Posted on 12/23/2022 9:28:43 AM PST by pgyanke
When He comes with fanfare, He comes to the simple, not the great. To the great, He sends His prophets to share His counsel and will. To the simple, He comes with the glory of Heaven to raise up what is lowly in this world. The great of the world have their reward now. The simple of the world await the glory of Heaven. Our Lord’s birth was celebrated by angel choirs to shepherds tending their flocks in the field.
Bethlehem is a community south of Jerusalem. Between them were fields open for shepherding flocks. It is believed that the shepherds out on the night of our Lord’s birth were those tasked by the Temple to provide lambs for the Passover sacrifice. These lambs must be male, one year old, and unblemished. The time of our Lord’s birth is the time to be birthing these lambs so they would be ready in about a year. The young lambs were wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in mangers until they were strong enough to go to their mothers—to ensure they would remain unblemished. In other words… these shepherds were familiar with the liturgical significance and requirements of sacrificial lambs.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:Meeting an angel must be a frightening experience in its magnificence. Coming in the name of God, their first message is always to “be not afraid.” In fear, our first parents failed to trust God and fell from grace (Heb 2:14-15). The angels never want to be the cause of our separation from Him who is love personified. Their role is to guide us to Heaven (Heb 1:14).“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:8-14).
Why shepherds? I see two reasons…
1. The great of the world wouldn’t understand the majesty of our Lord in a stable—the significance of the scene would be lost on them. They would see just a poor family huddled with the livestock, not the King of Heaven—the Lamb of God. As Jesus was rejected by the great of society during His ministry (Matt 21:15), He would have been rejected in the manger. Their pride blinds them to true greatness—especially when it threatens their perceptions of their own majesty (Luke 19:47).
2. Our Lord, the Son of David, identifies with shepherds. He is the Good Shepherd who came to lay down His own life for His sheep (John 10:11). His coming as a shepherd was foretold by the Prophets (Ez 34). Shepherds, waiting for one of their own, are the first to recognize Him and teach others from their knowledge and perception.
When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them (Luke 2:15-20).Two of the Gospels open with a genealogy of our Lord. One shows His lineage through David to Joseph. The other shows Mary’s ancestry. Both proclaim Jesus as the Son of David and heir to his throne. St Paul saw the importance of our Lord’s ancestry in the flesh (Rom 1:1-3). From His throne in Heaven, Jesus speaks as the Son of David (Rev 22:16). Scripture records many things Jesus and David had in common (beginning with their birth in Bethlehem in 1 Sam 16:1) and the many ways Jesus administers His Kingdom according to the customs established in David’s house.
When God puts a calling on our hearts, He isn’t telling us to become great in the eyes of the world to accomplish His purpose. We have a tendency to look at ourselves as the world does and not see what God sees. In order to do great things, we must become great… we think. This thinking derails our mission as we seek self-improvement before obedience and often leads to failure as we fear to obey God before the powers of the world.
History tells a different story. Those who did great things in humility have the best stories. If we make any boast, let it be for God who does great things through us.
Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:26-31).It isn’t our worldly greatness that gives us the ability to do the will of God, it’s our obedience. In faith, we hear. In trust, we comply. In love, we believe. If we would be conformed to Christ, we must become the servant of others.
But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:25-28).
For your consideration and criticism.
Jesus said it best: those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Humility is knowing who and what we are before God.
The shepherds were even more ordinary than you think. They were not providing anything for the temple. Archeological digs in Jerusalem have studied the animals sacrificed at the temple and it was found that they weren't generally local but were brought there by the people who were offering them.
Perhaps the shepherds were still there by Passover but that would have been late. Shepherds follow the grass. The grass around Jerusalem is losing it's nutrition by spring as it prepares to go dormant for the dry season.
It's at it's best in December through March, the rainy season. That tells us the shepherds were near Bethlehem in winter.
Thank you. Things I haven’t read before.
One note on what you provided… these aren’t individual sacrifices. These are for the Passover sacrifice. A different situation than the lambs and dives offered by individuals.
Shepherds are nomads who move from grassland to grassland for the flocks. Once the mountain pasture opens up the shepherds would head there.
(https://www.fao.org/3/p8550e/P8550E01.htm -can you tell I was an agriculture major once!)
I’ve read that there were farms outside Jerusalem as well. Farms would be a good bet for procuring sacrificial animals in the dryer seasons. They would have access to hay.
It may be that the Temple sought lambs where they could find them. Like anyone today, they would have favored suppliers. Given the strictures on the lambs for the Passover, those who wanted theirs to be used protected their best candidates as described.
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