“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.” Luke 2:8
Every year I look forward to decorating for Christmas; my Granny’s nativity set is my most precious decoration. Each year when I carefully bring it out of its special box to display on the tabletop, I ponder the events that unfolded for all the people involved. I always position the shepherds up front and center, closest to Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. And the three Kings further back. It’s almost a sub-conscience move these days based on the knowledge that the shepherds were the first to be invited and arrive to see the newborn King (Luke 2:15).
In his book “Good Tidings of Great Joy” William Barclay writes, “It’s a wonderful thing that the first announcement of God came to some shepherds. Shepherds were despised by the orthodox people of the day. They were unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law and they could not observe all the meticulous hand-washings and rules and regulations. Yet it was to these simple men of the fields that God’s first message came.” How ironic that the people so despicable and unaccepted by the Hebrews made it possible for them to offer animal sacrifices that made them acceptable to God. And, the flocks outside Bethlehem were not just ordinary sheep. According to Hebrew scholar Alfred Edersheim, they were the sheep to be used as sacrifices in the temple. Jesus came to earth to be the sacrificial Lamb, and the first humans to visit the newborn Christ were shepherds of the sacrificial lambs. Coincidence? I think not! Jesus came to earth in the lowliest manner, and the announcement of His arrival was made first to the lowest of people of that time. He came that way so no one could ever say they were not worthy of His love and redemption. Revealing himself first to nameless, ordinary shepherds, He opened the door for all to walk through, regardless of their sin or position in life.
In Luke’s account of that first Christmas, the shepherds reveal to us as Christians what our response should be to the Good News. When the angels gave them instructions, they left for Bethlehem in obedience and faith. Luke 2:17 says, “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child.” They told everybody about their life-changing experience. They became the first witnesses for Christ. And then the Bible says, “Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them” (Luke 2:20). And they worshipped Him. Ordinary, simple, despised shepherds to most but not to God. And after that first Christmas, there was nothing ordinary about their lives ever again. I pray your experience has been the same since you first met Christ. Nothing is ordinary again. And that’s your Tuesday Tidbit.
The picture is of my Granny’s simple but precious nativity scene.