We’re usually the last to know.
Our life is out here on the hillsides, away from town.
We work at night, making sure no poachers or predators mess with our flocks. When we do get to town, it’s usually when we’ve got our pay and we go in to do a little carousing… not for nothin’ we shepherds got the rep we have for being drunken lowlifes. Nobody tells us the news first.
So what do you think about this story? What do you think about the angels showing up to tell us first? Well, what do you think about a bunch of angels showing up in the first place? I’d have thought it was the rotgut we were passing around – but no, we all saw ’em. We all heard ’em. Hundreds of ’em, filling the sky.
What a racket! What a beautiful noise.
And what a message they had for us: “Today, in David’s town, a boy is born to you. And not just any boy – a savior, the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lord.” Well, we may just be rough shepherds, but we know about the Messiah, the one who God will send to set us free from the occupiers – set us free from everything. That’s pretty amazing.
Even more amazing, those angels showed up to us, while we were at work.
Not to the kings in their palaces, not to the wealthy in their fancy houses; not to the priests in the temple, not to the holy people at their prayers – not to those who are expecting God to do something – but to us, who forget even to pray, most of the time.
To us, who people barely notice in the street, unless they smell us comin’…
To us, who don’t count for much – except that we must count for a lot to God. Right?
Because that angel said this was a sign for us:
That’s what the angel said, “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in cloth and lying in a feed trough.” Who puts a baby in a feed trough? Liable to get chewed on, if they’re not careful.
So all we gotta do is check out all the stables down in Bethlehem till we find a baby where a baby ain’t supposed to be.
Here, we’re going to draw straws to see who has to stay with the sheep – the rest of us have some searching to do, and a story to tell. Man, what a story.
You might not even believe it, unless it happened to you…
A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Eat!
Drink (not too much...!)
Be Merry!
Play with a toy!
Hug somebody in a kitchen!
Love came down at Christmas -
Christ, the Savior, is born!
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