Bible Text:

The shepherds were not a distinguished group of people in New Testament times. They were religious outcasts because they had to work on the Sabbath. Most of them barely eked out a living because they actually were working for the persons who owned the sheep. They smelled, because the sheep smelled. And they were deemed to be not very bright. Sheep are notoriously stupid, and I suppose people thought the stupidity was contagious. 

One writer says this:

That shepherds were singled out for attention is a charming detail in Luke’s story, because being a shepherd has never been a high-status profession. Indeed, mothers of shepherds always tell their friends and relatives that their children have gone into holistic livestock management, rather than reveal the unfashionable truth.[i]  

Taking care of sheep is boring, dirty, smelly work. Nothing can change that. The boredom was certainly interrupted on that Christmas night. Luke has the shepherds playing a huge role in the Nativity story. It is to them that the angels come. It is for them that the sky opens up in song, that the universe begins to sing. 

Someone has commented that that wouldn’t impress anybody today. People would just think it was the special pyrotechnic effects at a rock concert! But it was to the shepherds that the eternal message of Advent arrived. For them, the world and their outlook on the world suddenly changed forever. 

I have been to Bethlehem. I have stood in “shepherds’ field.” I have looked up at the night sky. And I have looked over at the town of Bethlehem from “shepherds’ field.” I don’t know exactly what happened that night. I do know that Luke’s story is a powerful expression for what I most deeply believe. 

As the news breaks that night, these simple men have a sequence of moods. The first is a mood of fear and terror. We can understand that. The second mood might have been one of curiosity. They said to each other, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see what the angels have talked about.” The third mood was one of awe. They stared in wide-eyed wonder at the simple family just as it had been described to them. And finally there was a mood of unimaginable joy. Eugene Peterson uses the words in his translation, “The shepherds let loose…” 

Joy, of course, is its own word. It’s difficult to search for an adjective to describe joy. We might use the words unimaginable, or rapturous, or unrestrained, or uninhibited. Peterson says the shepherds “let loose.” 

Many years ago Elaine and I honeymooned in a little summer home on Lake Champlain in Vermont. The next house along the lake was inhabited by a family that had some small children. Several times during our week there we took the children out in a rowboat with us. One day one of the children asked, “What are you doing here?” I responded instantly, “We are making whoopee.” I was not prepared for the next question. “What’s that?” Elaine and I began to immediately concoct a recipe for whoopee that included things like chocolate syrup, graham crackers, marshmallows, candy, raisins, and all sorts of fruit. 

The shepherds made whoopee as they left the scene that night! 

Or there is the word “serendipity.” “Serendipity” means unexpected joy and surprise. You may remember the story of the three fathers who were in the maternity waiting room at the hospital. The nurse comes in and says to the first father, “Congratulations, sir, your wife has just given birth to twins.” 

“Twins!” he exclaimed. “Oh, how wonderful. And you know, that’s kind of interesting, because I’m a scout for the Minnesota Twins baseball team.” 

A little while later the nurse comes in again and says to the second man, “Congratulations, sir, your wife has just given birth to triplets.” 

“Triplets!” he exclaimed. “That’s amazing. But you know, that’s kind of interesting too, because I work for the 3-M Company.” 

The third man got up and bolted out of the waiting room and started down the hall toward the door. The nurse chased after him. “Sir! Sir! Don’t you want to find out the results of your wife’s pregnancy?” 

“Oh,” he said, “I think I have this thing figured out. You see, I work for the 7-Up Bottling Company.” 

Serendipity is a very positive happening in life. The shepherds experienced unimaginable joy. They experienced whoopee. They cut loose. They knew serendipity. 

The question may be “Why?” Why such unrestrained joy? More importantly, what is Luke saying to us in this description of their response? We will ask that question with a carol we shall sing shortly:

            Shepherds why this jubilee?

            Why your joyous songs prolong?

            What the gladsome tidings be

            Which inspire your heavenly song?

                                    (United Methodist Hymnal #238) 

Let me be bold to presume some answers to that question. These are answers which speak to me today. 

PUTS THE STORY OF THE BIBLE TOGETHER 

Jesus’ birth puts the story of the Bible together for me. The message probably wasn’t what the shepherds expected to hear. They were a little confused with words like David, or Messiah, or Savior, or Lord. They knew that there had been some images shared among their people of a celestial warrior who would come and lead Israel to rule the world. 

But this was and is God’s story. God is breaking into history in a fresh way. There is no celestial god here; rather an unprecedented announcement. A baby is born in the town of Bethlehem. 

