Sunday's Message: The Shepherds

As we move through Advent, we’re looking at the characters of Christmas. During this five-week worship series, we'll focus on some of the main characters of the Christmas story.

• November 27 – Zechariah
• December 4 – Mary
• December 11 – The SPC Youth Christmas Youth Service
• December 18 – Joseph
• December 25 – The Shepherds
• January 1 – The Wise Men

In the fourth message, we focused on the shepherds. A copy and recording of the message is below.

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Well, here we are, Christmas Day. And you know, I think it’s kind of interesting. Since 1987 when I was ordained and worked with my first congregation, this is the sixth time Christmas has fallen on Sunday. And you know, each time, I was living in a different state. For example, it happened in 1988, when I was in Fairview, Montana, and by the way, I looked it up, the temperature out there on the twenty-fifth was about 40̊. And then it happened again in 1994 when I was celebrating my second Christmas in Indianapolis, that was predebbie,  and then in 2005 when I was teaching history and economics in Buckingham County, Virginia, Maggie was three and I was working part-time with three little, bittie churches right close to the James River. And then, in 2011, we were at Cove Presbyterian, right there in downtown Weirton. And in 2022, well, here we are. And take it to the bank, of all my Sunday Christmases, this is the coldest.

But be-that-as-it-may, this morning, we’re going to continue our series by looking at another one of the characters that most of us associate with the birth of Christ. Now, to this point, we’ve talked about Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and how he showed faith even though he had some doubts, something that we can certainly apply in our own lives. And then, we focused on the virgin Mary and how, when the angel Gabriel announced that God had chosen her to do something which would change the history of the universe, after some initial questions, she accepted her call with humility and enthusiasm, something else we can all do as live out the lives God has called us to live. And then last week, we discussed Joseph, Jesus’s adopted father, and how he allowed himself to change when challenged by the word and will of God, once again, something that we can certainly do when all those rules and assumptions we’ve convinced ourselves that God wants us to follow are challenged by that simple yet profound pair of related commands: that we love God and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. And so, as we’ve seen, each of these individuals offers us a very clear and definite example of faith that we can sort of integrate into our own lives all year long. Now that’s where we’ve been.

And this morning, well, we’re going to do something a little bit different, because we’re not going to be talking about a character, you know, a single individual. Instead, we’re going to focus on a group that plays a pretty big role in the birth of Jesus Christ as written by the Evangelist Luke. You see, during the rest of our time together this morning, we’re going to focus on the shepherds, a bunch of guys who are mentioned in most of our Christmas carols and who, I can guarantee, are part of every single nativity set. Now that’s going to be our focus. And to do that, we’ll follow the same sort of structure we’ve used in the prior three character-driven messages. In other words, we’ll use scripture and in particular the birth story in the second chapter of Luke to answer these three questions: first, who were the shepherds; second, what happened to them right after Jesus was born; and third, how did they show faith. Now, that’s what we’ll be doing for the next ten minutes or so. And hopefully, by the end of the message, we’ll have some ideas about how we might respond just like they did as we move beyond this day into the new year.

And as we’ve done three times before, we’ll start with question number one: who were the shepherds? In other words, who were these guys who were so important in Luke’s story and who, I believe, offer us examples that we can follow? Of course, the description offered by the Evangelist is pretty brief and basic. I mean, he wrote, “That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep.” [Luke 2:8, CEV] Now, I don’t know about y’all, but for me, this information isn’t all that new or exciting. Shepherds in the fields, hanging out with sheep, who’d have thought;  I mean, dah. But that’s it; that’s all Luke offered as background. And so, we probably need a little more information to really understand who they were. 

