The Shepherds (Luke 2:8-20)

Tenth Day of Advent

Luke 2:8-9 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.

That night me an' my brother was fightin’. I wanted to sneak into town ‘cuz there was lots happenin’ with so many folks travelling an’ all. An’ I was always on the lookout for some news, or maybe a piece of jewelry, or a coin, or even a purse when no one was watchin’.

It weren’t December ya know; almost summertime. The night was warm, an' quiet, an' borin’, an’ all of a sudden there’s this flash of light an’ this thing blazes up right in front of us. Scared the crap outa ev’ryone.

If ya never seen a angel you got no idea. O, maybe sometimes they’re just like folks, but this thing weren’t like nothin’ I ever seen before. Big as a house, an' wings all over ‘im, or maybe they was flames. “Don’t be scared!” he shouts. Can ya believe it? Then, kinda like he gets it, he dims a bit an’ gets smaller, like he turned himself down.

He says there’s a Saviour bein’ born in town, an’ all of us aughta go an’ see. Says we’ll find ‘im in a manger all wrapped up like any new baby, ‘sept he’s Meshia Adoni.

Sure, we’ll all just sneak off to town, I thinks to myself, an’ let the sheep get scattered all over the hills. But then the sky catches fire. It was blazin’, like a million suns an’ moons. An’ when it was all over the damage was done. The sheep were everywhere, an’ we figures we’re gonna spend the next three days lookin’ for ‘em anyway, so we all just beat it on over to Bethlehem.

An’ we found it all just like he said; a girl an’ guy – they was both just kids, not much older’n me – an’ the baby was just like any baby ya ever saw. If he weren’t sleepin’ in that manger we’da never found ‘em.

Ya know, whole thing was really kinda awkward. Think about it. It’s embarrassin’ to have a baby in a stable, an' then people comin’ ‘round to gawk an’ ask stupid questions? “When’d he get born?” “Couple hours ago.” “Whutcha gonna call him?” “Jesus.” We tol’ everybody what we seen an’ why we come.

I thought ‘bout it lots, an’ it was crazy. I remember wonderin’ why God cares if some baby’s getting’ born in a stable an' sleepin’ in a manger. An’, if it was really Meshia Adoni, like the angel says, how come so plain an’ ordinary? An’ why’d he come an’ tell us? He shoulda told the High Priest or the King, someone who could do somethin’ about it.

But, ya know, whole thing changed how I think ‘bout God. He does do everything backwards to the way we do. He likes to lift up little folks like me, an' pull down the folks that thinks they got it made.

Changed how I think ‘bout me too, an’ now I shepherd ever’ chance I get. When I was a kid I hated sheep ‘cause they’re so needy an’ stupid. But after that I kinda liked ‘em ‘cause they’re kinda like us. An’ I think God likes ‘em too, maybe ‘cuz he thinks they’re kinda like us, an’ he likes us. An’ I think he likes shepherds ‘cause they take care of sheep, an’ he likes sheep. Moses was a shepherd, an’ David too.

Ya know, I’m just some guy. Nobody knows my name ‘cause Luke didn’t put it in ‘is book, an’ I thank Luke for that. I like bein’ a nobody. The big guys like Herod an’ the priests missed everything, ‘cuz they always miss everything. So, if ya can be big an’ important or just a nobody, be a nobody. An’ if ya have to be a somebody, do it in the smallest way ya can. That’s how God does it. Maybe it’s why he never misses anything.

An’ ya know, God is amazing, but he ain’t never complicated. He’s like a new baby, astoundin’ an’ mysterious, but simple just the same. So simple that even a child… no, only a child can get it.