Shepherd - The Dilemma of Joy

Introduction

Video: Shepherds: The Dilemma of Joy

Tension

So obviously there were no “root’n toot’n” cowboys in the first Christmas story, but since we don’t really have a Shepherding class in our day…the way we respond to this cowboy is probably close to how people would have responded to the Shepherds. Much like the cow hand who spends most of his life out on cattle drives, the Shepherd was not a mover and shaker in high society. No one expected them to know much about anything, except for sheep.

So the question that really drives this Dilemma of Joy for the Shepherds is why did God choose them in the first place? Why send messengers to Shepherds and then call on those Shepherds to be messengers themselves? Wouldn’t God’s purposes have been better served to put the good news of Jesus birth in the mouths of Kings or governors who everyone was listening to anyway? The first century equivalent to the talking heads of TV or the social network stars with millions of followers. Why Shepherds?

I would imagine these Shepherds may have asked the same question. Why us? Well what if the message the angel of the Lord shared with the shepherds that first Christmas night was to show them and us how to respond to this Dilemma of joy. Perhaps the decision to send the message out first through the lowly members of society was intended to be an answer to their Dilemma right from the start. Maybe God knew those shepherds would second guess whether or not this good news of great joy was really meant for all men, even unwashed mountain people like them. lse in the world, but also for them.

It is not uncommon for people to feel unworthy of a gift, especially if it seems too good to be true…so God made sure one of His angels articulated to the shepherds that this “good news of great joy” was not just for the high and mighty but it was for “all the people,” including lowly shepherds out in the fields of Bethlehem.

Luke’s gospel records the message and the messengers that were sent.

Luke 2:8–20 (ESV)

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and 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 among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Let’s pray and then we will dive into the Dilemma of Joy together.

Truth

It pleased the Lord to share this joyful news of the advent of the Messiah with the shepherds. They were the first to hear and the first to witness the long-awaited coming of the Christ. It seems that God gets a kick out of doing things in ways that leaves so many of us asking, “Why would He do it like that?”

This follows what the Apostle Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians when he says,

1 Corinthians 1:27–31 (ESV)

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

We have no indication that the Shepherds were boasting that they were the ones who should have been the first people to hear the good news of the Messiah’s birth. No, they likely knew they were living on the low rung of society’s social and occupational ladder. They perhaps were self-aware that their culture would have said any shepherds should have been the last ones in line to hear this good news…and yet God gave them the responsibility to share the “good news of great joy with all people”.

These shepherds were simply doing their job as they did every day. It was neither a glamorous job nor a job that was viewed in high regard by the more sophisticated in first-century Jewish society. In fact, being a shepherd was the bluest of the blue-collar jobs and considered by many to be the most minimum of the minimum wage jobs in that day. The old saying, “It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” certainly would have applied to the shepherds of biblical times and culture. Day after day these shepherds found themselves in the blood, sweat, dirt and …everything else that came with keep watch over their animals.

Because of their status, shepherds often stayed together and did not associate much with others in society thus making them social outcasts at times. However, the outsiders quickly would become the insiders regarding what God was up to on the other side of the hills where their sheep were grazing and bedding down for the night. Their insider status immediately filled them with the understandable emotion of fear.

Don’t glaze over the fear that was present in the story. Their response of fear is where the shepherds’ Christmas dilemma can first be found.

Luke 2:9–10 (ESV)

9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Looking at the rest of Scripture we can see how whenever the glory of the Lord was presented to mankind it always resulted in the observers being fearful. People were driven to their knees in submission to the holiness that was presented before them. Often recognizing the vast chasm between the purity of God’s glory and the defiled nature of their own lives. So in order to deliver the good news of great joy the angel first had to call out their fear right from the start.

STOLEN JOY

One of the strategies of Satan is to try and flood us with fear when the Lord desires to fill us with His joy. Jesus, identifying Himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10, speaks about this very thing.

John 10:10–11 (ESV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

If we are followers of Jesus, our enemy knows he can’t steal our soul. However, he can continue to try and steal our Joy. Sometimes we are like the shepherds who find ourselves flooded with fear and falling into the trap of the evil one who wants to paralyze us by pointing us to how far we are from God’s perfect glory, instead of resting in the fact that Jesus is the one who bridged that gap.

What kinds of things steal your joy?

Is it the post you read on social media that put you or something you believe in a negative light?

Is it the bills that greeted you in your mailbox with that overdue stamp on them?

Is it the political tensions and strife that seems so hard to get away from or make sense of?

Is it the pandemic numbers of the past or the projections for the future?

Is it the number that flashes on the scale you stepped on this morning?

Is it the quarterly report that was down below what you needed to be able to retire next year?