And you know, when you consider shepherds in first century Palestine, well, they’re kind of a mixed bag. For example, on one hand, economically, politically and socially, they were about as plain as dirty. Now, that’s not saying that they were in the same league with prostitutes and tax collectors, because they weren’t. Rather, they were just common people, who had a job that enabled them to earn enough each day to put some food on their table, not unlike farmers or merchants or carpenters. And so, on one hand, in the eyes of the world, man, shepherds were nothing to write home about. On the other hand, though, in scripture, shepherds were held in high esteem. I mean, all the way back to Abraham, some of the greatest people in Jewish history were shepherds. And remember, when he was looking for a new king, Solomon found David hanging out with sheep. But it wasn’t just shepherds as persons; even their profession was presented in a positive light. As a matter of fact, the care and compassion that a good shepherd might show to his sheep, you know, his ability to lead them to green pastures and still waters and his willingness both to protect the flock and to find the lost, these were all used to illustrate God’s love for us. I mean, 

The Lord is my shepherd; 

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 

he leadeth me beside the still waters. 

[Psalm 23:1-2, KJV]

And so, I guess you could say that shepherds were just plain folks who had the potential of showing great compassion. 

And in a real way, doesn’t that sort of describe us? A couple of days ago I saw this on Twitter about Elon Musk:

It’s 80,000 BC. You are immortal. The world is still frozen in an ice age. You decide to save $10,000 EVERY DAY, never spending a cent. 82,021 years later, it's 2021. You still don't have as much money as Elon Musk.

Now, let me be clear. I’m in no way criticizing Elon Musk or suggesting that he doesn’t deserve what he’s worth. My point is this: as I look out at y’all, I don’t think there’s a single Elon Musk here this morning. Why; because that’s just not who we are, are we? I mean, for the most part, we’re right there, on the fat part of the bell curve, sort of like the shepherds. But I’ll tell you, also like them, I think we have both the capacity and the opportunity to do what we’ve been called to do in a way that actually shows great mercy and compassion. You see, in my opinion, we’re all kind of mixed bags. That’s really who we are, and I’ll tell you, that’s also who the shepherds were, the answer to our first question.

But you know, having said that, according to the story from the second chapter of Luke, there’s definitely one area where we have a real leg up on the shepherds. You see, unlike them, we know what happened in Bethlehem, don’t we? And we know it, because Luke told us when he wrote:

About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 

Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family.

Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn. [Luke 2:1-7, CEV]

You see, when we first meet the shepherds, this we already know.

And that really leads to question number two, doesn’t it: What happened to the shepherds? What happened to them as they were out in that field guarding those sheep? Now that’s the question. And I’ll tell you, while Luke was a little brief in describing who they were, he offered a lot of information about what happened. He wrote, 

All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, "Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay."

Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

"Praise God in heaven!

Peace on earth to everyone

    who pleases God."  [Luke 2:9-14, CEV]

Now, that’s what Luke wrote. 

And you know, when you look at what he said, the angel actually told the shepherds two really important things. You see, after saying to them the same thing angels always seem to say, “Don’t be afraid,” first, he identified Jesus, didn’t he? I mean, just like any good reporter would do, he gave them the who and the what and the when and the where. Now that’s what he did. And the information he gave was so accurate, that, as we’ll find out in a little while, these shepherds were able to find the one he described. You see, the angel identified Jesus. But he didn’t stop there, because second, he described what Jesus had come to do. I guess you could say, along with the first four, the angel moved on to “w” number five. You see, thanks to the message, those shepherds knew why he came. He came to be the savior. He came to be the Christ. He came to be their Lord. In other words, he’d come to be the one that Zechariah, described when he said this right after naming his son John:

Praise the Lord,

    the God of Israel!

He has come

    to save his people.

Our God has given us

    a mighty Savior

from the family

    of David his servant. [Luke 1:68-69, CEV]

You see, through the angel Jesus was identified and his mission was described.

And I’ll tell you, the same thing has happened to us. I mean, even though we may not have heard it from the lips of an angel, man, we can identify Jesus also, can’t we? I mean, let’s get real, we know who he was and what he did and when he came and where he was born and lived and died. Man, we know this stuff. And we know it because, not only do we have the Book, in Greek, the Βίβλος, the Bible, God sent to us his Holy Spirit, so that we could hear and understand and believe. You see, like the shepherds, we can identify Jesus. But also like them, we also know why he came. Using the words that a man named Simeon will say later in the second chapter of Luke, when Mary and Joseph presented their son in the Temple:

“Lord, I am your servant,

    and now I can die in peace,

because you have kept

    your promise to me.

