The Story of the Shepherds - A reflection on events of the first Christmas

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them" (Luke 2.8-9).

Favoured men, the first to gaze upon the Lord's Christ! The wise men from the East came with their gifts, but the shepherds were there first with their homage, and for ever afterwards those Judean shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it had been told unto them.

It would seem that the Wise Men came much later, probably a year or more. The shepherds heard the wonderful news the same day that it happened; the angel had said "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" . Perhaps even whilst he was speaking Mary was experiencing the never-to-be-forgotten wonder of taking her child into her arms for the first time. When the Wise Men ascended the steps of Herod's palace their question was "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship him" (Matt.2.2). Then there had to be a conference of chief priests and scribes to agree upon an answer to Herod's question that would afford the monarch the information he wanted without giving offence to his royal dignity. Even after the reply had been given, and doubtless further discussions, which have not been recorded, held between king and priests, the Wise Men were called again into the royal presence and in receiving instructions to go to Bethlehem, were admonished to bring Herod word again. The king's command to slay all the infants of two years old and under is an indication of the time that elapsed before the visit of the Wise Men.

Long prior to all this, Mary remained at Bethlehem forty days, the days of her purification according to the Law of Moses (Luke 2.22) and then Joseph took her, and her child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to present him before the Lord. There was no fear of Herod as yet. There, in the Temple court, the aged Simeon took the child into his arms and praised God that, according to his word, he had set his eyes upon the One who was to be a light to lighten the nations, and the glory of his people Israel. Likewise Anna, coming in at that moment, gave thanks also, and spake of him to all who looked for deliverance in Jerusalem. Herod's palace was only just across the valley from the Temple, but the proud king knew nothing of all this; evidently even then, forty days after the birth of Jesus there was no question of the Wise Men's arrival.

What a striking contrast there is in the manner of this revelation to the Wise Men and that to the shepherds! Those were guided by a star, but these were visited by an angel! The nature of that star which led the three travellers from the East has never been satisfactorily determined. All kinds of theories have been hazarded, but no one really knows. One thing is certain; the star was of this material creation, one of the worlds of light that God set in space in the dim faraway, ages before this world was, one of the "things that are made". The shepherds received greater honour, a personal visit from a special messenger of the Most High, a heavenly angel speaking with them and thrilling their hearts with the gladsome news. Once again God had reserved his choicest favour for the meek and lowly of heart.

Was it Gabriel, the archangel, who visited the shepherds that night? We cannot say for certain, but it is almost a foregone conclusion that he was the one sent. That expression "the angel of the Lord" in Luke 2.9 seems to imply that the visitor was of exceptional rank in the heavenly realm, and the thought is supported by the coming of a "multitude" of angels to join him after he, alone, had delivered the message. He seems to have been a leader amongst them. There is no reason to think that the shepherds looked up and beheld angels flying in the heavens above their heads in the manner suggested by so many medieval paintings and representations of this event. It is almost certain that they made themselves manifest in the fashion already so familiar to the people of Old Testament times, as men, standing upon the earth, glorious in shining raiment, assuredly, and quite certainly manifesting in their countenances evidence of their heavenly origin. The shepherds must have lifted up their eyes and seen the hillside around them crowded with the serried ranks of those resplendent beings, the radiance of their concourse turning night into day, the music of their voices rising and falling upon the still air like that of a vast choir, as they sang of glory to God in the highest, and peace upon earth to men. Then the radiance began to fade, the outline of those beautiful forms become misty and shadowy, the hills and rocks and trees slowly to show up again, and the darkness settle upon the scene as the golden voices died away and were still. The angels had gone away into heaven; but those shepherds knew that what they had seen had been no fantasy; it was solid fact, and so with one accord they rose up to go without delay into Bethlehem to see for themselves this thing that had come to pass.

Why were these particular men singled out for this honour? Did God arbitrarily pick out a group of shepherds who just happened to be in the vicinity in order to vouchsafe to someone this marvellous revelation? Surely not! These men were the first human beings to greet earth's rightful king! They were privileged to extend earth's welcome to the One who had come from above. On behalf of the entire human race whom Jesus had come to save, they made obeisance. We are so accustomed to the words of John "he came unto his own, and his own received him not" that we forget that the first men to see Jesus in the flesh did receive him, and talked about him for the rest of their lives. The conclusion is that these men were men of God, waiting in hope and faith and expectancy for the promised Messiah, and - who knows? - probably of that band which "looked for deliverance in Jerusalem" (Luke 2.38). What more appropriate than that the Most High should apprise the "Watchers" of that day of the fact that the One for whom they looked had come at last?

And this shall be a sign unto thee" - a wonder. Surely it was a wonder to men trained to expect Messiah as a great military leader and powerful King, overawing and destroying all the enemies of Israel and restoring the kingdom's former glories! "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manager." But their faith did not stagger; there is nothing in any part of the account to suggest that they even questioned the apparent strangeness of this Messianic Advent, so different from all that they had been taught and led to expect. They came, they saw, and they worshipped, and went away to spread the glad news that the King had come.

Thirty years were to roll by before anything more was known of this strange happening. It is unlikely that many of the shepherds ever heard again of the babe whom they had been thus led to visit and adore. They were rural Judeans, and probably never left the vicinity of Bethlehem for the rest of their lives. The babe was taken away by his parents within a few weeks. Thirty years is a long time; it may be that some of the younger ones among them, grown into old age, began to hear of the prophet who had risen in Galilee, and of his baptism in Jordan, and connected the tidings with the scene they had witnessed a generation previously. At first they must have talked about their amazing experience often as they lay around their camp fires at night or drove their flocks together through the day, but as the years went by perhaps some, at least, of them, began to wonder a little ...

The next Passover, or perhaps the Feast of Tabernacles, and Joseph with his wife was back at Bethlehem in readiness to keep the Feast at Jerusalem. The Wise Men had come, and presented their gifts, and departed. Herod was alerted. The sojourn at Bethlehem was ended; Joseph, warned of God in a dream, made preparations for a hurried flight into Egypt. Herod's soldiers would very shortly be on the scene, searching for the young child. Perhaps the shepherds had visited the Holy Family again. They would hardly have been likely to make no further attempt to offer worship to the Saviour of the world, their Messiah. Perhaps, seeing him like that, and believing, they glimpsed something of the truth which the disciples of Jesus thirty years later found it so very difficult to accept, the necessity of a Coming in humiliation before there could be a Coming in power. They may have learned some things from Mary, and Mary in turn may have learned much from them, for we are told that she "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart".

So one day Bethlehem was left behind, and the young husband and wife, bearing their precious treasure with them, set out for Egypt and safety. Herod could not pursue them there, for Egypt lay outside his sphere of jurisdiction. And when, apparently only a few months later, Herod died and they returned, they passed by Bethlehem and settled sixty miles to the north, in Galilee, there to remain until the day of Jesus' showing to Israel.

Luke says nothing of the flight into Egypt; only Matthew records that. From Luke's account it would seem as if they went straight from Bethlehem to Nazareth. Why did he omit the part of the history relating to the flight? The obvious difference in the two narratives has given occasion for the assertion that one or the other account is unreliable, or even both, and that the historical value of both Gospels must be discounted accordingly. As with the majority of such statements, investigation usually reveals that the apparently contradictory stories can be reasonably well harmonised.

It is thought that Luke drew the materials for his Gospel largely from Mary the mother of Jesus. It is quite possible for Luke to have known her. Who knows but that the girl-wife, horrified and grieved at the massacre of the Innocents and the anguish of their mothers, and knowing that this calamity had come upon them because of her own child, had put the evil memory far from her, and in after days either did not tell the details to Luke or would not have them included in the gospel which he was preparing? Matthew, of course, would have had it from Jesus himself, and it may be that the overruling power of the Holy Spirit thus respected Mary's reticence whilst taking care that the account should be preserved in one of the Gospels. It is not wise to be dogmatic, but the explanation may lie along this line. It may be noted also in passing that the true date of Jesus' birth was early October and not December 25, but this is irrelevant to what is being said here as to the human factors in the situation.

So passed the first Christmas, a season fraught with great joy and great sorrow. None of the principal characters in the drama knew of the tremendous consequences that were to arise from the happenings of those few weeks. None of them knew how many more Christmas seasons were to come and go before the song of the angels could become an accomplished fact. Today, peace on earth and goodwill among men seems farther off than ever. But it will come.

Perhaps, as we enter into another Christmas season we may take time to think awhile of those simple Judean shepherds, who, one dark night, saw a great light, and in the power and inspiration of that light became changed men. They came to see and to worship; they returned glorifying and praising God for the things that they had learned and witnessed. We come to the Lord Jesus in like manner, but we see more than a babe in a manger. We see the King, resplendent in his power, taking to himself the sceptre of authority, bringing this evil world order to an end that He might set up in its place his own everlasting Kingdom of peace. To the age-old angels' song there is added a new stanza: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in". Like those simple Judeans of old, we must needs return glorifying and praising God for the evidence of the coming Kingdom that we have seen and telling of that Kingdom with such zeal, such certitude, such forthrightness, that, like the people of Bethlehem and the country round about at the time of that first Christmas, "all they that heard it wondered of those things which were told them." The people of today sadly need such a message; the time is at hand, the angelic vision has appeared to us; our eyes have seen the King in his beauty. What else can we do but go on in the power and wonder of that peerless vision, talking to each other about it, telling our neighbours and friends the tremendous story, looking in faith for the fulfilment of the promise, waiting, watching, hoping, praying, until the angels come again, this time to raise the strains of a song that never shall die away so long as the earth endures.

AOH