The Shepherd’s Story                                    12/20/09

         We have listened to the stories of Mary and Joseph and how their lives were transformed by the coming of Christ.  But what about those who first heard the message of His birth?  What about those to whom the angels came?  Those who were chosen to be the first to hear the good news of the coming of the Messiah.  Who were they and what have they to say to us?

         They were shepherds, living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

         I used to think that sounded so romantic, to be out on a clear, cold, winter’s night, looking up at the stars, pondering the mysteries of the universe, casting an occasional, loving glance at my sleeping herd, one small lamb curled up at my feet, my crook in my hand, thinking deep thoughts about the love of God.

         I had a perfect picture in my mind’s eye of the lives of the men, who I imagined were prepared in a way for the coming of angels singing to them about the birth of a Savior, for who deserved more than they to be the first to hear the news?

         But as usual, my nice, romantic version of what a shepherd’s life was like didn’t come close to matching the cold, hard reality.

         These men probably weren’t the owners of the flock.  The owners were sound asleep in their beds.  These were the hired hands, barely making a living wage.  They had no homes or families they could call their own.  They were lonely, uneducated men who lived on the fringe of society.

         Men who had such a reputation for dishonesty that no one was allowed to buy a lamb or sheep from them.  You couldn’t even buy wool or milk from a shepherd because it was taken for granted that whatever they had was stolen property.  They could never hold public office, and they couldn’t even testify in court because everyone assumed they would lie.

         They definitely weren’t known for their deep, significant insights into the nature of God.  When they went to town, it was far more likely that they were looking for a good time than the local synagogue.

         In the eyes of the time, to be a shepherd didn’t make you noble and brave.  It made you a liar and a thief.  But it was to them the angels came.  It was to men with no place in respectable society that God sent His message, “Unto you, to YOU, is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”

         It has always meant a great deal to me that God sent His angels to these shepherds before anyone else, because it’s one more time He has been able to show me that His way of coming is not mine --- His way of seeing is not mine – that His way of loving is not mine.

         If I had seen those shepherds, I would never have looked beyond their reputation.  I would not have gotten beyond their sins and temptations.  But God’s way of seeing is not mine.

         God saw that part of those shepherds who knew every animal they tended by name.  He saw men who would seek out little ones who fell behind or got lost from the herd.  He saw the courage of men willing to risk their lives to protect what was not even theirs.

         He saw, reflected in them, His own image, the very image of the Great Shepherd.  For when He saw those men, standing out in a field, He saw His children in need of a Savior.

         And when He sees me, and when He sees you, He sees the same.  No matter what else is there – no matter what our hidden sins or thoughts – no matter what the world sees for good or ill – what God sees, within us, is His own image, and He sees His child, in need of a Savior.

         That night so long ago, the Lord sent angels to sing to the shepherds a song meant for them, a song of a Savior who had come for outcasts and sinners.  They heard the song and they saw their salvation, and they returned changed by love into witnesses for God, glorifying and praising the Lord for all that they had seen and heard, telling others about this child and the miracle of His birth.

         May our prayer be that, this Christmas, we will listen to the song the angels sing, the same way those shepherds did so long ago.  May we too travel to God’s heart of love and find our own miracle there, filling our hearts and our lives, and then may we go and tell others what it is we have seen and found.