The most unsuitable people
Every year the Sultan of Oman used to go round his small country and hear every complaint from every person, however important or unimportant they were and then declare a judgement. One can only wonder how long it would take a UK Prime Minister to perform a similar exercise. One year might just get him or her to Watford.
As I reflect yet again on the Christmas story what amazes me is the very unimportant people that God talks to. The nation of Israel had been promised a messiah, a deliverer for many hundreds of years. You would have thought that when the time came the message would be given to the bigwigs. The rulers, the high level clergy, the movers and the shakers.
But no! He speaks to the most unsuitable bunch of people.
A poor peasant couple from a backwater village in a backwater province. Mary and Joseph lived in Galilee, a province whose people were despised as backward by the rest of the country. Yet it is to them that the message of God’s master plan is revealed.
A group of shepherds on a lonely hillside. Shepherds were the lowest of the low in Jewish society. They were regarded as unclean and dishonest. They couldn’t enter the temple at Jerusalem because of their occupation and reputation. Yet it is to these people that the angels appear.
Then there were the wise men or the magi. Wise they might have been, but they weren’t even Jewish. They were foreigners, second class citizens. Yet it is these “foreigners”who grasped that Jesus was the King of the Jews. Meanwhile the local king sought to have him killed.
Outsiders, vagrants, country yokels. You see God is less interested in our social position or respectability than he is in our hearts. He is more interested in what we do with our ears than what accents come out of our mouths. The people that God spoke to had ears that were prepared to listen to his message. And what was that message? In appearing to the shepherds the angel described the message as good news that would bring great joy to all the people. The message was that a saviour had been born to them. He was God’s special saviour . What would this saviour save people from? According to the gospel writer Matthew “He will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). In other words he will save us from all the punishment that we deserved for our wrongdoing. At the cross the saviour would give his life for us in order to reconcile us to God.
God will speak to anyone. He does not care about your race, colour, social position or creed “I’ve got my own religion or philosophy”, we cry. God says, “I don’t care. You need to listen to me”. As far as he is concerned we humans are all in the same boat. Religious or not we all need Jesus to rescue us. The only question is what will we do with our ears? Will we listen to the Good News or will we turn away? God is not asking you to improve yourself or be religious or try harder at being good. He is saying, will you listen to the good news? Will you throw yourelf on the mercy of Jesus?