Road Trippin With Rachael

In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flocks. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to the , “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a aby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger. – Luke 2:8-12

If it were up to me, we would have Christmas carols playing all year long. Besides the fact that I love carols, I also think that they are a great way to share the Gospel story through music. Our carol for today is Angels We Have Heard On High, and I love the opening verse “Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o’er the plains. And the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains.” Even the mountains will echo the songs that angel sang at the birth of Christ! As we look at today’s carol we are going to look at some new characters in the Nativity story – shepherds – and the significance that they play in the overall birth of Christ. Today, we are going to be exploring two Gospel centered truths from Luke 2:8-12.

The Humblest of Family for the Humblest of People

I think that if you are familiar at all with the Nativity, you should remember Jesus was born in a stable. Only Jesus can reply to someone yelling “Were you born in a barn?” “Why, yes. Yes, I was.” As you can safely assume, a stable wasn’t the ideal place to give birth, and the lack of being able to get proper lodging would indicate the level of social standing that Joseph and Mary had. As a carpenter, Joseph was more than capable of providing, but he wasn’t going to be wealthy. They would have been probably lower middle class people – they weren’t begging, but they did have to work for what they had. Joseph had a solid trade, and was able to provide, but they were still a humble family.

But aside from Jesus, Mary, and Joseph some other characters that have now appeared: the Shepherds. To really understand their appearance is important, we have to go back and do a bit of a history lesson. At this time shepherds were not exactly high society; in fact, it was considered to be a lowly profession. This is a complete change from the time of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) who were shepherds themselves. Comparatively to some of their contemporaries: Lot, Ishmael, and Esau. The value of shepherds was further devalued because of the exchange of different cultures which came about because of the different empires that had come into power. A few of these would include the Babylonia Empire, Medo-Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire. As different cultures began to interact, people began to learn different trades, and there were different jobs that had previously not been available that people could have, and shepherds were kind of pushed lower down the level of importance.

Interestingly enough, despite the lowering of the value of shepherds, this is how Jesus would describe himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). Shepherds were caregivers who took care of an animal that is….less than self-sufficient. Sheep are complete reliant on their shepherds, and that was the picture of how Israel was meant to relate to God; it was the picture of how humanity was to relate to God – that was the whole point of having a day of rest, and why the people of Israel are told to “Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, CSB). Reliance on God was the point, and setting aside a day of the week was meant to be a reminder. Likewise, by originally having the trade of choice be shepherding it was meant to be a picture of that aspect of the relationship we are called to have with God. In some ways, by having the first people to hear of the Messiah’s birth are shepherds. It is almost like the word of the Lord having come full circle – the covenant with the shepherd Abraham is fulfilled and shared with the shepherds out watching their fields.

Fulfillment of Prophecy Proclaimed

Prophecy. The term has come up before in my blogs, and we’ve drilled down on some of them, specifically relating to Bethlehem and the lineage of Christ being from King David, through the tribe of Judah, through Abraham, and from Adam. All of these details have been adding up for us as people in the 21st century. Now, we are seeing it being stated that the prophecy of Christ has been fulfilled. Everything has been leading up to this point, to this pivotal moment in history.

But the world didn’t see fan fair with a parade, or a party, or some great celebration by kings. Instead, there was a great hosts of angels who that tell these humble shepherds that the promised Messiah had been born, in the city of David. They shared that the prophecies have been fulfilled! That the Savior was here, he had come!

But not only was this great news shared, it was who it was shared with. They didn’t announce this in the middle of the temple, or to King Herod, or to the Roman governor was at that moment. The angels didn’t appear above the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence among the people was represented. No, the angels appeared to share this news with shepherds who were humbly watching their flocks. Why? To my way of thinking, God deliberately shared with those who were considered lowest in society because God is not a god that is only for the rich, the wealthy, the high class, the middle class, the educated, and the people living in the cities. Christ came for all people of every station, every social-economic income, of every educational level, living in all places. And he is still available to all people.

Final Thoughts

God is for all people. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, where you have come from, what your job is, your education level, or where you are at in on the rungs of society – God is available to you. Recognizing your own sin, your need to be forgiven, and asking for that forgiveness, God will forgive you and welcome you as one of his children. He will empower you to turn away from sin. This doesn’t mean that there still won’t be struggles with sin or that there won’t be any consequences for sins you have committed and will commit, but it does mean that you are forgiven.