With my own eyes I have seen

what you have done

    to save your people,

and foreign nations

    will also see this.

Your mighty power is a light

    for all nations,

and it will bring honor

    to your people Israel.” [Luke 2:29-32, CEV] 

You see, based on what we’ve heard and understood and believed, we can trust that Jesus still is the Savior and the Christ and the Lord, just like the angel said. This has happened to us, because that’s exactly what happened to the shepherds, the answer to our second question.

And that leaves us with question number three: How did the shepherds show faith? In other words, after these very common men heard the message from the angel, how did they show that they believed, that they had faith, you know, that they trusted what they’d heard. Well, just listen to the Evangelist Luke:

After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about." They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. Everyone listened and was surprised. But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.

As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said. [Luke 2:15-20, CEV]

Now that’s what they did. You see, shepherds decided to leave, to go from their field and their flocks so that they could check out what the angel had said. And then they decided to celebrate, to share what they’d heard and to listen so that they might grow. And then they decided to return, to go back to their field and their flock and to go back to the lives they were living before. You see, they decided to return, because they couldn’t live their lives just staring at a baby lying in the straw. But I’ll tell you, they didn’t go back as the same men they once were, because they weren’t the same. Man, they’d been changed by what they’d heard and understood and believed. And even though, after the story ended, they were never mentioned again, at the very least, we know that “as the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.” [Luke 2:20, CEV] Now that’s how they showed their faith. 

And you know, we can do the same thing ourselves. I mean, we know the who, what, when, and where as it relates to Jesus and we also know why he came. This we know. And with that knowledge, we can make the conscious decision to leave behind some of the mundane aspects of our lives from time to time so that we can focus on what we’ve heard and understood and believed. Of course, how we might do it; man, it’s not one size fits all. I mean, some of us might decide to move closer to God through things like study and worship and prayer, while others might discover a new sense of closeness when they’re riding a bike or painting a picture or just looking at a sunset. My gosh, I know a lot of folks whom I really respect who decide to leave their day-to-day living from time-to-time in order to feed the hungry and to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked and to welcome the stranger, to care for the sick and to visit the prisoner. You see, we can also leave and go to our own special place. And there, just like the shepherds, we can decide to celebrate. I mean, we can discuss with one another how God continues to reveal his mercy and compassion through his word and in his world. And we can share with those who may be very different from us the peace and the comfort and the hope we receive when we feel as though we’re in God’s presence in a special way. And we can actively and intentionally work to improve the lives of those whom the world considers unimportant, because we know that what we do for them, we’re actually doing for Jesus Christ himself. You see, after we leave, we can celebrate. But then, like the shepherds, we can decide to return, because let’s get real, life isn’t lived on mountaintops or by mangers. It’s lived with other people, people a lot like us, with one difference. You see, based on what we’ve heard and understood and believed, we can be confident that God loves us, but they, man, they just may not know that yet. And wouldn’t it be exciting if we were somehow involved in letting them know. You see, when we decide to leave and to celebrate and to return, we’re following the example of the shepherds, because that’s how they showed their faith, the answer to our third question. 

And that, my friends, concludes only the sixth Sunday, December 25 message I’ve preached in thirty-five years. And since it won’t happen again until 2033, I have no idea where I’ll be. But I’m just hoping it’s above ground. But regardless of what the future holds for any of us, certain things probably won’t change. I mean, our world will always be full of average people who have the capacity and opportunity to show great compassion. And these folks will continue to hear and understand and believe in the who, what, where, and when of Jesus as well as why he came. And because of this, they’ll continue to see the importance of leaving and celebrating and returning. Now I believe that’s going to continue, just like it did for those shepherds on another Christmas morning, some two thousand years ago.