That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 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 2:8-20

Dear God, yesterday I took this story and spent some time with Mary and Joseph. Today, I want to look at it from the perspective of the shepherds. First, I acknowledge that I probably don’t know enough about shepherds and their lives in this era. But going back to my question yesterday of, “Why did you appear to the shepherds and have them go to see Jesus?” I want to ask this question again from their perspective. Why these guys?

First, what were your options? Local synagogue leaders, the local political officials, the wealthy community leaders, Joseph’s relatives (presumably he had relatives there for the census too), etc. Why didn’t you choose any of these people? When I ask it this way, the answer is pretty obvious: they would have laid their own agenda on top of yours. Church leaders might have tried to take the baby from Mary and Joseph. Local political or community leaders might have tried to prop up Joseph and Mary in an effort to train the child to one day be their leader–ultimately keeping them from being able to flee to Egypt or completely altering the life Jesus led as he grew up. Even his relatives would have been excited about the Messiah being born to their family and they might have tried to influence the rest of Jesus’s life.

Then there are the shepherds. Unassuming. No agenda. No power or prestige. No reason for anyone outside of Mary and Joseph to even believe them. Heck, they could have been drunk and hallucinated the whole thing. No, these were the perfect people to hear about your son being born.

I think every pastor in town would like to think you would have come to them with the news. I would like to think that I would be trustworthy with the news of Jesus being born. But all of us are likely to lay our own agendas, visions, and preconceived notions on what this child’s life should be like. Look at Zechariah and his prophecy over John. A lot of it was wrong. He didn’t understand. No one did. How could they. You needed someone then who wouldn’t try to apply their own ideas and understandings to the situation. How much is that true now as well? How often do I get in the way of your plans with my own “wisdom” and agendas.

Finally, I want to look at what it did for these men in particular. How did they see you differently? What were their conversations like as they went back to the fields? We know they went back praising and glorifying you. Was that the first time in a long time they had done that? Were you more real, more important to them now than you had been the night before? How did this transform the rest of their lives? Their families?

Father, when I come across the moments in my life when you show up, help me to just praise and glorify you. Help me to let go of trying to lay my own plans on top of it. Even at work right now, you did great things for us this year, and there are times I allow myself to become burdened by what I’m supposed to do with the gifts you have given to the organization where I work. But I don’t know, and when I do that it steals the joy from the moment. I forget to worship and glorify you. I don’t forget to be thankful, but I also don’t stop to simply accept the provision and pray for how you want it used. So I pray for that now. Help our organization know how to use the donations of money and time that you bring to us. Help me to know how to glorify your name so that you are always increasing and I am decreasing. Help me to approach life like a shepherd and not like the people from whom you kept the knowledge about Jesus’s birth.

I pray all of this in Jesus’s name because you reconciled me to yourself through his sacrifice and power as your son,

Amen