Why was the angel able to say, “…I bring you good news…”?
I’ve told plenty of people I have Good News for them and they didn’t consider it such. But the angel was confident: this was something they needed to behold, to stop and stare at. He knew it would be good news to their ears because they had been waiting for it as an entire society for hundreds of years, and thousands if they thought all the way back to Genesis 3.
The Good News must be set in a story, the hearer’s story. Of course, objectively it is good news – nothing to argue about there. We are really asking about the hearer’s perception of the news. If we don’t set the scene, connect the dots, and frame the picture correctly, our hearer can feel like a child excitedly ripping that wrapping paper off, throwing the bow across the room, and tearing through the box… only to find clothes inside. If we don’t want the Good News to fall flat, we need to connect it to the needs of the receiver. What are their pain points? What do they lack, need, and even want out of life? What are they missing and what do they long for?
Underneath all our shallow desires lies an ultimate need: to be connected to a bigger group, to be part of a greater story, to be significant, to be known by our Creator. When the angel told the shepherds he had good news for them, their minds immediately went to their favorite prophecy about Messiah. There were hundreds of options, some of which were about salvation from sins (often couched in terms like: “heart of flesh” vs. “heart of stone”), whole-life peace, and joy. Others were about crushing enemies or at least getting out from under their rule. Others were about the restoration of all things, including land and health. Still others were about safety and prosperity.
We don’t know each shepherd’s favorite promise about Messiah that night, but we do know that they felt the weight of the angel’s words and felt immense joy from them. Similarly, we must find what our hearer needs and lacks. Only then can we assuredly point to Messiah’s fulfillment of those needs. Don’t hear me wrong: I’m not saying that salvation by grace through faith is a side show, far from it. But it isn’t God’s end goal for us, it’s the beginning – salvation gets us in the door of God’s Kingdom. It removes us from the kingdom of darkness and sets us in the Kingdom of Light. It’s the door that we enter through. And we will celebrate it for all Eternity because we did absolutely nothing to earn it and absolutely nothing to effect it in ourselves. It was an outside job, done for us by the only wise King who could have written us off and jettisoned this little project called earth into the trash can of history. It is absolutely glorious!
And it wasn’t originally required – Adam and Eve would have been confused if we asked them how much they appreciated salvation before they first sinned. They would have told us they appreciate the comfort and safety God gave them every day (that is, if they could have seen in their minds’ eyes a picture of the world today so they had a frame of reference). They would have carried on about how they got to name the animals and rule and reign over God’s creation as his vice-regents. They would have gloried in the ability to create a thriving civilization of flourishing under His lordship with all the freedom that entailed. When we do business well in God’s way, we are able to connect our hearer’s needs both for a Savior and for dignity in everyday life.
The shepherds also had their desires. They surely didn’t enjoy being on the bottom rung of society. The angel very purposefully added, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). He wouldn’t have needed to say that to the rich and the famous (or maybe he would have, but for a different reason!). He said this to the shepherds because in their class of society they would have normally been left out of any benefit.
I’d bet good money that they recalled to their minds prophecies about Messiah saving the little guy from bad leaders, perhaps Ezekiel 34:23 as it tells God’s people that Messiah would be a shepherd to them, and even connected Messiah to David’s line. In any case, they heard news that was actually good to them, good enough for them to run miles in the night, abandoning their flocks for the moment, to see for themselves and deliver the news to those in the area (2:15-18).
Let’s pause to consider how we frame the Good News for our hearers, and how we can connect Messiah’s work on the cross AND his other promises and benefits (many of which will only come to full fruition upon his return) to their needs and desires. After all, Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”