Shepherds and Signs

We've been attending a new mission congregation some 40 miles from our house. The folks in that little church are very excited about what they're doing. This weekend some of the few teens sat for hours as a live Nativity scene beside the church building the congregation is renting. As I looked at their patient witness I thought back to that first Christmas and the shepherds. To mind came the words of the angel, "This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:11). It's that sign thing that intrigues me. Are we (non-shepherds) still able to follow signs? And how do we know a sign when it comes along?

Diane S. Dew has a very extensive list of Bible verses referring to signs and wonders. She claims that a sign is the same as a miracle and a miracle is something our science cannot explain. I realize, however, that such a view may be too simplistic. Signs and miracles are not necessarily the same thing. I suggest that you study her list and draw your own conclusions about signs.

The Scriptures are clear that we are not to follow the example of many Jews in Jesus' day by demanding signs. When they pushed him for signs --though he'd already given them many -- he replied that they were spiritually and ethically diseased, wicked and evil. Their motives were entirely messed up. They would get nothing from him but the sign of the prophet Jonah, who was vomited out of a fish's belly after three days. This was a reference to Jesus' own upcoming resurrection.

The point is clear. We don't go around looking for and demanding signs in order to believe. Our Lord gives us signs when and where He decides we need them. They point the way. In fact, for believers in Jesus, signs are the very norm of our lives. They're always with us. They always accompany us, precisely because we're under His care and guidance.

This is to say that Jesus shows us the path we are to take, day by day. He is the gentle and good Shepherd who leads us. The signs show us where to go, just as they did for the Christmas shepherds. With eyes of faith wide open we see Him pointing out the path we are to take and why we are to trust Him. We follow because we know He is leading. We hear His voice and pin our hopes on Him.


That must have been one of the several reasons why the angels told shepherds to follow the sign leading them to the Savior. As shepherds they knew about leading and following. I only pray that our hearts are equally open to the leading of the Good Shepherd this Christmas and throughout the year before us. "Savior, like a shepherd lead us . . ."