None of these circumstances would bring any of us happiness, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t live in joy despite there being unhappy realities in our life. Joy and Happiness are not synonymous, but they also are not exclusive. Happiness is feeling that can quickly change when circumstances change, but Joy is a feeling of happiness that is not based on temporary circumstances, but the rock solid gospel truth of Jesus Christ.

Whatever our circumstance may be, we have a very real enemy that is doing all he can to steal, kill and destroy us and our joy. He wants us to be distracted by our circumstances and weighed down by our daily battles so that we don’t spend time reflecting on the good news of great joy. The Christmas season reminds us that we have Savior who came to birth “great joy” inside of us with the life that leads to abundance in Christ and dissolves any unnecessary fear.

And even if you don’t always feel like this good news is meant for you, remember what the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds who were dealing with their dilemma of joy that first Christmas night.

Luke 2:10 (ESV)

10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

The phrase “…for all people…” means that you’re included in this opportunity to experience great joy no matter how you may feel about that truth. This joy is for you. Don’t be afraid of it and think it’s not for you, too. That’s the enemy trying to convince you that you are not good enough, smart enough, clean enough, or worthy to experience this gift of joy. Never be afraid to receive what God intends to give to you. Joy is on that list. And while God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, pause and remember this Christmas that you are part of that world that God so loves.

NEWS IS NOT ADVICE

The reason that any one of us can walk in this Joy and share this Joy with other is because it is Good News and not good advice! Most of the sources in our lives give us “Good Advice” or plan for moving forward. But News works in the other direction. News is what has happened already. News is what has already been done, it is not advice for what we need to do next.

The good news, this declaration of what was already done is that a Savior was born in Bethlehem for you, for me, and for “all the people” of the whole world. This Savior embodying good news intentionally was meant to include the socially despised, economically depressed, and religiously shunned in the world.

Wrapped in Swaddling Clothes

Micah 5:2 (ESV)

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

The future King, The Messiah, would be not just from Bethlehem but from the agricultural zone near Mig from Bethlehem Ephrathah, an agricultural region

Euseibius, bishop of Cesarea 4th century

‘Migdal Egdal (tower of the flock) was located one Roman mile east of Bethlehem”

Micah 4:8 (ESV)

8 And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

The future King would be from Bethlehem Ep

Field of David and he gave it to be the place where the sheep that were used for the sacrificial flocks for the priests. The most looked after field in all of Israel - more ruins of Shepherd towers than anywhere else in Isreal because the sacrificial lambs could have no blemish or broken bones.

They wrapped up the inspected lambs in swaddling clothes to bring them into Jerusalem for the passover - Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

Lamb info from “Dawsoncreekmirror.ca”

Migdal Eder, the Tower of the Flock, was where the lambs set aside for temple sacrifices were raised. The flocks in the surrounding fields were vast, because there was an estimated population of around 5 million people in that area. During Passover, the annual celebration of the Hebrew nation’s deliverance from captivity in Egypt, one lamb was needed for every household. An estimated 250,000 sheep were needed every year to accommodate the Passover sacrifices and feast. The tower of Migdal Eder provided the perfect vantage point from which the shepherds could, quite literally, watch over their flocks from above.

Every firstborn male lamb was considered holy and was set aside for sacrifice in Jerusalem. Sheep herding was a hereditary occupation, and generations of shepherds were trained to care for these special lambs. They literally risked their lives to protect the sheep from predators, and keep them from falling into the many crevasses and ravines in that rocky hill country.

The newborn lambs would be wrapped tightly… swaddled… in specially designated temple cloths, and they would be laid in a manger to keep them contained while they were being examined for blemishes. At the appointed time, the shepherds would separate the lambs, selecting only the firstborn males that were without mark or blemish, and would lead them to Jerusalem, where they would be purchased by people wanting to present a sacrifice before the Lord to atone for their sins.

When the angel appeared to the shepherds in the fields, he told them that they would find the newborn King wrapped in swaddling cloths and laying in a manger. They knew exactly where He would be found, because swaddling cloths were only used in one particular location, and for one particular purpose… Migdal Eder, the place where sacrificial lambs were wrapped and examined for perfection before being set apart for the slaughter that would atone for sin and make peace with God.

Three decades later, the apostle John pointed out his cousin Jesus and said “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”. And more than two millennia later, Jesus is still taking away the sins of all who accept His sacrifice that makes peace between them and God

Gospel Application

Landing

Nobody gets left out of this joyous news that leads to salvation yielding abundant life which the angel of the Lord proclaimed. May we receive not only this eternity altering gift of joy and grace from God, but also may we share and spread this good news with all we come into contact within our lives. That’s what the shepherds did. It’s what we can do this Christmas, too. May our only dilemma be with whom we will share this joyous news first.