Reflection
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If there’s one thing we’ve probably all experienced in our culture, it’s examples of social status. If you’ve spent time in any middle school or high school cafeteria, you’ve seen the hierarchy of popularity as you scan the room. You’ve got the athletes, band kids, the popular crowd, and the mathletes… just to name a few. But it doesn’t stop in school. One trip to the airport and you can’t help but notice who gets to board the plane first or who gets access to the club lounge with free food and drinks. These days we size each other up and make judgment calls based on the brand of shoes someone wears, the car they drive, the college they attended, the neighborhood they live in, and the vacations they take.
But if you think that’s bad, let me introduce you to the first-century world. People were born into their social classes, and there was no way to earn their way into a higher category. Women were pretty much viewed as property with no rights and no ability to gain them. Wealth and power were passed down through families from fathers to sons, and the only way to change that involved violence and war. Shepherds were among the lowest class of people.
On the other hand, angels were heavenly beings, so they’d probably rank somewhere near the top. There’s a famous Christmas song with this line in it:
This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard
And angels sing
I can’t imagine a bigger social gap than the one between heavenly angels and lowly shepherds. Jesus came not just to fit into one category. He came for every person in every category and to break down the walls between them. Jesus came onto the scene and flipped everything on its head. He said the first would be last and the last would be first. Jesus leveled the playing field when he gave honor and dignity to women and children rather than treating them as property. Jesus said he was creating a kingdom where there would be a seat at the table for every kind of person. So it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter if you’ve grown up in church or never stepped foot in one. There is a seat at the table for you.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to come and change the world forever. Thank you that we don’t have to be born into your family and we don’t have to try to earn our way into it. Help us remember that you have made a way for us. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
