Bible Studies
WHO WATCHED THE SHEEP?
Read Luke 2:8-20
Angels have made a comeback. They are everywhere this season. In some way they appeal to most every expression of spirituality. They are strong yet gentle, mighty yet adorable. I believe in angels. I don’t know with certainty that I’ve encountered an angel, but there are moments that have me wondering. Our images of angels range from the innocently clumsy Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to the handsome Michael Landon in “Highway to Heaven,” to the forceful Della Reese on “Touched by an Angel.” In those shows they often appear to people we are prone to like and care about. People with terrible diseases, or in unfortunate circumstances; people that need some heavenly help. When an angel makes an announcement to some shepherds, followed by a choir of angels serenading them, we are thrown a curve. These shepherds are in no apparent need of heavenly help. They have secure jobs. They get to spend lots of time outdoors. They don’t have bosses ever looking over their shoulders. Their subjects—the humble sheep—are very loyal to them. They don’t get paid much, but they don’t have to put up with deadlines and email memos and downsizing and new organizational charts and staff shakeups.
Shepherds were not held in high esteem in that time. Because of the long hours and extraordinary demands of their work, they had trouble keeping all the ceremonial law in Israel, those laws about hand-washings and when to be at the Temple. Israelites that were careful about keeping the ceremonial law looked down on shepherds. They were the underclass. To those uppity super-religious types, shepherds were really good for just one thing: providing the lambs needed for sacrifices in the Temple. Bethlehem is just down the road from Jerusalem, as easy walk. So shepherds were common in that stretch of land between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. That kept them near a market they needed. No one became a shepherd to get rich, but they had bills to pay.
The shepherds’ journey to Bethlehem was the shortest of those we remember and celebrate this season. Mary and Joseph traveled just over 80 miles. The Magi traveled hundreds of miles, perhaps 600. The shepherds? Maybe a mile or two. Maybe less. And yet they traveled with the greatest speed. Maybe that’s because it wasn’t so far. Or maybe it was because of how they heard what they heard. Such a direct word—an angelic announcement and a heavenly choir—gets one’s attention. The staging rivaled Radio City’s Christmas show. “So they went with haste . . . .”
This past November I began Thanksgiving Day in a way I never had before—I ran in the Troy Turkey Trot. My younger daughter got the idea and signed us up. That changed the way I lived for a while. I jogged longer into the cold weather than I normally do. I started keeping times for my jogging. I went to a track several times before the event to measure the 3.1 miles, to make sure I could do it. I’m sufficiently vain so that I didn’t want to embarrass myself or my family. Just before the race begins you must identify a group to start with based on how fast you run a mile. I wasn’t sure whether to be in back of the 9 minute mile group or the front of the 10 minute mile group. Being a Presbyterian I found a middle place. Once the race began other runners carried me along. I did better than I thought I would, carried along by the other runners. I wonder how it was for the shepherds. They didn’t know this race to Bethlehem was coming. They didn’t know an angelic chorus would interrupt their night watch with the sheep. They didn’t know just where in Bethlehem they would find this baby. But when the word reached them, they went with haste.
Many times in life it is a mistake to run with haste. We have that well known proverb, “haste makes waste.” I can’t count the times in my life I have tried to run too fast and later regretted the time I wasted by hurry (and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try). But there are times when running with everything we have, with haste, is the right thing. This was such a moment for some unnamed shepherds. “So they went with haste . . . .”
There is simple pattern for what these shepherds experienced and did. Their pattern is a good one for us.
While in their everyday living they heard a word from God.
They were afraid, “sore afraid,” is how the King James Version has it. Terrified. That is a fairy normal response to a word from God. When God grabs hold of our attention, our posture is not casual. We are often afraid.
They responded by going to see: “The shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.”
They spread the news of what they saw: “When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.” They started spreading the news. Good news demands to be spread abroad.
They returned to their everyday living, “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. . . .” That magnificent moment of God’s revelation does not lift us out of everyday living, but brings new meaning to everyday living. It is true that some people Jesus called left their old jobs, but that was the exception. Most go back to their old jobs and settings with new light, new meaning, new purpose.
I wonder where you are in this journey. Have you heard the word that defines this season? Hear it again: “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Just about everything we need to know about Jesus is packed in that declaration. He is the savior; he is the Messiah; he is the Lord. His coming is good news for all people. Have you heard that word? Have you experienced a twinge of fear about what this might mean? Have you responded in faith? Have you started spreading the good news to others? Have you been glorifying and praising God in your everyday life? I have work to do in steps 4 and 5, in glorifying and praising God everyday and spreading the news. I wonder: How about you?
As we travel to Bethlehem, I find myself most identifying with the shepherds. I love those prophets, like Isaiah, but I’m too conventional to be like them. I love Mary and Joseph, but I’ve never been in circumstances like theirs. When we look at the Magi from the east (next week), I see their great learning and the awesome gifts they brought, but I’m not much good at riding camels long distances. But the shepherds, I feel a bond with them. Simple people that weren’t expecting anything like this to happen to them.
I wonder if all of us can identify with shepherds. We have daily work that is good, but not ideal. We know frustration in our work. We have spheres of influence, whether with people or animals. We want to be good shepherds in our spheres of influence, but we often fall short. The sheep don’t always catch on and obey. There are predators after our sheep and sometimes they break in and trouble a lamb while we are looking the other way. God picked shepherds to make the first trip to see Jesus in the manger. Shepherds. Folks like us.
There are two striking uses of the word “great” in this narrative. The Greek word for great is “mega,” which we have carried over into English. This first use is great fear. To be encountered by the living God, whether through an angelic appearance, the written word called the Bible, or the living word called Jesus is a great thing, often causing great fear. The second great is spoken by the angel: “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. . . .” The literal translation of what the angel said to the shepherds is this: “I am good evangelizing you with great joy.” Evangel means good news, so it can read, “I am good news-ing you with great joy.” Between that great fear and that great joy is where followers of Jesus are often living. And between those two words is this: “Do not be afraid.” That is a good place to be living and serving, between great fear and great joy with this command, “Do not be afraid.”
The keepers of the sheep, the ones who made sure lambs were ready for Temple use, were the first visitors to Mary and Joseph and the Lamb of God. We don’t have any names for these amazing shepherds. I wonder if they signed a guest book.
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