The Story of a Shepherd
Erik Brummett 12-24-11
My name is Gamliel and I am a shepherd. I am the son of a shepherd and a midwife. My father was named Mattathias, after the great Hebrew warrior who led the Hebrews in revolt against the Syrians. My mother was named Rebekah, after the wife of Isaac. My parents named me Gamliel for they believed that by living faithfully, we will be rewarded and that the reward is God, so my name literally means “God is my reward.” I have lived for 36 years, which where I come from is nearing old age. I have had a very long journey in getting here to tell you this story. What story, you ask? The beginning of what some call the greatest story ever told. I’m here to tell you what four shepherds experienced the night the Messiah was born.
It was late at night, but it was strangely bright out that night as it had been for a week, if I recall correctly. You see there was some disturbance in the cosmos. There was a bright, burning star that was lighting up the night sky. It was both astonishing and frustrating as we had no idea what the cause was of such beauty, but the light made it very hard to sleep, both for us and our flocks of sheep. We were out in the open fields where the darkness of the night goes unpolluted making it possible to see the full brightness of the night sky. Trying to shepherd a flock of sheep on little sleep can be very difficult as shepherding is a very laborsome and tiring job. Sheep can be very dumb animals at times and so you always have to keep your eyes open for one wanders off, gets stuck in a bush, or falls into a pit. Each sheep is very valuable and you don’t want to lose one. I think that’s why Amichai, Lior, and Amichai’s son, Yakir formed a group. To lighten the load and share the responsibility, making it easier to watch the sheep and chase one down, if needed. You want to cover as great a distance as you can while the sun is still out because at night you cannot see where you are going and that is when the wolves come out. So you want to make it to your destination before the sun goes down so you can put up a pen to keep the sheep in and keep the wolves out. Trust me, you do not want to get in a fight with a pack of wolves. That’s why we carry these rods so we can fight the wolves off if we have to. Just snap it real hard against their nose and hopefully they scurry off.
We had trekked many miles that day and we had reached near the city of Bethlehem, I’d say we were maybe 10 miles away, which is a good safe distance from the cities for one reason. The people in the cities do not like shepherds, they hate us and despise us. If you are a shepherd and walk into a city, you might get arrested or kicked out. It’s very rough on a shepherd to be the outcast, the low people. But I cannot blame the city dwellers for being so unsure and distrusting of shepherds because as sad and hard it is to admit, there were many shepherds that were thieves and even murderers. I mean just a few weeks ago, our group caught another shepherd sneaking into the pen to steal a couple of our sheep. Luckily, they did not recognize his voice and so did not go with him. There are some bad shepherds out there and because of them, all shepherds are grouped together as being criminals, it’s understandable to a point, but unjustified and unfair. I find this very ironic as we shepherds are one of the three most important professions throughout all of Israel, along with fishermen and farmers. We work hard day in and day out, getting our flocks where they need to be so the people of our nation can have clothing, meat, and milk. And how do these people repay us, by ignoring us, spitting on us, and kicking us out of their towns. A couple of months ago, we stopped in at Galilee to pick up some supplies. I and Lior stayed with the sheep, while Amichai and his son Yakir went in to get some supplies. When they came out, Amichai had a black eye and a broken nose. While they were in town, a young boy kicked sand into Yakir’s eyes and was hassling him. Amichai asked the boy to stop, the boy’s father told Amichai that his son could whatever he wanted. Amichai and Yakir started to walk away, but the man started yelling obscenities at them. Amichai turned around and tried to apologize for the “trouble” he had made, but the man wouldn’t take it and punched Amichai right in the eye and told him and Yakir they needed to get out. They grabbed their belongings and left the town. We never stopped in Galilee again. And so we stay out of their cities because we are afraid of what they may do to us and because we are tired of their cruel insults and actions.
