I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 2-3

There is a reason that the Luke account of Jesus’ birth is the “standard” used by most Christians at Christmas.  Every time I read this passage I am struck by who the angels were sent to make an announcement of Christ’s birth.  I want to review the various people whom the Gospel accounts tell us received a message regarding Christ’s birth.  Mary and Joseph each received a visit from an angel.  They were both intimately involved in this pending birth (Mary more so than Joseph and the nature of the message they received reflects this fact).  Elizabeth received word by the Holy Spirit and her son leaping in her womb. The wise men discovered the announcement by their study of the stars; Herod and others among the high and mighty received word by way of the wise men.  However, the shepherds, among the lowest of the low, received the message by way of a host of angels on the occasion of Jesus’ birth.  When God chose to announce the birth of His Son, He sent His messengers to those who mattered, but they were not those whom we, as humans, would have thought mattered.  He “called” the shepherds, the “common man”, and gave them the message right away.  He let the wise men find out by “reading the sign” that the father put up when the baby went “home from the hospital”, and he let the big wigs and important people find out from them.