The Shepherds

 

         While shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground,

         The Angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around.

         “Fear not,’ said he, for mighty dread had seized their troubled minds.

         “Glad tidings of great joy I bring, to you and all mankind.

                “To you, in David’s town, this day, is born of David’s line,

         The Savior, who is Christ the Lord; and this shall be the sign.

         ‘The Heavenly Babe you there shall find to human view displayed,

         All meanly wrapped in swathing bands, and in a manger laid.”

 

            I collect nativities and recently added this to my collection.  It’s not a complete nativity.  It’s only a shepherd with three of his sheep.  All four (sheep included) are gazing upward with their mouths open and eyes wide.  I imagine the angel has just appeared with his amazing announcement.  You recall this is the first public announcement of his birth.

 

            Forty-four years ago I stood in what is still called The Shepherds’ Field outside of Bethlehem.  I would imagine very little has changed in these two thousand plus years.  Near the field was a low-roofed cave.  We were told that the shepherds often brought their sheep in to the cave on chilly nights.  I can see the shepherds perhaps sitting, perhaps lying, outside the cave around a fire, when the amazing announcement came to them.

 

            In Bible times shepherds were of the lower class, the poor and the humble, but Jesus Himself identifies as a shepherd.  He calls Himself the Good Shepherd, so I think that this announcement to the shepherds was a very deliberate choice.

 

            The most well-known description of that announcement is found in Luke 2.  I’m quoting from the New Living Translation:

 

            That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.  Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.  They were terrified, but the angel reassured them.  “Don’t be afraid!” he said.  “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.  The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!  And you will recognize him by this sign:  You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

            Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

            When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.  After seeing Him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.  All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.  The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.  It was just as the angel had told them.

 

            The thing that has touched me the most this Christmas in my thinking about the shepherds has been their boldness.  They immediately told “everyone” what had happened and what the angels had said to them.  There is no indication that they were intimidated about sharing their news, no hint that they weren’t sure people would believe them.  They simply told what they knew to be true.  It didn’t matter what people thought of them.

            I am sometimes intimidated.  I sometimes keep my mouth shut.  But I want the boldness of the shepherds.  One of the old hymns says “And all that hear the shepherds’ song with burning heart and tingling tongue. . . . “ May I have a burning heart and a tingling tongue to tell of the wondrous birth of my Savior!