{"id":3359,"date":"2025-12-03T16:24:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T07:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2025-12-03T16:24:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T07:24:49","slug":"unexpected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/unexpected\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unexpected Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Have you ever received an unexpected invitation? Maybe something you didn\u2019t think you deserved? In the Waypoints manga \u201cThe Shepherds\u2019 Invitation\u201d<\/a><\/strong> we meet some people who received just such an invitation. This Christmas story is adapted from one of the Bible\u2019s stories about the time of Jesus\u2019 birth (you can read it yourself in Luke 2:8-20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

People in those days were waiting for the \u201cChrist\u201d or “Messiah” — the One the Jewish Scriptures promised would come to save us. People also referred to this coming-one as \u201cthe King of the Jews.\u201d Jesus was the fulfillment of this promise, so it should have been pretty big news when he arrived.<\/p>\n

And yet, the angel didn\u2019t go to the temple or palace to announce the birth of Jesus to some VIP\u2019s in the Jewish or Roman world. No, this invitation came to a bunch of unknown, ordinary shepherds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Waypoints022-ENG_013.jpg” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” title_text=”Waypoints022-ENG_013″ hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ border_color_all=”#1c8c24″ border_width_all=”1px” width_last_edited=”on|phone” width=”62%” align=”center” width_tablet=”62%” width_phone=”88%” show_bottom_space=”off” custom_margin=”-40px||||false|false”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

<\/p>\n

The Bible doesn\u2019t tell us much about these shepherds. We don\u2019t know their names, their ages, or how many there were. We can assume that they were just ordinary people. So how did they respond?<\/p>\n

Excitedly the shepherds said, \u201cLET’S GO!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

They found the baby, with his mother and father (who were also very ordinary people) staying in very simple, rough, dirty lodging \u2014 a humble beginning for King Jesus.<\/p>\n

But Jesus, clearly, is a very different kind of king.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This all begs the question: Why did the angels appear and send the shepherds to see Jesus? Why, of all people, a bunch of shepherds?<\/p>\n

This story shows us that God cares about ordinary, lowly people. People who, in this world, often feel forgotten. We see this not only here but in Jesus\u2019 life and ministry — \u00a0<\/span>his followers were ordinary, mostly blue-collar types, not well-educated nobles. And we see throughout his career that Jesus reaches out and welcomes the poor, the outcasts and the hurting.<\/p>\n

Do you ever feel forgotten? Jesus cares. God has not forgotten you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shepherds\u2019 story is a message and example to us. God cares about us, no matter how insignificant we may feel. He hasn\u2019t forgotten us. Jesus Christ came to show us God\u2019s love and to save us.<\/p>\n

The question is, how will we respond? The shepherds give us a good example. They went to see for themselves if this good news was true.<\/p>\n

What will YOU do?<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Waypoints022-1.jpg” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” title_text=”Waypoints022-1″ align=”center” width_last_edited=”on|phone” width=”68%” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ width_tablet=”92%” width_phone=”100%” border_width_all=”1px” border_color_all=”#1c8c24″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_divider divider_position=”center” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”21px” custom_margin=”||-6px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_post_nav prev_text=”Previous Post” next_text=”Next Post” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_post_nav][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever received an unexpected invitation? Maybe something you didn\u2019t think you deserved? In the Waypoints manga \u201cThe Shepherds\u2019 Invitation\u201d we meet some people who received just such an invitation. This Christmas story is adapted from one of the Bible\u2019s stories about the time of Jesus\u2019 birth (you can read it yourself in Luke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}