Advent Passage: Luke 2:6-7, Ezekiel 34, John 10

It’s Christmas Eve! Today is the day we consider the life-changing, in-breaking of God into the world. Today, we stand in awe with Mary at the manger to behold her newborn son, Jesus! This epic event changed Mary’s life and forever altered the course of human history. It is the reason we celebrate Christmas each year.

Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to David of an Eternal King. And yet Jesus did not enter the world in the way of most kings. Instead of a palace, Jesus was born in a stable. Instead of a royal assembly, Jesus arrived into a family. Instead of coming to the royal city of Jerusalem, Jesus entered the world in the rural town of Bethlehem.

Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem fulfilled Micah’s prophesy: “But you, Bethlehem Epharathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times” (5:2). Notably, David grew up in Bethlehem. God came to us in the place where David was a shepherd, rather than in Jerusalem, where David was a king.

This distinction tells us something important. Jesus came as our Eternal King, but He came into the world like a shepherd: in the dirt and bustle of ordinary life.

In Ezekiel 34, we learn that Jesus coming as our Shepherd fulfilled God’s promise to rectify the wrongs of the leaders, or shepherds, who mistreated the Israelites. God chastised those leaders, saying, “You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally” (34:4). Through David, God promised to bring justice to the sheep of Israel and place one shepherd over them, “I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord” (34:15).

In John 10, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd, a leader who would one day lay down His life for the sake of all people, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (10:16). Jesus is the Eternal King who came to God’s people as the One Shepherd to unite them. He came, just as God promised.

One Shepherd, just as God promised. Jesus is the Eternal King who comes to all of us in our ordinary lives. He delivers justice and righteousness. His merciful love and faithfulness go before Him, just as Mary proclaimed. Behold, Mary’s baby, lying in the manger. This is Jesus: your Eternal King, your Good Shepherd!

© 2025 Lori Myers Berry

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