Today we continue our Advent series entitled "God with Us".
Christmas, in a word, is about presence. You can't talk about the significance of Christmas, the most life-changing story in human history, without talking about presence.

One of the most extraordinary things about the Christmas story is how otherwise unremarkable the people and situations of the nativity are. For one of the most extraordinary events in human history the birth of Jesus is surrounded by the ordinary.

Long before the arrival of Jesus, the promise of God was of a Savior, but the picture we get is not what you might expect.
It's the picture of a Savior who Himself seems insignificant, alone, invisible, and obscure.

So it shouldn't surprise us, that as we learn the details of Jesus' arrival, He arrives in obscurity.

Obscure town? Check
Obscure birthplace? Check
Then the most obscure of people – shepherds who were literally obscure out in their fields – are the ones who see the very Glory of God.

This is the story of a Savior arriving in the midst of obscurity
And the question is: why?

Because God knows you. And He knows how often we feel pretty obscure.
And if that's you, if it's ever felt like you, God wrote the story of redemption with you in mind.

This story is an emphatic declaration in the family of God, there is no such thing as obscure. In reality, you can make the case that it is the “unmajestic” He cares for first. That His eyes fall first on the obscure.

Verses for further study/reflection:
Psalm 138:6-8
1 Corinthians 1:27-32
1 Peter 5:5-6
Matthew 21:21