Take a quick look at these two passages dealing with the birth of our Savior as well as His resurrection:
Luke 2:8-17
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
Luke 24:1-11
1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they (the women listed in v. 10) came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
Did you catch that? What do the shepherds in Luke 2 and the women in Luke 24 have in common? They both made two of the most important announcements about the most important person who ever lived; shepherds proclaimed the birth of the Lord Jesus and women declared the resurrection of the Lord Jesus!
So why does that matter? In first-century culture, both shepherds and women were looked down on in society. Others viewed them as second-rate. It was so bad, that in a court of law, neither women nor shepherds would be eligible to testify in most cases. They were viewed as unreliable sources.
And yet, God chose to first reveal the two most important events in human history to shepherds and women, respectively. On top of that, He chose to give them the task of proclaiming the events to others! I don’t think that’s just a coincidence…I’m inclined to think that God was making a statement about how we view people.
On another note, don’t ever let anyone trick you into believing that Christianity is either racist or sexist. Have there been racist Christians? Sure. Have there been sexist Christians? Definitely. But those Christians certainly weren’t representing the God of the Bible. I see in these passages a clear statement about the ideologies of the day.
So if you’ve ever been viewed as less than for whatever reason, God wants to use you! If you’ve ever been viewed as a nobody, the King of Kings wants to use you! God often chooses to use those who aren’t wise, mighty, or noble (1 Corinthians 1:26-29), and whether you feel adequate enough or not, God wants to use you. Will you let Him?