It was “shabbat”…sabbath day…in Nazareth in Galilee.  Saturday for you and me.  In the afternoon, all the men who were ceremonially clean began to make their way to synagogue, being careful, of course, not to walk too many steps.  That would be considered “work” on the sabbath.

As we watch this weekly migration to synagogue, we can’t help but notice one who also makes his way to synagogue this day.  The people of Nazareth would have known him as Yeshua ben Yoseph.  “Jesus, son of Joseph.” 

All the people were being baptized.  And well they should!  They had heard the preaching of the Baptist.  They had heard his call to repent.  They had heard him preach about the Coming One, the Lord.  They felt the sense of sin and shame.  They wanted forgiveness.

Two times in our Bible, we have the record of people who travel to see Jesus when he was just a child.  You all know the first time it happened!  It happened on the night Jesus was born.  Some shepherds came.  They were the “night shift.”  They had been out in the fields watching their sheep.  After the angels gave them the good news about Jesus’ birth, they hurried into Bethlehem to see the baby.  And this visit seems perfectly fitting. 

When I was growing up, my dad had some words of economic wisdom that he shared with my siblings and me. He would say, “You can spend a dollar once.” That’s a pretty good principle of fiscal responsibility. But the principle holds true not only with money.

Once again, our thoughts turn back to that first Christmas night, and to the starlit fields outside Bethlehem, and to those shepherds vigilantly watching over their sheep. If we could stand with those shepherds out in the Judean hill country under the moon and under the stars that night, what sort of conversations do you think we would hear?