Seeing And Believing

Seeing and Believing

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. . . .

The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

Luke 2:15-17, 20

Has anyone ever told you something that seemed so incredible you said, “I have to see it to believe it”? It must have been that sense of amazement and curiosity that caused the shepherds to hurry to Bethlehem.

Don’t we wish there had been a modern-day news crew on the scene so we could see with our eyes what they saw? Mary, the young Jewish mother, might have been pretty, or maybe she wasn’t. And the baby looked like an ordinary infant. But it was just as the angels had told the shepherds, and that was enough for them. The shepherds believed what the angels had told them about this baby and the baby became their Savior.

But the shepherds must have run into a tremendous dilemma when they “told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child” (Luke 2:17). Apparently “all who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished” (Luke 2:18). Those astonished people were likely divided into two camps. Some believed, while others did not. Some probably said, “That sounds crazy.” And some probably shrugged their shoulders in apathy, saying, “That’s interesting, but I don’t need a Savior.”

What has been your response to seeing Jesus? Like the shepherds, have you believed? Like the shepherds, have you told others about him? Like the shepherds, have you glorified and praised God for Jesus?

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What do you think it looked like, felt like, and smelled like in the stable where Jesus was born?

What are some of the things we believe in without seeing?

Imagine what kinds of things people who listened to the shepherds might have said about their story. What would you have said in response?