Jason McKnight: 14 Faith Forward – A Shepherd’s Life
“Who’s your favorite character in the Christmas story?” A great question. Well, aside from Baby Jesus, who we all probably should name! Many reverence Mary for her quiet faith and willingness to obey, or Joseph for his stepping up when needed. Others love Zechariah and Elizabeth or Simeon, or even the Wise Men.
For me, I can’t get past the shepherds near Bethlehem. These guys are doing their work – hard work, thankless work, blue-collar work. Seriously, no one really hoped their kids would grow up to be shepherds. Unless that was the family business.
Very low status in a status-bound culture. That didn’t bother God. When it came time to announce the birth of his Son, he chose low status, blue collar shepherds. Not the palace people, not the holy priests, not the noble peasants of Galilee. The least desirable, marginal living sheepherders.
These Bethlehem shepherds, in fact, would be raising sheep for food, for wool, and mostly for sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple a few miles away.
Think about it: these anonymous shepherds raised flock after flock to send them 5 miles up the road to the big city, for use in the daily temple sacrifices. Tough work. Honest work. But low-class work.
These guys are bottom rung. But also, keen-eyed.
That’s the second insight about them. They were trained to watch for the especially perfect little lambs. You could not sacrifice blemished, lame or diseased animals at the Temple. All had to be healthy and whole. Even so, they would be on the lookout for even more perfect lambs for the annual sacrifice.
I learned this last week that when sheep would give birth, after the lambs are cleaned up and examined, it was not uncommon for the shepherds to take a lamb in spectacularly good shape, and—so as to preserve it for the special annual sacrifice—wrap it carefully in cloths, and then lay it each night protectively in the feeding trough. Imagine having a perfect sheep get trampled by the flock!
These shepherds were likely the ONLY people in the entire region who would ascribe any significance to finding a little newborn wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. “Oh, we do that, for the Passover lambs when they’re born. …hey, wait a minute…”
The last, and best, thing about the shepherds is that they are anonymous. Low class, keen-eyed, and anonymous. God gives them the greatest concert even performed for humans. An Angelic Choir—a host!—lighting up the sky. Again, not for priests nor merchants nor kings, nor big city folk. But for anonymous shepherds. Low class, keen eyed anonymous shepherds.
It seems to me that the Lord delights in just this posture: to do for the unexpected some unbelievable things! For anonymous shepherds, an unbelievable concert. For scheming Jacob, an unbelievable wrestle with God. For Daniel and his friends, unbelievable rescue from fiery furnace and lion’s den. For shepherd boy David, an unbelievable anointing. For teenage Mary, an unbelievable Son.
Do you ever feel a bit overlooked? Do you ever wish for more influence? Or at least more influential friends? Do you ever long for respect or recognition? Maybe you should or maybe you shouldn’t. But what I can tell you is that God chose the shepherds for the gift of Christmas. The only Bethlehemites to worship Jesus in person at his birth were low-status, anonymous shepherds. By God’s invitation.
You anonymous life, your low-feelings or low-status life. Your keen-eyed watching for something better. God sees it all. And the same God who sends an angel choir to anonymous shepherds knows how to meet your every need and hope through the baby in the manger, the savior on the cross, and the risen king now at His right hand.
Revel in living a shepherd life; you never know when God will send the angel choir! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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