1. What stood out to me from this chapter?
Throughout the Bible, God uses some really unlikely people to deliver his messages and spread the news about his activity. From a worldly perspective, we would expect God to use important people of high class and high education. That's not who God chooses. God chooses shepherds. Shepherding was, for the most part, a blue-collar, dirty job for lower class citizens. The fact that shepherds were the first people to go out and tell about the birth of Jesus is astounding. Later in the story we see Simeon and Anna, a devout old man and a widow, to share some prophetic words about the baby Jesus. Finally, we see Jesus himself, as a twelve-year-old boy, sharing the message of God with the teachers. So God used the poor, widowed, and children to declare his message in this coming of the Messiah. That is very interesting.
2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?
It is an interesting connection, but Bethlehem is the City of David. David started out as a shepherd, tending his father's sheep (see 1 Samuel 16). Here in Luke 2, we see that God chooses to make his first public service announcement about the birth of his son to shepherds on the hillside. Jesus, who is the promised king in the line of David, will be the good shepherd over the people of Israel.
3. What does this mean for my life?
If God can use unlikely people like elderly, children, and poor, there is hope that he can even speak a word of truth through me. It also really challenges me to not rule people out, but to listen to all people as though God might be trying to say something to me through them.
4. What questions do I have about this passage?
Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. How many people were aware of this? How many people did he tell? How many believed him? How many people were either present or heard of Simeon's encounter with Jesus? Wouldn't you think there would have been a group of followers from then on?
Those are my thoughts for this chapter. I'd love to hear yours. God's blessings to you and KEEP DIGGING IN!
In Christ,
Dan
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