Those who heard it marvelled

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marvelled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.  – Luke 2.16-18

This scene of the shepherds has stuck in my mind ever since we attended a live nativity recreation at a church someplace in Ohio many years ago. As we walked through the streets of ‘Bethlehem’ three men in rough looking homes came rushing through the ‘streets’ shouting at everyone and sometimes grabbing people and trying to turn them around and saying ‘come, you have to see this! We have seen the Messiah and He is right here in Bethlehem! Messiah has come as a baby and He is here! Come and see!’

I think they got part of the sense of excitement that must have coursed through the streets of Bethlehem that night. The shepherds had seen and heard the angels, they had been to worship the infant Messiah, and now they wanted everyone to know what they had seen.

Those of us who are Christians today have met the Messiah. We have seen all that He has done for us. The challenge is to ask ourselves if people respond to us the same way that people responded to the shepherds. Do people marvel at our words? Are our words so clear and our lives so impactful that our testimonies cause marvel in the hearts of people who know us?

So people marvel at Christ in us?