While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground, an angel of the Lord came down, and glory shone around.
“Fear not,” said he for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind “glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all mankind.
They’re so frightened by Glory.
It makes me so sad for them, how they fell so far that such wondrous beauty no longer enraptures them, but rather fills their hearts with dread.
I’m always telling them “fear not” but still they fall to their knees in fear and shame, it’s always shame.
I think it’s the light that frightens them. It makes them feel exposed, they shrink in the shadows, choosing the darkness because they think they don’t deserve to be seen, they think they’re wicked, unclean, ugly. They fear the light will show up their flaws, the flaws they think make them ‘not good enough’. Why can’t they see, it’s their flaws that make them beautiful, unique, special? Why do they think they’re so fallen that they must flee from God’s presence, hide from his glory, fear being seen? They hide in the darkness, cowering, and spend so long there that the light hurts their eyes.
They are so very loved, they are the pinnacle of creation and yet they fear the very glory they were designed to reflect. There’s a spark of that glory inside every single one of them, and if they would just put aside their fear and embrace it, it could inhabit them, shine through them, make them whole, fill them with everlasting joy and peace.
But they don’t seem to be able to, they can’t embrace the glory of God, can’t escape the prisons of shame they build for themselves. They don’t seem to be able to see that God just wants a relationship with them, just wants to be with them, and so, thinking they are inadequate they run, they hide, they quake, and even the sight of us mere angels fills them with dread.
So, God has a plan, if they won’t come to God, God will go to them. If they’re so frightened of the glory God will set it all aside. The creator of the whole Universe, the Almighty, is giving up heaven, giving up all power and might, and is coming to earth, as one of them, in all the sweat and squalor.
The King of Kings is going to be born as a mewling human infant, dependent on a mother for its very survival.
All the might of heaven contained in the most vulnerable tiny human frame. It’s madness, but perhaps it’s the only way to save them.
