And Behold!

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Luke 2:9

It wasn't a dark and stormy night as Snoopy would write. The storm, if we can call it that, may have taken place when the parental guardians of God's Holy One found that the birth of the Christ child would take place in a smelly animal shelter; thus imparting to any affirmative response to, "Were you born in a barn?" an honor we are not worthy to receive. For the shepherds, who were simply abiding in the fields that night, it was quite likely a very normal night with the usual comforts and discomforts that sleeping with a bunch of sheep might bring.

And behold...

The expression is about as strong as Luke gets in his report of those things done in Judea at about the time the calendar changed from B.C. to A.D. Like the visitor Zacharias had by the incense altar, we get the impression that the angel was not there, then he was there. It was a surprising and fear-inducing appearance; an uncanny occurrence in an unexpected place. The admonition to learn to expect the unexpected is put to shame as the unexpected intrudes on the usual in a marvelous way, and says, "Do not be afraid!"

The Lord gets the attention of those He wants to impart a message to in a rather memorable way. Sometimes a good startle, it seems, is the way to break through the usual we are caught up in and make us to understand that something rather remarkable has happened in the world. The shepherds knew it, and in this age from their account, so do we.

Have a wonderful Christmas with the One we call Wonderful!

Bucky