Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Time travel has always been a fascination to many people. If God gave you the opportunity to spend ONE hour back in the original Christmas story, I wonder where you’d go and who you’d talk with? For me, I think I’d go out to the fields with the shepherds that night, when suddenly the night sky was filled with angels. Oh my, what an experience that would have been, and of course I’d run with them to Bethlehem to find the manger! As you know by now, we’re considering ONE Christmas question each day in our journey to Christmas ’24 and today the question is “WHY Shepherds?”
Of all the vocations in the world, all the different types of jobs and careers, did you know ‘shepherd’ is one of the oldest in human history? Of all the family businesses, shepherding flocks, is one which is sustained through many, many generations. Did you know most family businesses fail in the third or fourth generation, but not so with shepherds! Of all the many vocations mentioned in the Bible, did you know shepherd is one of those most often referred to and shepherds play very key roles in many of the most significant events in the Bible?
For instance, do you remember what the brothers were doing when they saw Joseph approaching in his brightly colored coat and agreed to sell him as a slave to a traveling caravan? (Gen. 37:12-14) Joseph and his brothers, and their father Jacob and grandfather Isaac and great grandfather Abraham were all shepherds! Their family estate and fortune were all wrapped up in sheep and goats and camels and other such animals!
In fact, years later when Joseph was Prime Minister of Egypt responsible for famine management, do you remember Joseph invited his father Jacob and those brothers who had sold him as a slave, to come and live in the bounty of Egypt? When Joseph introduced his brothers to the Pharaoh they were put in charge of Pharaoh’s finest flocks! (Gen. 47:1-6)
Perhaps you remember when Moses had his life changing encounter with God at the burning bush, he was tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro! (Exodus 3:1-7) And when Samuel was sent by God to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be the next king of Israel, do you remember after all the boys passed in front of Samuel, he was a bit confused for God had said “no, not this one” about each son of Jesse! So, Samuel asked Jesse if he had any more sons, and Jesse’s answer was: “There is still the youngest. He is tending the sheep.”(1 Samuel 16:8-13) And when that young boy came in from the field, God told Samuel “Rise and anoint him, this is the one!”
Oh, there are many more important Biblical stories that include shepherds, but our question today is WHY? Why are shepherds in the Christmas story? Perhaps you remember when Samuel visited Jesse’s house God warned him not to select the next king with normal, human leadership selection criteria! God said to Samuel: “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:7) It was David’s heart that led God to select young David to be the next and most highly regarded of all the kings of Israel. It was the heart of Joseph which led God to select him to become the Prime Minister of Egypt and save his family and millions of other people from death in famine.
Shepherding in the first century was considered by most people to be about the least respected of all jobs. People often assumed shepherds were unschooled and therefore ignorant, yet the skills needed to care for sick or injured animals bringing them back to full health were skills similar to doctors for people!
The skills needed to calculate the cost for raising each animal and the precise point of best value for sale, required businesses skills and return on investment analysis which exceeded most all other businesses in their day. The skills required for defending their flocks from attacking animals or thieves, without any weapon other than a slingshot or club or knife, far exceeded the security skills any other business owner had for simply putting a lock on the door of their business.
Shepherds required remarkable ingenuity for discerning where the next best pasture and clean water was for their flocks without satellite imagery or drone technology able to review vast land areas. Shepherds were sophisticated managers of precious animals which were vital not only to the economy of Israel but also the religious life of Jews who brought precious, spotless lambs for sacrifice to the Temple.
Shepherding was a very demanding vocation requiring shepherds to be out living with their sheep, moving with them in search of pastureland and water, often away from their families for long periods of time.
Shepherding was not a 9-5 job, for the good shepherd must ALWAYS be watching over his flocks, making sure they are healthy, well and safe… day and night, week in week out, all year round.
As we can imagine shepherds and their sheep develop very close relationships and as you may know it was the VOICE of the shepherd which drew his flock to him and away from danger or any other shepherd. Perhaps you know shepherds LEAD their flock as their sheep huddle close to the shepherd as the shepherd leads them along from one place to another, talking to his sheep. Cattle, on the other hand are DRIVEN by the rancher from behind, cracking a whip over their heads to keep them moving together.
Normally there is great love between a good shepherd and his sheep for he has been with them, caring for them, from the moment of their birth! That’s why David wrote Psalm 23 portraying such a beautiful picture of relationship between shepherd & sheep. It was David’s relationship with God developed over many years out with his sheep, sleeping under the stars with them, watching sunrises and sunsets, finding good pasture each day for his flock.
So why did God choose humble shepherds to be the first human beings to hear about God’s visit to earth in the person of Jesus, born in Bethlehem? I believe it’s because they would understand far more deeply and quickly than any other humans, the miracle of Incarnation, God coming to live among us!
Shepherds would understand Jesus in His John 10 explanation about sheep and shepherd and then Jesus’ declaration: “I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me…and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be ONE flock and ONE shepherd…My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me…”(John 10:14-16, 27)
Jesus was speaking about His coming to give His life so any and ALL people, from anywhere in the world, could be saved by Him. Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, from every generation. Shepherds would be among the few to understand that! Shepherds would also understand Jesus, Immanuel, saying “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand, I and the Father are one.”(John 10:28-30)
The angels appeared in the night sky over fields near Bethlehem where shepherds were watching over their flocks. You know the Christmas story, and you know the angels announced the birth of Messiah, a Savior, in Bethlehem and that the shepherds would find him lying in a manger. I love the confidence rather than fear reported by Dr. Luke “When the angels had left them… the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord told us about. So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them…” (Luke 2:15-18)
And yet amazingly, we have NO record that anyone who heard what the shepherds told them came to look for themselves, for the angel announced child, God in the manger! It’s a matter of the heart, isn’t it my friends! It’s a matter of priorities and belief in the truth as God proclaims it. That’s why shepherds and not any of the other busy people in Bethlehem that night, heard the news first!
So, as we walk back to the fields with the shepherds shaking their heads wondering why no one ran out of their homes searching for the manger, we look around our world today and it’s amazingly similar isn’t it? And we’re left asking… do we have hearts like shepherds this Christmas?
Rather than a song today my friends, watch this brief video of a modern-day shepherd call his sheep out from the fog… they know his voice! Do you and I know the voice of Jesus? Is He leading us out of the fog of our lives?
Today’s Scripture: Luke 2:15-18.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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