Why the Shepherds?

It’s Christmas time again. The story, the gifts, the family get-togethers, another
Christmas. Sometimes it seems all the going and doing gets a little humdrum and even
tedious.

But I’ve always done it and I’m sure I always will.

How is it that the story of Christmas can become so mundane?

We’ve all known it as long as we can remember, and it gets told every year but why does it seem that this great story can get almost stale?

As I was mulling over these and various other thoughts a few days ago, a question began to
flash across the dashboard of my mind.

“Why the shepherds?”

Now I know that the shepherds are as well known of a part as any other character in the Christmas story.

But why them?

The Story could have been complete and the ending unaltered even if they had
not been involved.

I imagine these were the lower-class uneducated men.

And how did they not lose their sanity when the angel appeared?

Man has been looking at the stars nearly as long as time has existed so for these men to see an angel flying at them must have been a little disconcerting.

Not to mention that the angels could have been sent to any number of destinations. They could just as easily have walked the main street of Bethlehem and caroled to a lot more people.

So why the shepherds?

I can’t say that I know.

I probably will never know for sure.

But one thing I do know.

The shepherds provide a good example for me today.

First off, they were dedicated. I imagine that tending sheep probably wasn’t a very
glamorous job, even in those days.

But those men or boys were out there, at night none the less, doing what they knew had to be done. They probably weren’t getting wealthy off of it, but it made a living and that was enough.

Second, they were brave. Brave enough to fight off the predators that no doubt threatened their sheep’s lives. Brave enough to not flee when a shining person dropped in front of them with a wild story of new life.

And perhaps most importantly, they were ready to go. They realized in a moment that what the angel had told them was far more important than the sheep they were watching. They were ready to run
into town, to find the baby, and worship Him.

And after they found the King, they were ready to spread the news through the town.

They didn’t pause at the fact that many people might view them as low class. It didn’t matter that it was the middle of the night.

They had to spread the news, and they weren’t going to wait.

So why the shepherds?

Common people doing common things.

Just like us.

Maybe that’s all the reason we need.

~Chad Smith