of God in Jesus is one of the greatest mysteries in all of history. Yet, we ought to remember that whenever the Holy Scriptures speak of a mystery it is something that has been revealed to us in Jesus. It is not that all our questions are answered, but the great mysteries are no longer hidden, but are revealed in Jesus.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:1-3)

When the Angel Gabriel said to the virgin, Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus…” God was then incarnate in a microscopic single celled person, Jesus. He was still God, but He humbled Himself and from the moment of His conception He lived a life just like the rest of us, except without sin.

It should be little wonder that “the world did not recognize Him” (John 1:10) because in His humility Jesus did not use His Divine power until his ministry began. Jesus had to learn who He was, and why He came to earth to live as one of His beloved creatures. And yet, even though Jesus had to learn and grow like any other child, He still lived the sinless life according to His nature. Even though Mary and Joseph surely sinned against Him (how could they not?), and even though His siblings: James, Joseph, Judas, Simon, and his sisters (Mark 6:3); surely sinned against Him, yet Jesus never sinned against them, nor against God, the Father.

Window from Trinity Lutheran Church, Herscher, Illinois

It is a good exercise to consider all that Jesus sacrificed in order to save us. Though we cannot know all that Jesus sacrificed, the better idea we have of what He sacrificed, the better we can appreciate what He did to save us from our sin and death.

Pastor Jared Melius of Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Denver, Colorado, has some great insight into Luke 2:41-52 (Issues Etc. audio link) which shows just how much Jesus gave up to win our salvation. This story is not about Christ’s Nativity, but it happened when He was 12 years old. Sometimes this event is described as the boy Jesus teaching in the temple, but that is not the way Luke records the event. Pastor Melius’ brilliant insight is that although Mary and Joseph regularly went to Jerusalem for the Passover this may have been Jesus’ first time there since He was 40 days old (Luke 2:22-ff). Jesus did not come to teach, but to learn, as Luke makes a point of saying how Jesus grew as a child.

Since it was the Passover celebration, Jesus likely asked questions about the sacrifice of the passover lamb, and how it saved God’s people from the plague of death, and how the death of the lamb related to the promised messiah. He learned from the Scriptures that God’s messiah would sacrifice His life like a passover lamb to save all people from their sins. In His state of humility, Jesus had to learn that it was the will of God, the Father, that He would give up His life to save sinners from the consequences of their sins. And yet, Jesus did not once turn away from the path that God, the Father, had placed before Him.

The Holy Scriptures were not written only for us sinners, that we may believe in Christ as our savior, but they were also written for Jesus, so that He might also know what He had to do in obedience to God to win our salvation. Jesus, too, had to trust in God’s Word, and obey God as a man, even though it meant great suffering and torment for Him. Out of His love for God and for us sinners, Jesus obeyed His Father and was obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-11)!

May Christ bless you and your family through the Christmas Season and throughout the whole year as you contemplate God’s incarnation, and all that Jesus did to save you from sin and death!

Shepherd Visitors

The Shepherds worship Jesus

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:8-20)

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There is quite a history of shepherds in the Bible. Faithful Abel was a shepherd. Abraham kept flocks, as well as Isaac, Israel (Jacob), and Israel’s twelve sons. Perhaps the best known shepherd in the Bible is David. When the prophet Samuel went to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem to anoint his youngest son as God’s choice to be the next king of Israel, David was out in the fields tending the sheep.

Though David would become the most faithful and successful king in Israel’s history, he is equally well known as the author of Psalm 23:

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Jesus: The Good Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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It is neither an accident, nor a coincidence that Jesus was born in the same town as King David. God is perhaps the greatest poet in history, linking historical events, prophesy, and the historical fulfillment of prophesy together through Christ. Though the Holy Scriptures frequently use the metaphor of the people as the sheep and God as the shepherd, there is no passage in Scripture more memorable than Psalm 23. It shows us the proper attitude we all should have toward God that a great king such as David would consider himself a lowly lamb who dutifully follows where God leads as his shepherd. This also shows why David is considered a great king, despite his great wickedness and sins. All of David’s success came from God, and he remembered that his whole life.

Jesus: the Lamb of God

God had promised David that one of his descendants would be the long-awaited savior of the world. Jesus is the fulfillment of that long-awaited promise. Jesus is both the Good Shepherd, who cares for the sheep, and Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who endures the punishment for the sin of the world. God was with David throughout his whole life. From the time he was a lowly shepherd to when he was king of Israel, God cared for David as a shepherd cares for his sheep. And when David committed great wicked sins, God was there to rebuke David, but only to bring him to repentance so that David would know that all his sins were forgiven for the sake of the promised savior (Jesus). That is the kind of a God we have.

The shepherds who were near Bethlehem on the evening when Jesus was born surely knew God’s promises to send a savior. When they heard the message of the angel they hurried into town to see their savior in the flesh. The shepherds believed the Word of God from the angel though the baby Jesus was seemingly a helpless infant, and Mary and Joseph had to place Jesus in a manger because no one had sacrificed their own comfort to make the incarnate God more comfortable for his first night out of the Blessed Virgin’s womb. When the shepherds returned to their fields they praised God that He had kept His promises and had come to earth in our flesh to redeem us from our sins.