The holy intersects the common in a field when the angels visit the shepherds:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” 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. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
Luke 2:8-20 KJV
The familiarity of the story of the shepherds can cause us to glamorize the incident or paint a picture of Christmas in a manner that is not consistent with the story. The beauty of the Christmas story is its simplicity that is wrapped around some very intricate theology.
There is only one announcement of Christ’s birth recorded in the Scriptures, only one invitation given by God to anyone to visit Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus. That one invitation goes to a bunch of - uneducated, smelly, low-class, social and religious outcasts - shepherds.
Let me tell you a bit about shepherds. They were the last people you’d expect God to notice. On the scale of occupational excitement shepherding is no doubt very low on the list. Most of the time, shepherds were “living out in the fields.” This was not a 40-hour a week job. They didn’t come home at night. They were with sheep 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During the day, they led the sheep to grass and water. They watched while the sheep grazed. The rhythmic baaing of the sheep during the day was only occasionally interrupted by the excitement of a predator – that could be fended off by the effective use of a sling – just ask David. And at night, they actually slept in the sheep pen with the sheep to guard against theft and additional animal attacks.
Being a shepherd was lonely, wearisome, boring and tedious. It did them a lot of contact with sheep (apparently sheep know their shepherd by the sound of their voice). It bears repeating shepherds had lots of contact with sheep - very little contact with people. As a result, shepherds were social outcasts. They were constantly on the move to find good pasture for their flocks and as a result they were commonly looked on with suspicion. They were often accused of being thieves (if something came up missing – it must have been those shepherds). Shepherds were not permitted to give testimony in legal proceedings because their word wasn’t considered trustworthy.
Shepherds were also religious outcasts. According to Jewish religious law, these men were unclean. Their line of work prevented them from participating in the feasts and holy days that made up the Jewish religious calendar. Why? Somebody had to watch the sheep. When everyone else was making the trip to Jerusalem to make sacrifices at the temple, or to participate in one of the annual feasts, they were watching over the sheep. It wasn’t really their fault they just were not able to participate fully in the religious life of any community. As a result, shepherds had the least amount of credibility to speak about religious matters.
Imagine you’re God and you want to announce the most amazing, incredible, joyous news ever; an event which will literally change the course of history – the birth of your only Son, Jesus Christ - the birth of the One who will be the Savior of the whole world - the One for whom the nation of Israel has been waiting and hoping and praying for thousands of years. Finally, He has come! Who do you announce it to? Who do you tell? Who do you invite to come and see?
The point is that it was only the shepherds, the social and religious outcasts that received the announcement and the invitation. Why did God do this? Why did God send announce the birth of Christ to these shepherds, to invite them, and only them, to come and see the child?
I believe that God wanted to show that His love does not discriminate on the basis of class, or wealth, or social standing. God does not respect kings and princes more than hourly laborers, he does not value priests and pastors above the people in the pews. God does not show favoritism; He does not give preferential treatment to one group of people over another. God’s love is available to all on the same basis – faith in Jesus Christ.
In other words, God was demonstrating, by His choice of these humble shepherds to be the first to receive the news of Christ’s birth, that Jesus was not going to be the Savior of only the political and social and religious elite. Jesus was not going to be the Savior only of kings and governors, or popes and priests. Jesus is the Savior of all equally, he doesn’t give preference to any group or any class. Nor does he discriminate on the basis of intelligence, or education, or wealth, or profession, or political power, or social standing, or any of the other qualities that human beings judge by. His love is offered indiscriminately to anyone who will repent and believe, anyone who will trust in Him as Savior.
So, what does all this mean to me? GOOD NEWS!
Perhaps you see yourself as kind of on the outside looking in. I imagine that many nights, as the shepherds sat out in those cold, lonely fields, with nothing but dumb animals to keep them company, they looked over at the village, saw the lights of the homes and heard the faint sound of families, people laughing, and wished they could be a part of that. Maybe you’ve felt that way too. Not one of the “beautiful people,” not especially wealthy or powerful or influential. Not likely to ever see your name in the paper for some great accomplishment – living on the fringes socially.
Maybe when you compare your level of religious observance to others, the comparison isn’t favorable - irregular church attendance, little Bible study, infrequent prayer. You wonder . . . Does God know I exist? Does God have a favorable opinion of me? And you know what? A lot of people, deep down, secretly feel like that. Even people you would think of as “having it all together”. On the surface, everything is going great. But on the inside, you feel like you don’t fit in. You feel like God doesn’t really care, couldn’t care, about someone like you.
If any of that description strikes a chord with you, then I have good news - Great news - the best news possible! God loves you - just like He loved those shepherds. And you are special to Him - just like those shepherds were special - so special that He gave them the incredible privilege of being the first to hear of Christ’s birth, being the first people other than Joseph and Mary to lay eyes on the Son of God, being the first to tell others about Christ.
He didn’t give those privileges to the Roman Caesar or to the Jewish high priest, he gave it to the shepherds. God did this not in spite of who they were, but because of who they were – humble, ordinary people with no high opinions of themselves - simple people who were willing to simply believe what God told them and to simply do what God commanded them.
God is inviting you today, just like he invited the shepherds. Will you believe what He says and do what He asks? Will you acknowledge your need of forgiveness and put your trust in Jesus Christ for salvation? You don’t need to be a genius or a member of the “in” crowd. You just need to believe and obey. Listen to God’s promise:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (NIV)
I pray this Christmas you will make that decision to trust Christ. If you do, take time to tell me about it, so that I can help you with the next step of developing a relationship with Christ.
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