It's the first Sunday of Advent, the time of waiting to celebrate Jesus' birth. This advent we're going to come close to the
manger and the people most closely connected to the Christmas story, starting
with the shepherds. It's not always a pretty story. Ann Voskamp puts it this
way. "And this Gospel? It doesn’t come wrapped in
twinkling lights and satin bows; it comes straight into our pitchest black. The
Gospel of Christ, it’s a messy, bloody thing and this is how God was born,
bloody and bruised, and that’s how God chose to die, bloody and beaten. And our
God, he knows the comings and goings of our blackest bloody battles, and this
is exactly where He meets us. The Gospel is good news in the eye of the worst
news."
As the shepherds go about their work,
watching over the sheep in the fields just outside of Bethlehem, they're
visited by angels during the night. While some watch the sheep, and others rest
or watch out for thieves or wild animals, an angel of the Lord suddenly shows
up in the night sky with a message, "Don't be
afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Messiah, the
Lord." This is some pretty amazing news and it comes straight from
heaven. God is making sure the good news gets out. But God reveals this good
news first to shepherds.
Shepherds are an unusual choice. Dr. Jeremias, a
biblical scholar, says shepherds were “despised
in everyday life.” They were considered second-class and untrustworthy. The Mishnah,
Judaism’s written record of the oral law refers to shepherds as “incompetent”; another place says "no one should ever feel obligated to rescue
a shepherd who has fallen into a pit." Dr. Jeremias writes, “To buy wool, milk, or a kid from a shepherd
was forbidden on the assumption that it would be stolen property.” Shepherds were
officially labeled as “sinners,” and
despised. There’s a striking irony that a handful of shepherds are the first
proclaim the Messiah’s birth. Jesus draws the outcast and those on the fringes
of society to himself even at his birth.
Yet shepherds weren’t always despised. King David, an early king in Israel,
was a shepherd and good kings were called shepherds because they protected and
provided for their people. David tells King Saul when the giant Goliath is
threatening God's people, “Your
servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and
carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the
sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it
and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the
bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has
defied the armies of the living God."
I often wondered why God told the
shepherds first, but then I met a shepherd in Nicaragua. This young man worked
hard protecting his sheep from wild animals and thieves, staying out on the
fields with his sheep at night with a big flashlight and an even bigger stick.
He knew all his sheep by name, even though they all looked the same to me, and
the sheep knew him and recognized his voice as a safe voice. This young man
made sure his sheep had enough food to eat, taking them to fields in the
mountains where there was healthy green grass to eat and water to drink. He protected
his sheep. I believe God told the shepherds first because they can understand
why Jesus came and what he was here to do, to take care of his people and
provide for them; protecting them from danger and saving the sheep when they
get into trouble. As Phillip Keller writes, “In the Christian’s life there
is no substitute for the keen awareness that my Shepherd is nearby. There is
nothing like Christ’s presence to dispel the fear, the panic, the terror of the
unknown.”
I love how the shepherds are the first to welcome Jesus here. I’ve wondered if this is why Jesus calls himself the "Good Shepherd," an echo to
Zechariah's prophecy that a good shepherd’s coming who will protect and save
his sheep. The angel's news is that the Good Shepherd is here, the promised
Messiah. God sends the Good Shepherd to watch over, protect, and rescue his
sheep from danger. David gives us one
of the best pictures of who Jesus is as the Good Shepherd. In Psalm 23 David writes, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still
waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His
name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they
comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You
anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever."
The good shepherd takes us to places that
nourish and refresh us, especially when life gets rough and hard. He leads us
beside still waters where we can drink safely and leads us in paths that bring shalom.
When we walk through times of loss, when we walk through the shadow of death, the
good shepherd is with us, guiding us and protecting our hearts and minds by
filling them with his love, comfort, and hope. When people hurt us, our
shepherd blesses us with ability to forgive and not grow bitter, as we know our
shepherd understands and gives us the strength to get those times.
Jesus is the good shepherd who leaves
the 99 sheep who are safe in order to go out into the wilderness to find the one
lost sheep. Jesus leaves home to come to earth to seek his lost sheep. He knows
each of us by name and when we stop and listen, we recognize his voice when he
calls us. Our hearts are tuned to his voice. If you're here this morning and
not quite sure why you're here, my guess is that the good shepherd’s calling
your name and deep inside you're recognizing his voice at a heart level even as
you came here this morning through family, a friend, or online.
As sheep, we have a tendency to wander; but our shepherd keeps coming after
us to bring us back again to where we belong, with Jesus and the rest of his
flock. Jesus also becomes the sacrificial lamb who dies in order to save us,
washing us clean from the sin and dirt in us, making us right again with the
father.
Now back to the shepherds who have been visited by the angels,
they leave their sheep in safety in order to find the good shepherd. Their
hearts were waiting to hear the invitation to go find Jesus. I love the
response of the shepherds. They don't sit around questioning if what they've
heard is true or not; they don't put off responding to the good news they've
heard, they hurry off, leaving everything behind for a bit, and find Mary and
Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.
If you're here this morning and aren't really sure what to do
about Jesus, if you're not sure if you can even believe that God would actually
become a human baby, I invite you to ask yourself why this story seems to touch
so many people, why would so many people trust in this story? There’s something
about the love of a God who would leave a place where everything is good and
there’s no suffering and misery to come to a place where he’ll experience
suffering and misery his whole life and then die on a cross because he loves
you that much.
Jesus is our shepherd. We’re not called to stay sheep; we’re called to move from being sheep to being shepherds under Jesus.
Your sheep may be a friend, a neighbour, a family member, or someone at work or
school who needs to meet the Good Shepherd. We’re called to lead them beside
quiet waters so they can learn about the living water, we’re called to lead
them to lush pastures where they can feed on the bread of life, we’re called to
protect and provide from them by leading them to Jesus.
The shepherds are so filled
with wonder by what they’ve seen, they go out into the town and tell
everyone they see about this child they've met; that he’s the saviour, the
Messiah, the Lord, the hope of the world. What a great response! The shepherds
head back to their regular lives, but differently; they go back glorifying
and praising God for everything they've heard and seen, filled with hope. We
join the shepherds in celebrating this Christmas; God becoming human to be our
good shepherd, coming to find us and carry us home. What wonderful news to
share with our friends and neighbours as we wait for Jesus’ return!
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