The Characters of Christmas: A Five-Day DevotionalSýnishorn

Shepherds were not really considered part of polite society in those days. They were required to tend their flocks outside the city gates. The only reason shepherds had any significance was because sheep were a valuable commodity, especially as it got closer to Passover, when many lambs would be sacrificed in the temple. 

And yet there is something significant and powerful about the inclusion of the shepherds in the Jesus story. Luke is reminding us, by mentioning the shepherds, that the kingdom of God isn’t just for the insiders, but for outsiders, like shepherds, like the poor classes where Mary and Joseph came from. It reminds us that the kingdom of God is often made up, not of the noble and wise, but of the underclass, those people that have no business being near royalty. Immanuel, God with us, means God is truly among all classes of people, not simply the connected or well-resourced. 

The presence of the shepherds in the Christmas story also tells us a little bit about just what kind of Messiah Jesus would be. He would come to us as a Savior, as a King, as a Lion, but also, as our shepherd. Though their vocation was not viewed with respect by their peers, Scripture always portrays shepherding as a high calling, perhaps the most repeated image of leadership in the Bible. 

This is why I believe the announcement of the coming of Jesus—himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:10) had to happen in a shepherds’ field among those who lead sheep. Luke is telling us that this ruler who is to come would be different than the rulers his people were used to seeing. He wouldn’t be a Caesar who ruled only by brute force. He wouldn’t be a Herod, who literally governed by treachery, murder, and paranoia. No, Jesus, would be, among all of his attributes, a shepherd. And He would trust Himself and His message to shepherds.