But I digress, you want to know about that special night. As I said, we settled down about 10 miles outside of Bethlehem, put up the pen for our sheep and a couple of tents for us to sleep in. Each of us would take turns keeping watch over the flock, making sure they tried not to escape and watching out for the wolves. I suppose in a way that bright star keeping us awake served its purpose as it helped us see a lot better in each of our shifts. I took the first shift as I was, for some strange reason, wide awake and full of energy. I was sitting there, watching the sheep, listening for wolves and other predators, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw another bright light appear in the sky. At first, I thought it may have been the same star or maybe a comet or a meteor. But it was the strangest thing, it got bigger and bigger and kept coming closer. I knew then it had to be a meteor and that this rag tag group of shepherds and our flock of sheep were done for. We were going to be crushed by this meteor. I just sat there watching it get closer and closer. It was completely mesmerizing. As I watched it get closer, I could see that there was a shape in it, and right when I think it should’ve crashed and crushed us, it stopped in mid-air. What trickery is this, I yelled. Reveal yourself. Amichai, Lior, and Yakir had been awoken by the bright light, but were more afraid than I, falling to the ground covering their heads. The light around this figure began to dissipate and I began to make out a figure resembling a person, a person with wings. It was an angel. I was scared now that I knew what it is than when I did not know what it was. Remembering the stories from Scripture about when angels showed up, I was scared because most times, angels were the harbingers of God’s destruction. What had I done to offend the Lord? What had we done? I fell to my knees begging for forgiveness. “Forgive me Lord. What sacrifice do you require of me? Of us?”
But it seems that we had done nothing wrong. There an angel stood or flew or hovered, bathed in radiant and glorious white light with the biggest smile, the most beautiful eyes that changed color from blue to green to brown to colors I had never seen. I do not know it if was a he or she, but its hair flowed like a river, looking blonde from one angle, brown from another, red from another, and finally black. It was clothed in gold and silver robes with a hint of purple, signifying its royalty. But the most amazing thing was its wings. It had to have had a wingspan of twelve feet. They were huge and beautiful. There it was. We were speechless and our breaths had literally been taken away. The angel told us, “Do not be afraid.” And we weren’t afraid anymore. I cannot explain it, we just weren’t. We got up off our knees and stood there taking it all in, completely at peace. The angel spoke again saying, “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people.” Good news, I love getting good news, but this news was extra special to us, it was from an angel. It must have been important. I began to think what this news may be when the angel said for all people, which for me and my friends, being Jews, God’s chosen people, this news must be for all Jews. What news would be so great that it would be for all of our people? I wondered if maybe the angel was going to tell us that a savior had finally come to set us free from the Roman occupation. For a very long time, the Jewish people had been waiting, expecting a savior to come to set us free and make us powerful. If this news was that this savior had finally come, it would be amazing. The angel continued, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Oh yes, it is true. The savior has come. We are free. The angel said this savior had been born in the city of David, that’s Bethlehem, only ten miles away. But there was something else I was thinking. I was thinking of David, the legendary king of Israel, but I was not thinking of his kingship. I was thinking of the stories of him as a young boy, as a shepherd. When David was young, he was a shepherd, he was just like me and my friends. And when I think of David, I think of all the Psalms he wrote, one in particular comes to mind, Psalm 23. It is a very important Psalm to me as it portrays God as a shepherd. Thinking about such things, I began to wonder what it meant for a savior to be in the city of a shepherd. I began to wonder what it meant for this angel to appear before four dirty and outcast shepherds. I wonder what it meant for God to be a shepherd. And then it hit me, God is for the weak, the downtrodden, the outcast, and the oppressed. God is for people like me and my shepherd friends, for the fishermen, the farmers, the carpenters. God cares for those who no one cares about. It, what you would say, blew my mind. But this angel was not done speaking. The angel told us, “You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” This angel telling us where to find this newborn savior and how to find him. The angel was inviting us to meet the infant savior. We, lowly shepherds, were going to meet the savior of our people, perhaps the first ones to do so.
But just then, the skies exploded with a host of angels. All around us were angels, they filled the skies. All for the glory of God. They were singing, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all whom God favors.” At the sight and sound of such exquisite beauty, my friends and I could not help but fall to the ground and worship God with these angels. Of all the times I have been to worship, this moment was the most sincere, most beautiful, most pure form of worship that I have ever experienced. It was as if for a few brief moments, my freidns and I had been miraculously transported to the throne room of heaven, where we worshipped God face to face. This must be how Moses felt when God passed by him and Moses God’s back. It must be how David felt when he danced before the Lord. There are not enough words to describe how amazing such an experience was. Sheep can be pretty dumb animals, but on this night, they were calm and glancing at them while these angels were before us, I could swear I saw them nodding their heads up and down, in agreement with proclamations of the angels. The news of a savior is world-changing and I believe that the whole world, all of creation rejoiced at the news of his birth.
After the angels were done singing, the angels vanished as quickly as they had appeared. We took a few moments to gather ourselves, to figure out what had just happened. We were all in agreement that it was not a hallucination or a dream. We were overjoyed that these angels had decided to share this joyous news with us and were even more overjoyed that the savior of our people had been born. Lior thought it was important that we travel to Bethlehem to see this savior as the angels did give us the information to find him. And so we left our sheep in that field and made our way to Bethlehem. It was very early in the morning when we got there and we went from inn to inn, house to house looking for one that had a manger with a baby in it. It was probably a good thing that a census had been decreed as that had allowed us easier access to cities and travel through cities. We came upon the very last inn and the keeper said he let a couple use his stable as he had had no room left. He said he felt bad because she was pregnant, but the stable was all he had. He figured some shelter is better than no shelter. We walked to the back where this stable was, and saw a man and woman watching over a manger. As we approached, the man was startled and asked who we were. We told him we were shepherds and had been visited by an angel that had told us we would find a baby wrapped in clothes, lying in a manger, here in Bethlehem and that this baby was the savior of our people. He smiled, inviting us to come in to see his wife and their newborn son. “My name is Joseph and this is my wife, Mary. An angel visited us nine months ago telling us that Mary would give birth to a son and that he was Emmanuel, the Messiah, the Promised One. His name is Jesus.” We looked upon this child and were overcome with emotion that such a small baby could be the Messiah, the savior of our people. But then again, God works in mysterious ways. I remember watching this baby, Jesus, and being amazed at how calm, he was. Not a tear in his eyes or even the slightest fuss. He was happy. It was strange because I remember when Amichai’s son, Yakir, was born, all he did was fuss and cry. But this baby was perfectly calm and happy. And I remember looking into his eyes and feeling the strangest presence with me. As he gazed back into my eyes, I could hear him saying right to me that he knew me and that he was born for me and he couldn’t even talk yet. He knew me. There was something special about this baby, even more than being the savior. Seeing this baby Jesus was astounding, knowing that he was the savior of our people was amazing, and hearing that he was Emmanuel or God with us was hopeful. We sat there taking it all in, watching Jesus, conversing with Mary and Joseph for some time. We asked them what it felt like to be the parents of the savior and what it was like to be charged by God to raise this child. We told them how we felt, that it was a joyous occasion for all God’s people, that it was truly an honor to see the newborn Jesus, and in our travels we would share the good news of what God is doing.
We could not stay for very much longer, the family needed their rest, and our sheep needed tending. As we left, we walked into the inn sharing that the savior had been born and that God was working through him. We made it back to our flock of sheep, finding them sleeping peacefully and all accounted for. Someone was watching out for them and us, it seems.
Everywhere we went, we shared our story with whoever would listen, telling them that we saw the savior and that through him, our people would be made free. It was the greatest news that they heard in quite a while. The people were amazed and astonished, much like we were on that glorious night. You know it was quite a surprise to find that the people we shared this news with were willing to listen. As I shared with you, people don’t like shepherds and so ignore us. God must have softened their hearts to get them to listen. I think that the people listened to us because news of a savior is revolutionary, it is world changing, life changing, it takes your breath away. I think also that people knew we were not making this up, you can tell when someone is lying and people knew we were telling the truth. I only hope that the people we shared the news with acted on it, making a decision.
If you asked me what I think all of this means, what it all really means, I would tell you that I think the story of the birth of Jesus means that God is a good, honest, and loving God. God is so good that he sends a child into the world to be the savior of God’s people. If God wasn’t good, I don’t think he would do that. God is so honest that he keeps his promises to the letter. He promised that a child would be born and that child would be the Messiah. And a child that is the savior has been born. If God wasn’t honest, he would’ve found some way out of the promise he made. God is so loving that he sends a savior not to rule over the people, but to serve the people and free them. If God wasn’t loving, I don’t think he would care whether we were free or not. God is good. God is honest. God is loving. There is one more thing that this story means to me. This whole experience gave me something. I walked away from that manger a changed man. Seeing that baby Jesus gave me hope. Hope that things would be different. Hope that things would get better. Hope that my people would be made free. Hope that I would be free. Hope that I would one day enter paradise. Hope that through Jesus, God would save the world. Praise be to God who keeps his promises, loves his people so much, and is so good that he sends us a savior. Amen.
I must go now, but I encourage you to tell your story of the time that you met Jesus and Jesus met you.