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Christmas · Year A

Christmas Dawn

December 25, 2025

The Adoration of the Shepherds, Andrea Mantegna
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Andrea Mantegna, shortly after 1450The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mary kneels over the child in a rocky landscape while Joseph sleeps and two rough shepherds hurry in to worship.So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.Andrea MantegnaA painter of Padua and Mantua, one of the great masters of the early Italian Renaissance.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkThe Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one of the largest art museums in the world.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelLuke 2:(1-14) 15-20Lk 2:(1-14) 15-20
EpistleTitus 3:4-7Ti 3:4-7
Old TestamentIsa. 62:10-12Is 62:10-12
PsalterPs. 98Ps 98

Overview & Insights

“But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

Christmas Dawn takes up the narrative where the midnight gospel leaves off; the bracketed verses are offered for congregations who have not heard the earlier part. The appointed section is almost entirely verbs of motion and speech: the shepherds say to one another, go, find, make known, and return glorifying and praising. Luke gives the first Christian proclamation to laborers on a night shift, and gives it before any apostle speaks. The sign they were promised (v. 12) is conspicuously unremarkable, a child lying in a feeding trough, and it is exactly that which they verify (v. 16), so the confirmation of the angelic announcement is the ordinariness of what it described. Against their speech Luke sets Mary’s silence, using a participle that means putting things together, the work of assembling a meaning out of events not yet understood; he repeats the observation after the episode in the temple (2:51).

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Take it further: Luke 2:(1-14) 15-20

Commentary

Working Preacher: Luke 2:[1-7] 8-20Working Preacher: Lk 2:[1-7] 8-20 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary exegesis on the shepherds as the first to hear and share the good news.

CEP: Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]CEP: Lk 2:1-14 [15-20] Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on the shepherds' response of seeking and telling.

Enduring Word: Luke 2Enduring Word: Lk 2 Enduring Word · David Guzik

Verse by verse evangelical notes on the shepherds' visit and Mary's response.

Precept Austin: Luke 2 CommentaryPrecept Austin: Lk 2 Commentary Precept Austin

Verse level study helps on the shepherds finding the child as told.

BibleHub: Luke 2:15 CommentariesBibleHub: Lk 2:15 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on the shepherds' journey and report.

Bible Study: Christmas Day II Sermons That Work · Episcopal Church

Anglican study on the shepherds and the hope of light breaking into unlikely places.

Background & Word Study

BibleHub Interlinear: Luke 2:15BibleHub Interlinear: Lk 2:15 BibleHub

Greek text with parsing for the shepherds' decision to go and see.

BibleProject: Luke 1-9 OverviewBibleProject: Lk 1-9 Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the first half of Luke, including the shepherds' visit.

The Church Fathers

Catena: Luke 2Catena: Lk 2 Catena

Patristic comment chain on the shepherds as witnesses to the newborn Christ.

Podcast

Sermon Brainwave 330 - Christmas Day: Nativity of Our Lord (II) workingpreacher.org

Discusses the Nativity II texts, Luke 2:[1-7]8-20, the shepherds' visit assigned to Christmas Dawn.

Art & Music

Adoration of the Shepherds, Domenico Ghirlandaio wga.hu

Shows the shepherds kneeling at the manger, the moment Luke 2:15-20 narrates for the Dawn service.

Study Hub

Luke 2:15-21, TextweekLk 2:15-21, Textweek textweek.com

Textweek's resource page centered on the shepherds going to Bethlehem and finding the child, Luke 2:15-20.

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