The fact that God chose THESE shepherds as witnesses to the Incarnation is NOT an afterthought or a mistake.

Here is the video version of this podcast:

The Christmas Chronicles Part 3… The Shepherds

The audio links to this podcast (iTunes and Spotify) are to the right.

Here is the transcript used for this podcast:

 

Why THESE Shepherds?

 Enter – the Shepherds

At the birth of Jesus, the only recorded appearance of angels in the Bible was to shepherds. An angel says to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” The message to the shepherds is both broad (“for all the people”) and personal (“a Savior has been born to you”).

They demonstrated an eagerness to embrace the good news; they hurried to find Jesus; they spread the word about him, and they glorified and praised God. Yet, it seems strange that the only appearance of a “great company of the heavenly host” was made to lowly shepherds, men who were living out in the fields tending sheep. Was there something significant to God about shepherding?

Symbolism of the Shepherd and the Sheep and the Manger

The Symbolism

“If resorting to symbolism . . . the shepherds stood for the cross-sectional, average Judean — quite literally, ‘the man on the night shift.’” Shepherds had a difficult job that earned no rank in society.

He used the term shepherd to describe the leaders of his people in both the Old and New Testaments and even used the word to describe himself. The book of Isaiah says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”

That the title of Shepherd would be applied to God reveals that the role of the shepherd is praiseworthy. Truly it is the sheep that make the job dirty and “detestable” to any other than the shepherd who loves them. Who are the sheep? The Bible tells us that “the sheep” are actually the followers of God.

Phillip Keller writes, “Our behavior patterns and life habits are so much like that of sheep it is well nigh embarrassing.” Sheep are slow, weak, foolish, nervous, fearful, helpless and most importantly, totally dependent on their shepherd. The care of the shepherd profoundly impacts the condition of the sheep. Keller writes, “Under one man sheep would struggle, starve and suffer endless hardship. In another’s care they would flourish and thrive contentedly.” Since humans are totally dependent on God, it is wonderful blessing that Jesus, the “Chief Shepherd,” is a good shepherd.

from an article (c) 2008 by Angie Mosteller http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1586.

Why not appear to the Priests at the Jerusalem Temple?

Perhaps because the circumstances of Jesus’ birth was so divergent from their set-in-stone expectations  about Who the Messiah would be and look like?

In Daniel 7:13,14,26,27 we see the timing of when  Messiah would come as the conquering King – when He arrives, riding on the clouds of heaven at His second coming. Was it confusion over the seemingly divergent prophecies –  would the Messiah be cut off (killed) as predicted in Daniel 9:25-27, or would He come in regal splendor and reign forever as Isaiah 9:1-7 describes? Would He be the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 or the Royal King portrayed in Psalm 2?

After centuries of being slaves of or subjects to the conquering kingdoms – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome – the most common Jewish expectation was that Messiah would come as a liberating “Son of David”, to come as a conquering King, and restore the political fortunes of the Jewish nation; restoring the ancient glory of Israel.

Is it possible that the Shepherds held no preconceptions about Messiah i.e. what He should look or act like, and that the religious professionals were geared to expect a military liberator due to Israels being subject to other nations for the last 400-500 years? Which of these groups would be the more faithful story-tellers of the events that unfolded?

“Daddy – Tell us about the Angels”

My dad was very much a blue-collar guy. His attitude was “These are the cards life has dealt me, so this is the hand I will play.” He had no illusions of grandeur, no dreams of fame and fortune or splendor. He was a regular guy. That’s the sense I get about the shepherds.

They saw, they heard, they told. What impact could they have had? Well… 2000 years later we still tell their story, right? Perhaps there was no IMMEDIATE impact from the story they told, but …

“Daddy  – tell us the story about the angels…”

“Grandpa – tell us the story about the angels…”

“Grandpa – tell us the story about when YOUR grandpa saw the angels…” and so on and so on. In a matter of a handful of generations, this story would be told to thousands of people. 

My Dream

Years ago I had a dream – it was at a time when I felt so insignificant – that there was nothing great about my life, and that somehow in my sense of being nothing that I had missed my chance of being a “something” – a significant and influential part of God’s kingdom.

In my dream, I am standing in a crowd of people in front of Jesus and He is calling people out of the crowd to commend them. I stood weeping, my head down, as I felt I had nothing to be commended for. He calls my name, and I don’t look up. He says my name in a loud authoritative voice – “PAIGE!” and I look up. He points to His right (my left) and I see my son, his wife and stretching behind them generations of believing descendants. Jesus speaks, with a touch of admiration in His voice… “well done!” He then points to His left (my right) where my daughter and her husband are standing. They have a secret ministry of supporting people anonymously, and they are surrounded by those they have helped – thousands… Jesus again says, with a tinge of admiration, “well done!” Then I woke up.

I realized that even if I was a “nothing” in the eyes of the world, raising a son and daughter as believers has a HUGE impact on our world.

Likewise the shepherds – “nothings” in the eyes of the world, by repeating the story of when Angels visited them, after a few generations, thousands of people would know of this event. When it came time to write the story of Jesus, approximately 60 years from this moment, there would easily be children and grandchildren – possibly even some of the original shepherds to tell the story to the Gospel writers.

Allow my imagination to wander around through this story… pretend you are one of the original shepherds who witnessed the angelic visitation years ago in Bethlehem. You had been hired by the Temple in Jerusalem to raise and safeguard the sheep for the sacrifices in Jerusalem. Part of your job was to aid in the birthing season, keeping an eye out for those lambs that could be deemed spotless, to be raised for the time when a spotless lamb would be sacrificed for the sins of Israel. (This will be explained in more detail in awhile). You are now an old man, and you are traveling to see the first prophet in over 400 years. His name was John, and he was baptizing around the Jordan river. Standing in the crowd, all of a sudden you see and hear this Prophet exclaim

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!…” John 1:29

Of all people in the crowd, this announcement would mean the most to YOU as one of those original shepherds. Your memory snaps back to that cold morning when the Angelic host guided you to a birthing manger for lambs to find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths. Imagine the awe rising in your heart as you lay eyes on this baby, now grown, walking towards John the Baptist. You were witness to the beginning of all of this. Now you are seeing the fulfillment. If that had been me, I KNOW that there would be tears running down my cheeks as I witnessed this event. It does not lay outside of my ability to imagine that at some point in the next few years that I would seek out the mother (Mary) or one of Jesus’ disciples  (Matthew?) to tell them YOUR story, ensuring its inclusion in the Christmas story we tell every year in December.

Temple shepherds

Let us now look more closely at these particular shepherds who were chosen by God to be special witnesses of Christ. Luke tells us that they were watching their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem, a small village just outside of Jerusalem. Because of Bethlehem’s close proximity to the Temple and the large number of sheep that would be needed for the daily sacrifices, many scholars believe these shepherds were actually temple shepherds. If this is the case, then most of these sheep would eventually be offered as sacrifices to the Lord.

During lambing season, shepherds stayed with their flocks both day and night. They lived among the sheep or “abided in the fields” so they could attend the birth of a new lamb. Because ewes were known to have potentially two or even three lambs born at once, it was necessary for the shepherd to watch for the firstborn of a new mother. As part of the law of Moses, the firstborn lambs were to be offered to the Lord as a special sacrifice. This would mean that the shepherd would need to mark the firstborn, possibly with a red ribbon, to set it apart from the other newborn lambs.

As these shepherds watched over their flock, suddenly an angel appeared unto them in the dark of night and said

 “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

 One can only imagine the fear that filled their hearts, which was quickly changed to great joy!

The angel then gives the shepherds a sign so that they will be able to recognize the child. 

“Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12). 

While finding a newborn wrapped in swaddling clothes would not have been unusual, to find him lying in a manger, a stone trough used to hold water for animals, would have been highly unusual.

The shepherds leave immediately leaving everything behind and with great haste search for their Messiah. 

Upon finding the Christ child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, just as the angel described, the shepherds worshipped him and then made this wonderful news known abroad. As ones whose occupation was to witness the birth of the firstborn lamb, shepherds were the perfect witnesses of the firstborn Lamb of God who had come to earth as the Savior and Messiah.

We may often feel like the shepherds: unworthy, uneducated, unnoticed by the world. But as Paul would say later in his letter to the Corinthian church

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (1 Cor 1:27 NIV)

God often chooses the foolish (in the world’s eyes) to confound the wise. Shepherds were the perfect choice for the inaugural announcement of the Messiah.

For unto us a child is born, even Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. 

And now… for the rest of the story…

There was a radio show called “The Rest of the Story” by Paul Harvey. He would tell a story that everyone was aware of, and after telling the story, he would repeat the iconic phrase “And now…. for the REST of the story!” and then launch into some unexpected background or details that the general public would not be aware of that would give the story so much more meaning and importance. If Paul Harvey were telling THIS story, he would most like say something like the following…

Rabbi Jason Sobel does in these interview excerpts “Thinks with his mouth open” as I am wont to do, offering some very insightful views concerning the birth of Jesus.

The Significance of Bethlehem

Shortly after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds guarding their sheep at night and announced to them,

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.

And the sign given to them was that they would find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. — Luke 2:11, 12

Of all the possible signs that could have been given to these shepherds, why did the Lord choose a baby lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes? Why was this so significant?

To answer this question, we need to dig deeper and explore the Jewish context in which the New Testament was written. Good students of the Bible are like detectives who ask lots of questions of the text. The first question we need to ask is: Who are these shepherds? Is there anything unique about them?

I believe these were no ordinary shepherds. They were Levitical shepherds, trained and tasked with the responsibility of tending and guarding the flocks used for sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem.

Next, we must ask, What is so significant about the location in which they found Jesus? When it was time for one of their flock to give birth, the shepherds would bring the sheep into one of the caves surrounding Bethlehem that were used for this purpose. These birthing caves were kept in a state of ritual purity since these lambs were destined to be used as sacrifices in the temple. In fact, many of the male lambs born around Bethlehem would be used for the Passover.

1. Since there was no room in the local inn, Mary and Joseph would used one of these caves around Bethlehem.

Messiah was not born in a stable behind some Econo Lodge or Motel Six. He was born in one of the many caves used for birthing these sacrificial lambs, because He Himself would be the ultimate sacrificial Lamb.

     2.  Not only would the location of Jesus’ birth be significant to these shepherds, but so would the fact that Jesus was swaddled in cloths. These shepherds were responsible for making sure that the newborn lambs did not contract defects, for only animals without spot or blemish could be used as a sacrifice in the temple. Baby lambs are very clumsy when they are born, so many scholars believe that these shepherds would swaddle their newborn lambs in order to prevent these future sacrificial lambs from becoming blemished by injuring themselves on jagged parts of the cave.

    3.  Another key aspect of swaddling in ancient Israel was “salting” a newborn. After Jesus was born, Joseph would have washed and scrubbed Him with salt water. Practically, the salt killed any bacteria found on an infant’s body. But there is a lot of spiritual symbolism in this act as well.

Salt was an indispensable part of every sacrifice offered in the temple, as we read in Leviticus:

You are to season with salt every sacrifice of your grain offering. You are never to allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your sacrifices you must offer salt. — Leviticus 2:13 TLV

Not only was Messiah born in the same location as the temple offering, but He was also washed in salt as part of the swaddling process, which points to His future sacrifice as the Passover Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world and inaugurate the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31).

Messiah was

the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. — Revelation 13:8,

so He needed to be salted as our true sacrifice to erase our sin and bring us into a covenant friendship with the Lord. Now, that’s a true friend.

Not only was the process of swaddling significant to the shepherds, but I believe the actual garments in which the baby Jesus was swaddled were meant to be a sign to them as well. Let’s explore their deeper meaning.

One of the oldest symbols of the Jewish faith is the menorah, a seven-branched candelabrum used in the temple. The Kohanim, the Levitical priests, lit the menorah in the sanctuary every evening and then cleaned it out every morning, replacing the old wicks with new ones.

What were the wicks of the menorah made from? The priests’ tunics. Any priestly garment that became so dirty to the point that its stains could not be washed out was no longer acceptable to be worn during priestly service. These unusable garments were not destroyed; instead, they were cut up, and the fabric was used for another holy purpose. The tunics of the ordinary priests were used to make wicks for the menorah that was to burn continually in the Holy Place in the temple.

This is speculation, but I (Rabbi Jason) believe Jesus’ swaddling clothes could have been made from the torn priestly garments that would have been used to make the wicks of the menorah. But where would Joseph and Mary have gotten them? My guess is that Mary got these cloths from her cousin Elizabeth, who was married to the priest Zechariah. As soon as Mary entered the home of Elizabeth, who had miraculously conceived in her later years, the unborn baby in her womb leaped, filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth cried out,

You are blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Who am I, that the mother of my Master should come to me? For even when I just heard the sound of your greeting in my ear, the unborn child leaped with joy in my womb. Luke 1:42-45 TLV

So these Levitical shepherds, who encountered angels, went to a place where the lambs used for the sacrifices were born and swaddled. There, they saw the baby Jesus swaddled like a sacrificial Passover lamb in priestly garments that were used for the lighting of the menorah in the temple, which symbolized the eternal presence and promise of God! 

Now it should make more sense as to why a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger would be such a significant sign to these shepherds, for it pointed to Jesus being both the Lamb of God and the Light of the World.

• Mishnah Shekalim 7:4.

Excerpted with permission from The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi by Kathie Lee Gifford with Rabbi Jason Sobel, copyright Kathie Lee Gifford.

These shepherds, trained to look for and identify those perfect lambs, spotless and without blemish.. these same shepherds would immediately understand the significance of what they witnessed when they saw this baby – in a birthing cave for sacrificial lambs – the place where spotless lambs were birthed and swaddled. This was indeed 

“The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!”

And for one last time, I will quote Paul Harvey

“And NOW you know… the REST of the story!”

In His Grip,

Paige