Luke 2: 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
Sheep are really stupid and stubborn! Give a sheep any chance at all, and before you know it, the sheep will have wandered off following the next attractive clump of grass. There’s a meme that has appeared on Facebook showing a sheep standing on a small rock that is caught between two cliffs with a chasm below. When the Bible refers to us as sheep, it’s no complement! And sheep stink! There is a particular odor to the lanolin that comes off the wool of a live sheep. That stinky lanolin plus the grease from the sheep’s wool will come off on anybody who touches the sheep. What would shepherds who had to work with sheep and sometimes carry them smell like? And given the fact that there might not be a great deal of water out in a pasture, bathing might not have been a priority for shepherds either.
While the Scriptures may have spoken of King David as having begun as a shepherd and of the Messiah as feeding His flock like a shepherd, the religious leaders of Israel wanted nothing to do with real shepherds. Shepherds were low – class and poorly educated. Watching sheep leaves little time to study Torah. It’s likely that the Bethlehem shepherds had started as children and that herding sheep and goats was the only thing they really knew. And yet, here is the miracle, the mystery, the wonder of it! God sent angels to these shepherds! Angels! And moreover, the shepherds joyfully received the message the angels brought and obeyed immediately. When Zechariah, an educated priest, met the Angel Gabriel, Zechariah refused to believe the message and had to suffer as a mute for 9 months. But the shepherds had no such problem; they believed and acted instantly. What made the difference?
Shepherds lived outside much of the time, in all kinds of weather. Being a shepherd meant adjusting to whatever natural conditions prevailed and accepting the way sheep would behave. Meanwhile, the religious leaders had reached the point where they had everything dissected, cut, dried, itemized, and parsed. It’s possible that even had angels appeared in the temple, the religious leaders would not have recognized them but would have merely thought that there was an unusual amount of light for some reason. Later when Jesus was baptized and God said, “This is my beloved Son,” some people only heard thunder. Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, ““Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Today, God wants to send you joy! But are you willing to receive that joy? We are never told of the problems the shepherds were facing. We know nothing about their poor pay or their difficult living conditions. All we are told is that the shepherds received the angels gladly, they obeyed and found the Baby Jesus, and they told others. May God give each of us spiritual eyes to see the joy set before us!
PRAYER: Father, today we ask that you will help each one of us to stop wallowing in our problems and to see the joy that you want to give us. Thank you that you are going to give us special tokens of your love and care! Help us to recognize the common bushes aflame with God and take off our shoes in reverence and awe. Amen.
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