Luke 2:10-18

We all know enough of Luke’s account of Jesus’s birth to picture the shepherds, well away from town, probably sleepy, surrounded by sheep, terrified by the appearance first of one angel, then a “host,” and excitedly rushing off to see the Baby Jesus. I’m trying to slow down during these first days of Advent, being purposeful in looking at a well-known (maybe too well-known) story. So I decided to research how first-century shepherds were viewed. My knowledge was limited to their low social class, but was there more? Turns out, yes, and a little bit of study has made this familiar passage more layered and meaningful for me.

Virtually all of my internet sources (I do not pretend this was an exhaustive study) agreed on these points: shepherds were not merely lower class, they were social outcasts, considered to be thieves, and viewed as unreliable (so much so they were not allowed to give testimony in court). All of which raises the question: why did the angels appear to shepherds? The juxtaposition between the lofty angels and the lowly, smelly shepherds makes me wonder what God is doing. Surely the news would have had more widespread impact were religious leaders, educated men, the rich or the elite notified first. 

But wait! Of course it’s shepherds. Won’t this Baby spend His ministry years seeking those just like them: the lowly, the despised, the outcast? Won’t He die despised on a cross, cast outside the city gates? It’s likely the very sheep these men are tending would be used in sacrifices since Bethlehem, located near Jerusalem, was known to supply lambs to the Temple. Thus, even at Jesus’ birth, we’re reminded of His death when He would be led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isa.53:7).  

But wait! Of course it’s shepherds. What figure did Jesus choose for Himself? The Good Shepherd. Who better to receive the angels’ announcement than someone who knows what it’s like to see helpless sheep go astray and choose to pursue them, to lead them to pasture, to protect them?

But wait! Of course it’s shepherds. Doesn’t God always seek and use those we think most unlikely to further His plan? Who would think shepherds would leave their sheep (their only livelihood) and “hurry off” (v.16) at night (with its own dangers) to find some newborn king? Who but God would entrust those considered unreliable to “spread the word concerning what [the angels had] told them” about this Child (2:17)? Their news must have had such credibility that “[none] who heard” scoffed or dismissed their testimony. They were “amazed” (2:18) at the “good news” (2:10), not at the bearers of it. 

The angels’ announcement to lowly shepherds - and remember, they are the only ones the angels appear to - is in fact made to the most appropriate audience after all. And if God chose them for an angelic host’s birth announcement of His only Son, then I know I am not too outcast or too lowly or too sinful to receive the Good News of salvation either. I know I have and will be led by a Good Shepherd. 

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (2:18). How does my celebration, right now, compare to the shepherds’? Stir me, Lord, to feel the “great joy” the angels announced to lowly shepherds and, as they did, rush to tell others. 

Sources: Tim Keller (Gospel in Life website); Phil Ware, Why Shepherds?; Randy Alcorn, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus; quick looks at other assorted internet links and discussion with Brian Emmet.