I believe the one story of the Bible is just this: God trying to reach out to us, to touch us, to make us aware, and to give our lives purpose. God tries many means over several centuries of time. Finally in a grand announcement to a group of shepherds in the simplest possible setting, he comes. The powerful contrast between a warrior god and a child in a manger could not be more obvious. 

God becomes real in the image of Jesus. God enters in, casting aside all sins and backlogged faults. God enters into the heart of each man and woman. That’s why we sing at Christmastime, “Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.” God calls me to a level of living heretofore unrealized. 

The shepherds sensed some of this. Not all of it, perhaps, but some. Maybe they realized more than we imagine. They celebrate without inhibition. They let loose with unrestrained joy. 

INTO THE REAL HARD WORLD 

Jesus comes into the real and hard world. He comes as a blaze of light into the most stubborn darkness. 

The world around those first century shepherds was anything but calm. Rome ruled with an iron fist. Poverty and homelessness were rampant. Into that world Jesus came. 

William Temple, archbishop of York and then of Canterbury until his death in 1944, wrote these words:

Let us at all costs avoid the temptation to make our Christmas worship a withdrawal from the stress and sorrow of life into a realm of unreal beauty. It was into the real world that Jesus came, into the city where there was no room for him, into a country where Herod, murderer of innocents, was king. He comes to us not to shield us from the harshness of the world, but to give us the courage and strength to bear it; not to snatch us away by some miracle from the conflict of life, but to give us peace... by which we may be calmly steadfast while the conflict rages, and be able to bring to the torn world the healing that is peace. 

Jesus comes into our battles with cancer and broken health. Jesus comes into our struggles of family life and separation. Jesus comes into the empty places at the Christmas table this year because of a loss by death. Jesus comes into the bitter hatred of insurgency in Iraq. Jesus comes into an America ideologically divided and uneasy. 

Stanley Hauerwas writes: “It is hard to remember that Jesus did not come to make us safe, but rather to make us disciples, citizens of God’s new age, a kingdom of surprise.” 

Make no mistake. God knows, understands, and touches our brokenness. That, I think, is why the shepherds “cut loose” with unrestrained joy. 

NEGATING LOW SELF-IMAGE 

Jesus comes also to negate any low self-image. Is that why God chose the shepherds? Perhaps. Is that why Luke made sure this story was included in his gospel? Perhaps. 

I have sometimes asked the question, if the Christmas event were to happen today, to whom would the angels make their announcement? Perhaps to a night clerk at the 7-11 store? He could then take a slushie and a Danish to the manger. Perhaps the angels would come to trash collectors at the darkest moments before the dawn of the new day. Perhaps the angels would sing to the homeless men and women gathered somewhere under a bridge in a major city. It is always the same message: every human being is of sacred worth to God. 

That’s why I think the angels sing, “Good will (or God’s grace) to all human beings. 

Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, he affirmed every life as valued. No one—not one—is less than beautiful to God. 

Somewhere a poem came to my mind this week for which I do not know the exact source. It goes something like this:

            I’m nothing, I’m nobody, no one;

            But someone made something of me.

            So I’ll put on his clothes and I’ll walk in his shoes.

            And part of his body I’ll be. 

The shepherds might have recited that poem as they returned to their fields that night. And that would bring further reason for unrestrained joy. 

A DEEP DOWN PEACE 

Jesus also brings a deep peace. That’s what the shepherds felt. Perhaps they could not articulate it. But they knew what it felt like. It was a peace that cannot be explained, or explained away. 

I fully believe that Jesus came with God’s dream for peace on earth. I believe that being a political peacemaker is a part of discipleship. But I also know that Jesus came to bring peace inside of us. This is a deep peace, a peace that passes all understanding. 

Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu had much to say about Nelson Mandela a few years ago when Mandela was named the first president of post-apartheid South Africa. Tutu said that people saw a “transcendence” in Mandela. This was not some piety or superficial religiosity, but a real transcendence. I think what he meant by that is that people saw and still do see a deep peace in that man. 

Such peace is a quality worth seeking. It’s worth searching out on the faith journey. It’s a quality worth having and holding throughout life. Because with a deep peace comes a solid, durable joy. 

There are so many images on television during these weeks before Christmas. People with glowing faces at some specific gift—an expensive piece of jewelry or a luxury car with beautiful red ribbon tied around it beside the Christmas tree. But such gifts cannot compare with the gift of peace that Jesus brings. 

I saw a Christmas card with this interesting message: “The work of Christmas… is to bring peace among people, and to make music in the heart.” I really like that. 

The coming of the angels and those moments in the stable made music in the heart of some poor shepherds. They returned to the fields in unrestrained joy. They let loose. 

So can you. And so can I. Celebrate with unrestrained joy this Christmas season! Celebrate for the right and for the best reasons! Sing Gloria in Excelsis Deo!