Ever feel like you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time? You might have made a good shepherd.
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This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 11, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called Do You Work Here? Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Open your Bible up to Luke chapter 2. I know a lot of people try to avoid this if they can, but I kind of like the “Do You Work Here?” moment. Do you know what I mean by this? If you’re young, this might not have happened to you yet, but sooner or later it probably will. You’re in some store, for me it’s usually Home Depot, minding your own business, and a perfect stranger comes up to you, “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find hollow wall anchors?” It’s a fun moment, because that customer can ask me virtually anything about the operation of the store and I have no idea. When this happens, my first impulse is to make something up and joke around with them.
- Is this on sale? Sure!
- Where are your restrooms? Probably in the back. But maybe near the front?
- When will you get 8 foot 2x4s back in stock? April. Definitely April.
I don’t actually mess with people when this happens. If I can, I try to be helpful, but mostly have to admit, I’m so sorry, but you’re talking to the wrong guy. I don’t know anything here. People usually recognize the bewildered look on my face pretty quickly and ask, “I’m sorry, do you work here?” “No, no I don’t.”
I can’t help but wonder if the shepherds in Luke chapter 2 felt a little bit like that when the angel showed up to them on the night when Jesus was born. Follow along with me as I read Luke 2:8–14, and try to imagine what these shepherds were experiencing.
Luke 2:8–14
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
So this isn’t meant to be funny. It’s not a comedy sketch. But if you try to imagine this scene and you’re not at least chuckling at some point, I’m not sure you’ve really got it in your head yet. Some stories in the Bible, like this one, are so familiar that we need to work extra hard to picture what’s going on.
Shepherds are in every nativity scene on the planet so we think, “Of course there were shepherds there.” But there is no of course about it. In the hierarchy of social standing, being a shepherd was basically the lowest rung on the ladder. Maybe only leper and tax collector scored lower than these guys.
It was a terrible job: you were outside in every kind of weather, sheep were smelly so you were smelly, you had to deal with wild animals like bears and wolves. Nobody wanted this job and nobody thought well of people who did this job. I’m not sure what you would compare it to today. Trashmen today have it way better than these guys.
And this doesn’t seem like a winning marketing strategy. Why start with the shepherds? If the angel of the Lord here is the same angel that appeared to Mary and Joseph, which seems reasonable, I would want to tell him, “Gabriel, this grass-roots strategy of yours is very commendable, but this bottom-up approach is going to take forever. Let’s get the leaders and then the people will follow them. Go find the kings and the rulers and the generals, the influencers and the rich people, the athletes and the musicians, and tell them about the baby Jesus.”
So no one expected an angelic announcement to come to the shepherds. That’s probably at least part of why, in verse 9, it says that they were “filled with great fear.” This is a really profound fear: you could translate it something like, “They feared a great fear.” This is a much bigger shock than any “Do you work here?” moment.
But I can’t help but wonder if there was at least one similarity in my surprise at being asked to find wingnuts and the shepherds’ shock at being addressed by an angel. Surely they asked themselves, why are you telling us this? We don’t know what’s going on around here. We’re just shepherds. No one cares what we do and no one listens to what we say.
There are probably many reasons why God chose to send Gabriel and this angel choir to the shepherds first to announce the arrival of the Messiah. I wonder if at least one of those was to signal that this savior would be for everyone: not just for the popular, the influential, the intelligentsia. Other than the animals, the two groups that are in almost every manger scene are shepherds and wise men. They represent the two opposite ends of the spectrum socially and economically, and since both came to worship the Christ, we learn that people like them and everyone in between are summoned to the Savior. Poor, rich, and everything in between. Jewish and Gentile. Near and far off. God loves to draw all kinds of people to himself.
And just as God has drawn these shepherds (and in Matthew’s gospel the wise men, too), he has invited you to come worship Jesus as well. The shepherds might have felt like they don’t belong in the nativity scene and if we understand the depth of our sin and rebellion, we will recognize that we don’t belong, either. But we’ve been invited because Jesus came to save sinners.
Jesus came to make saints of shepherds and sons of sinners. He sent the archangel Gabriel and an entire angel choir to the shepherds to announce that he was sending his Son to each of us—to poor and rich, to athletic and academic, to popular and unpopular. He sent his son for everyone who recognizes that they are sinners and come to him for forgiveness. I might not understand why someone at Home Depot is asking me where to find wingnuts, but because we have the Bible, we will always know that God sent his son to save sinners like us.
“Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation; Sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above! Glory to God, Glory in the highest.”
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!
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