For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
"For unto you" — that's the strange, specific detail that's easy to skip past in a story you've heard a hundred times. Not for the shepherds' résumés, not for a select group who'd earned an audience with royalty. Shepherds were about as unremarkable as it got in that world. And still: for you.
A Savior, born in the city of David, called Christ the Lord — heavy, formal titles, but delivered to the most ordinary people around, on the most ordinary night, in a small town. There's nothing in this announcement that requires the hearer to already be impressive or prepared.
If you've always pictured the Christmas story as something that happened long ago to important people, notice again who actually got the news first. Not royalty. Not religious officials. People working a night shift outdoors. If it was for them, it's worth asking what "for you" might mean today.
If you've assumed this news was for someone else, more prepared or more important than you, look again at who heard it first.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.