AND THERE WERE SHEPHERDS LIVING OUT IN THE FIELDS NEARBY
Luke 2
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
They were shepherds; they were nearby. Clearly we are to understand the “everyman” nature of this group of people that was invited to witness the birth of the Christ.
Why not the religious leaders, who would be in a better position to understand the theological import of the birth? Why not the administrative leaders—the king and noble men—who could have given the child better circumstances to be born into? Well, we are told in Matthew that these people, when they heard the news, plotted to kill the child.
The implication, I think, is this: God takes special care to make sure that the “nobodies” in the world will have their opportunity to also hear and respond to the “good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
It is not that God avoids people in power and people of learning. The eunuch of Ethiopia and Nicodemus come to mind. I believe that God invited the shepherds who were nearby to witness the birth of the Christ to honour them and to give them (and those in their strata of society) a special advantage in receiving the good news.
Jesus tells us of that day when the goats would be separated out from among the sheep, and he would say to the sheep, “I notice what you did for those who are hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the one who needed clothes, the one who was in prison”. Who are these people? They are the ones society doesn’t see, but God sees, Jesus sees, and the sheep are those who also see. The goats never saw them and so asked, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?”
We are busy paying attention to the rich and powerful, the well-dressed, well-heeled, and well-spoken but on the occasion of the birth of his Son, God sent angels to these shepherds to invite them to see the child.
In today’s world, who would be the shepherds? Yes, obviously those who work on farms, people who live close to the land, but in urban neighbourhoods, they would be the tradespeople, those who wake up early in the day to prepare, buying the things they need for the day, or prepping the goods that they would sell that day. How many of us would notice tradespeople as people who also need to know this “good news that will cause great joy”? God apparently did. Would these people respond to the news? Apparently these did although, truth be told, their experience was nothing short of spectacular; but then, who is to say that God would not extend his hand to give them a special advantage?
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”