Ordinary People Doing the Work of an Evangelist

April 3

Many of us over a certain age have seen A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV. Charles Schulz’s main character becomes discouraged with all of the commercialism of Christmas. At the pivotal moment, Charlie Brown cries out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Linus van Pelt claims he knows. He walks across the stage, steps up to the microphone, cues to lights, and quotes Luke 2:8–14. At the end of his quote, Linus walks back across the stage and returns to his friend, and says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Those of us who watched the TV program every year since its original broadcast in 1965 can probably quote the entire passage from Luke. Many of us may not know that Linus was quoting the Bible. Now, consider the commercialization that frustrated Charlie Brown with the commercialization we see today. With the cultural changes we have witnessed, a lot has happened since the 1960s. Fewer and fewer people have any idea what Christmas is all about. And Christmas’ commercialism has only grown worse.

It’s refreshing to reread the “OG”—the original, unvarnished, seven-verse story, straight out of the Bible. Its truths are so simple and life-changing. yet they’re so easily missed: Simple shepherds, who were minding their flocks, were visited by an angel who announced the birth of a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Moments later, an army of angels joins in to celebrate His birth and cry out in praise to God.

Out of their sheer excitement and wonder, the shepherds run to Bethlehem to see the miracles they have just heard about. After seeing the baby Jesus and His proud parents, the shepherds returned to their fields and flocks, never to be the same.

Shepherds are hardly the image that comes to mind when people think of an evangelist. But that’s precisely what they were as they shared the Good News that they personally witnessed.

Fast forward now to a week later: Jesus is eight days old. Joseph and Mary go to the Temple to circumcise Jesus and offer a small sacrifice to dedicate their firstborn: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. (Leviticus 5:11; 12:8)

While there, they encounter two elderly people, Simeon and Anna. God had promised Simeon, a devout Jew we know nothing else about, that he would not die without seeing the promised Messiah. Upon seeing Jesus, he praised God for fulfilling His promise and sending the Messiah not only for the Jewish Nation, but also for the Gentiles. Anna, an over one hundred-year-old woman, approached Jesus and His family, and began to praise God and tell others about this special Child.

Application

Shepherds, an old devout man, and an old woman were the first humans to recognize that this was no ordinary baby. (Luke 2:29–38) He would change the course of human history.

Neither the shepherds, nor Simeon, nor Anna had theological training. They didn’t know the full scope of what they were witnessing, but they knew what they saw, and spoke what they heard. They couldn’t contain themselves!

You don’t need to be a Bible scholar to be an evangelist. All you have to do is tell other people what you have seen, heard, and experienced.

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman