Advent - God Knows What He's AboutPrøve

Shepherds and Angels  

Wearing a bathrobe, a bath towel draped on my head and a stick in my hand, my five-year-old self was transformed into a first-century Jewish shepherd gazing over Mary’s shoulder at the newborn baby Jesus. So is my earliest memory of Luke’s account of the shepherds and angels. As I recall, the angels got to do all the talking. We shepherds just stood there (except for the moment when I had to prompt one of my fellow actors who forgot her lines). 

The shepherds always appear as Christmas props, standing and staring. Always the angels get the speaking parts. The angels get to announce the good news. They get to proclaim the baby Jesus as Savior, Messiah and Lord. The angels get to sing praises to God and proclaim favor to humanity. The shepherds just stand and stare. 

Is there something more we can say about the shepherds? Most commentators aren’t much help here. One points out that shepherds were dirty, often dishonest, nothing special. Yet, Luke seems to think these dirty, smelly props are important in the story. After all, no other group in all the world gets an official angelic announcement of the birth of Christ. Maybe the shepherds were important because they were not important. The Gospels often work that way. Jesus does the greatest miracles for unimportant people. 

However, I think there is something more to it than just being unimportant props. After all, literally and metaphorically, shepherds are all through the Old Testament. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David were all shepherds. Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe the leaders of Israel as shepherds, shepherds who failed, but shepherds nevertheless. At its height, the metaphor of shepherd describes God himself in the Psalms and the Prophets. In the New Testament, Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel when he describes himself as “the Good Shepherd” who will lay down his life for the sheep. Even the apostles get in on the act as Jesus commands them to “feed my sheep.” 

I think Luke knew that no group was more demonstrative of the person and work of the newborn Savior than that of these humble shepherds. Smelly, dirty props they may be, but they stand and stare to remind us that we are the dirty, smelly sheep for whom He was not afraid to get down in the dirt to serve.

Dr. Bill Carrell
Christian Studies Professor, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor