In this chapter, the one that presents "the Christmas Story," and reveals the Messiah as baby and tweener, I am drawn to the peripheral players: the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, and the old guys in the temple.

The Shepherds are an amazing bunch. Upon hearing things about teh Messiah, they jumped right onto their donkeys and made haste for Bethlehem, not once, according to the text, stopping to question the (1) the Messiah had arrived, and (2) the idea an angel had spoken to them, common, everyday shepherds, and granted them all-access passes to THE event of all human history.

Simeon waited patiently for God to reveal his Messiah. And, he knew it was so when he held and blessed Jesus. heck, he knew it before it must have ever sunk in for Mary and Joseph. The parents had been foretold of this greatness, and yet they marveled at this peripheral player's insights and understanding.

Anna the prophetess had spent 80+ years tending to the temple in prayer and fasting. She appears on the scene solely to give thanks to God and to speak about him to a crowd that had apparently gathered at the temple, presumably n the heels of Simeon's blessing of Jesus and his proclamation of his divinity.

Lastly, the group I have collectively dubbed, "The old guys at the temple" who entertained Jesus' desire to become familiar with how we were trying to connect with God. You get the sense they admired him for his insightful questions, and that they knew there was something refreshing and spectacular about the 12 year-old before them.

In their own ways, these Peripheral players reveal how it is we should be when it comes to God and His message and unfolding in our lives:

The Shepherds were OBEDIENT to God
Simeon was PATIENT, FAITHFUL to God
Anna was DEVOTED to and an ADVOCATE for God
The Old Guys ADMIRED and EMBRACED, and WELCOMED God

Luke 2:8-47