The Shepherds

Luke 2:8–20 KJV 1900

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Beth-lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Introduction

Shepherds are one of the most recognizable features of the Christmas story.

Out in the fields surrounding Bethlehem, these men have been cleaned up and mythologized over time.

As foreigners to the culture of the first century, we understandably relate these men to wholesome farmers.

While these specific shepherds may have been pious, respectable men, they belonged to a class that was not well-thought- of in that time.

Shepherds had an almost universal bad reputation.

They had an unfortunate habit of confusing “mine and thine” as they roamed from pasture to pasture.

People were not thrilled to see the shepherds heading their way.

So unreliable was there word that shepherds were prohibited from giving testimony in a court of law.

As these shepherds spent the night out in some of the same pastures once grazed by the herds of David, we know something about the sheep in this area.

It is likely that the shepherds in this passage were pasturing sheep destined for the temple sacrifices.

Rabbinic rule provides that any animal found between Jerusalem an Bethlehem must be presumed to be a sacrificial victim.

These social outcasts have banded together at the end of the day for some rest.

They enjoy the only community that would accept them, each other.

They watch over the animals that will be purchased by people from all over Judea to serve as sacrifices to God.

Their rest and conversation is suddenly interrupted by the brightness of a heavenly visitor.

A messenger from God, straight from Heaven is suddenly standing before them.

The fields and flocks are instantly illuminated by the glory of God!

The angel says to the third straight audience, FEAR NOT!

Zacharias, Mary, and now the shepherds have all received the same direction, fear not.

The angel begins speaking in a language that the shepherds can understand.

He tells them that he has good tidings for them.

As Luke wrote in Greek, he used the same verb that he would use throughout the book of Acts to describe the preaching or delivery of the gospel.

The shepherds are about to learn that the best news any human can hear will always be related to Jesus.

The angel announces the arrival of 3-titled person in the nearby town of Bethlehem.

The angel uses 3 different titles for this newborn.

He is the Savior.

The gospels only contain the word Saviour 3x.

Only twice does it refer directly to Jesus.

This is curious since we use it quite often.

The word meant more than the shepherds could have imagined.

The birth of the saviour meant the birth of the deliverer.

Jesus would and will deliver the world from all evil, both of sin and sorrow.

He is the Christ.

Christ and Messiah both mean essentially the same thing.

They both point to Jesus’ office as the anointed one of God.

As Messiah and Christ, Jesus’ birth is meant to signal the fulfilment of OT prophecy and pictures.

Not the least of which was represented in the fields surrounding the shepherds that night.

All of those sacrificial lambs had served to point to the coming Lamb of God.

He is the Lord.

Kurios is used throughout the Greek translation of the OT to refer to one person, God.

This baby is the embodiment of God, Himself.

The angel does not then tell the shepherds to go find this baby.

He does, however, assume that someone who has just heard about the savior being born, will probably want to go find HIm.

So, he tells the shepherds how they will know which baby he is talking about.

Bethlehem is not a large town.

There might not have been many babies of less than 1 day old.

There may have been, though, some other babies that were in town, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

But, there would surely only be one newborn baby that they would find lying in a manger.

Before the shepherds could act on what they’ve heard, the lone messenger is joined by a host of angels.

If the appearance of one angel was frightening, what would a host of angel’s look like?

Remember a host is not a generic term for a lot.

A host is a military term meant to describe specifically the gathering of an army.

This is not just the assembly of a bunch of glowing choir boys.

This is a revealing of the army of God inhabiting the field with the shepherds.

Rather than imaging feminine or even tenor voices, I imagine the sound of soldiers chanting about the arrival of their king.

It does, after all say that they said what they had to say, not that they sang what they had to say.

Their message is highly educational.

It begins with the glory of God.

We focus on the message of peace and goodwill toward men.

Peace and goodwill toward men only come after God is glorified in our hearts and in our world.

Peace is a result of God occupying His proper place in human hearts.

When inner harmony is there because the human soul has peace with its Lord, peace will come.

Peace will spontaneously spring up in the mutual relations between human.

While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief, and envy. He cannot give peace of heart, for which man yearns more than even for outward peace.

-Epictetus

As they completed their announcement, the angels made their way back to heaven.

This was not done suddenly as with their appearance.

The text is written to describe a gradual retreat.

The shepherds could stand and watch for a long time as the the angel filed out of view.

If they had any doubt whether what they were seeing was real or imagined, the recessional gave them time to watch and ponder.

The shepherds immediately decide to go to the city.

It is difficult to convey in english the sense of urgency that is imparted in the greek.

Many have tried to describe just how emphatic these words are.

The feeling of “come on, let’s go!” is exuberant and energetic.

The shepherds are pumped to be included by God in this special night.

You can sense their excitement in the statement that they “came with haste.”

They rushed to the city to find this baby.

How shocked were they to observe the humility of Jesus’ birth?

What a contrast between the glory of the announcement and the humility of the nativity.

It doesn’t seem to have squelched their enthusiasm though.

The shepherds spread the news as far as they could.

One commentator painted a vivid picture of the shepherds bringing the sacrificial lambs to Jerusalem and telling the people, the religious leaders and anyone that would listen about what they had seen and heard.

You would think that this kind of story would have impacted people.

Maybe it did prompt people like Simeon and Anna to be on the lookout.

But, overall, it seems to have had little effect on the population.

Here, you have this tremendous event, and only a feeble ripple of astonishment ruffled their souls for a moment.

But then, it soon died out leaving the depths of their souls unaffected by the arrival of the Messiah.

This seems like a mark against the veracity of the Bible.

Really it adds to it’s trustworthiness.

Only a true story would place the first eye witness accounts to the birth of Jesus in the hands of shepherds.

Only a true story would reflect the minimal impact that this seemed to have on people.

How do we have the record of these true events?

Mary seems to be the source.

An apparent stumbling block is left, because the story is true.

Though the story didn’t affect the broader population, it stayed with the shepherds.

They continued glorifying and praising God.

They didn’t let the indifference of others rob them of the joy they received from God.