This past Sunday I taught "A Shepherd's Tale", a view of the Nativity through the eyes of sheep herders. I'm still amazed every year when I look into the Christmas story, at how God orchestrated it all. Take the shepherds for instance-
In studying them, you find that they were largely uneducated, transient, cheap labor. They possessed no skills such as masonry, carpentry, etc. Some were not even Jewish, but immigrants or foreigners. It was low-paying, hard work, often with long hours and far from home. They usually worked for a rancher who actually owned the flocks. Sheep herding was dirty work, feeding, cleaning, shearing, grooming, protecting, giving medical attention, and even helping birth sheep in the flock. Some sheep flocks were tended for the sacrificial rituals in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Yet for all their hard work, they were paid low wages, had a very low status in society, were generally not welcome in larger towns and cities, and sadly, not allowed to attend worship in the Temple. Tragic, that the very ones who kept the sheep flocks for sacrifices, were not allowed to participate themselves. Such was their status in ancient Middle Eastern society.
But God does not see as man sees, and God did not view them as worthless. Of all the people in the world who could have been the first to get the news of the Messiah, God chose to send word to a group of dirty, stinky, outcast sheep herders, working the night shift on a hill outside Bethlehem. And He did it in grand fashion- a brilliant, majestic angel, joined by an army of the Heavenly hosts, putting on a concert in the sky like never seen before or since. All for a handful of sheep herders. Herod and the politicians didn't get the word, the high priest and religious leaders didn't, the rich and powerful never got the message. I love it.
I'm reminded of all the times I've heard people say things like, "I hate my life" or "nobody cares" or "God doesn't love or know me". To those I say- if anyone had a human right to think like that, it would be those shepherds. But God proved otherwise. The Shepherd's Tale teaches that no matter what anyone thinks of you, no matter how you are treated, no matter what you think of yourself- you are loved, cared for, known, and hoped for. He came for you as well. Just ask the shepherds. They know.
"I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people..." Luke 2:10