Looking for ChristmasSample

Looking at the Shepherds

When the King of kings was born, an invitation did not go out to the top echelon of society but to a few shepherds keeping their flocks by night. The very special honor to welcome the baby Jesus was extended to the least educated of men in a profession that was despised by everyone.

Shepherds were never invited to parties because they were on the bottom rung of the social ladder. For the most part, they were uneducated outcasts whose witness wasn’t even admissible inside a court of law. Shepherds worked long hours, earned low wages, and spent many lonely days and nights making sure that their sheep didn’t wander off and protecting them from bears or lions. Shepherds reeked of the flock and boasted layers of dirt on their skin. But on the positive side, they had good job security because no one else wanted to do their work! Why in the world would angels appear to them with the good news of great joy?

Neither Matthew or Luke gives us the shepherds’ names; we don’t even know how many were out in the fields that evening, and we can only presume their shock and fear when, in the middle of their boredom, “suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them” (Luke 2:9 NLT).

“The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them” (Luke 2:20 NLT). As they went back to the fields that evening, the shepherds had all they needed from the Lord, the shepherd of their hearts. Their experience with Jesus led to glorifying and praising God the Father. When we experience Jesus and He touches our lives, we can’t help but praise and glorify God!

Those shepherds became the first evangelists of the good news. All who heard the shepherds’ stories were astonished, and we have to wonder: Were they astonished that the Messiah was finally here, or that it was lowly shepherds who were given favor from the Lord to know about it first? Despite whatever looks the shepherds received as they spread the good news of great joy for all men, for the rest of their lives, they would remember that peace on earth is for all those with whom God is pleased.