The most famous birth announcement

The birth of a newborn child is an exciting event! The news of a new birth travels fast among immediate and extended family members. Between the telephone and all the social media we have today, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other extended family members all know usually within 12 hours!

Most births today usually take place in a hospital in the same (or nearby) city where the parents live. In the case of Mary and Joseph, they were out of town at the time due to being ordered to report for the census ordered by the Roman authorities. In Joseph’s case, he had to go to Bethlehem, his original hometown, and register for the census there. And as luck would have it, all the hotels in town were sold out! Fortunately, someone gave Joseph and Mary a tip about a farm on the edge of town, where they could at least stay in the barn. It was there in that humble abode that Jesus Christ, God the Son, Savior of the World, was born to us in human form.

The Gospel of Luke gives us some insight as to what that night was like;

Luke 2:6-14

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Jesus Christ, God the Son, Savior of the World, got the biggest birth announcement the world had ever seen! And a small group of lowly shepherds on the night shift watching over the sheep were the witnesses to it! It’s hard to imagine what was going through their minds as they looked up and saw an uncountable number of angels taking part in this announcement! It certainly made for an exciting night on the night shift! After all, who would have thought that the long-awaited birth of the Messiah would have occurred on their night shift that night?

Luke goes on to tell us that the shepherds then went into Bethlehem to check out the birth of this newborn baby. They then went out and told everyone they saw, because they KNEW it was the long-awaited Messiah they had been hearing about since they were old enough to understand what a big deal this was.

When I was born, I was the first grandchild to be born on my Dad’s side of the family, in addition to being the first of four children to my Mom and Dad. So not only were my parent’s first-time parents, my paternal grandparents were also first-time grandparents. My dad’s youngest sister was just 12 years old at the time, and extremely excited to be an aunt at the age of 12, and made sure everyone knew about it!

Yes, because of these two firsts, my birth was a big deal. Yet it pales in comparison to the birth that took place in a barn on the edge of town in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.

So this Christmas Day, especially if you attend Midnight Mass (Luke’s Gospel is traditionally read at Midnight Mass), put yourself in the place of those shepherds, and reflect about what they were experiencing on that Holy Night, and how they became witnesses to the most famous birth announcement in the history of the world.