By Lois Evans
There’s a painting by the great artist Rembrandt that says it all for me at Christmas. The scene is the manger of Bethlehem. The painting focuses my attention exclusively on the Baby, because Rembrandt painted a shaft of light that falls on the baby Jesus and illuminates Him alone. Other figures appear in the scene, but Rembrandt wrapped them in the shadows so that all the attention and adoration on Jesus is exactly what God the Father has in mind for us, especially at Christmas.
We know from the famous story in Luke 2:8-20 that the shepherds had the right idea. A great choir of angels filled the sky while the little band of ragged shepherds looked up in terrified wonder. But the shepherds caught on right away and quickly got into the spirit of Christmas. They wanted to worship this new King, so they went running off to Bethlehem with real joy and anticipation in their hearts. We need to go running to Bethlehem with them!
What I especially like about these guys is that ordinarily they had little to get excited about. Shepherds in that day were on the bottom rung of the career and social ladder of the day. When they got excited that first Christmas it wasn’t because they thought they were going to get some presents. They didn’t get pumped to go see baby Jesus because they heard the manger was all lit up with pretty lights. And they weren’t looking for an overweight man in a red suit. They focused totally on the Messiah; all they wanted was to worship Him.
If all you and your family had this Christmas was Jesus, would it be enough to send you jumping for joy? I pray it would!
