“Lights please” is one of my very favorite lines in any Christmas TV show. Linus, clutching his signature blue blanket, has stepped into the spotlight, ready to recite the most beautiful birth announcement known.
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night…”
Whether from Sunday School or “A Charlie Brown Christmas” we know the story. We have heard or read about the role of the shepherds in the narrative of Jesus’ birth.
I know the Bible verses well. Dressed in a black skirt, a white button-down and a red ribbon tied beneath my shirt collar, I shared the story from Luke 2 as a 10-year-old in the Christmas program at Bayview Baptist Church. I didn’t have a blue blanket like Linus carried but I held tight to the microphone as I recited the words I’d worked so hard to memorize.
The shepherds are a staple in the Christmas story. My daughter Lily, coincidentally also 10-years-old, portrayed one for the children’s choir performance at our church last Sunday. She told me about her shepherd’s costume on the way to school a few days prior.
“The shepherds are probably my favorite people in the Christmas story,” I told her. “Do you know why?”
“Because they take care of their sheep and you take care of us,” she said.
My heart melted. That’s part of it but there’s more.
Two years ago, I found notes my daddy had written for a Bible study on Luke 2. His words helped me see the shepherds in a new way. The detail in their story has encouraged me, especially as a mom, in three ways.
1) The shepherds were working, even while others slept.
I like to be awake late at night (though I would like it more if I didn’t have to wake up early in the morning!) I come alive when the world is quiet and my flock is settled. While Jeff and our girls fall asleep, I abide and keep watch. Most nights that means folding laundry, packing lunches or signing school papers. There never seems to be time for those tasks during the day. The work can be tiresome and lonely, and I can’t help but wonder if the shepherds felt the same way. Still, they were faithful. Here’s what my daddy observed about verse 8:
The key word is abiding. The shepherds were doing what they were supposed to be doing. They were not sleeping, loafing or indulging in the world. God didn’t have to alert them. They were abiding and watching, and the angels brought them “good news of great joy.”
Read daddy’s words again and be encouraged! The Lord honors faithfulness to your work. When everyone else is sleeping, He sees you. When you’re abiding and watching, He can speak to you just as He sent an angel to speak to the shepherds.
2) The shepherds work was considered ordinary.
To call the shepherds’ work ordinary is probably paying them compliment. Read this excerpt from an article by Randy Alcorn:
“In Christ’s day, shepherds stood on the bottom rung of the Palestinian social ladder. They shared the same unenviable status as tax collectors and dung sweepers. Only Luke mentions them.” (You can read Alcorn’s full writing about shepherds here.)
Dung sweeper feels close for comfort if you’re a mom, doesn’t it? I know I’ve been there! God sent a message when he sent THE message to the shepherds: He values people society doesn’t believe worthy. Daddy’s notes shared this idea from the Matthew Henry commentary:
“We are not out of the way of Divine visits when we are sensibly employed in an honest calling while abiding with God.”
Sensible and honest. Simple and ordinary. God found the shepherds worthy to hear, hold and hasten the news of our Savior’s birth. God meets people in the mundane. He appears in the ordinary. Sounds a lot like motherhood to me.
3. The shepherds were obedient.
Call their work ordinary if you will but you cannot deny the shepherds’ obedience was extraordinary. They couldn’t wait to see what the angel had told them. The scriptures say the shepherds “came with haste” (KJV) “hurried off” (NIV) or “left, running” (MSG). That’s what our obedience to the Lord is supposed to look like. Immediate. Enthusiastic.
Think about what the shepherds would have missed if they were too tired or too busy to check out what the angel said. Now consider what you might miss by putting off what God has asked you to do.
The next note from my daddy isn’t part of his lesson on Luke 2; it’s written in a card he mailed to me at the end of my freshman year of college. But the message reminds me of the shepherds and their impact.
“God is putting you in places to be a witness for Him. Don’t let the honor go to your head but be humble in your heart that He has blessed you.“
God grants us extraordinary experiences when we are faithful with ordinary things. The shepherds had the privilege to bear witness to Jesus’ birth and then to share that good news with the world. You have a calling, too. Whatever your field looks like, you can be confident that God has equipped you. The next time you feel tired, ordinary or uncertain, remember the shepherds and follow God with faith.
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”
(Luke 2: 8-18)