Luke 2:8-20
Unclean, incompetent, dirty, ignored, unreliable witnesses. Shepherds were uneducated and viewed as unskilled. People considered shepherds unclean because of the nature of their work: living among and being in daily contact with dirty, smelly sheep. To be a shepherd required that you live in the field with the sheep amongst their manure, flies, and grass. They smelled of foul body odor and dirty sheep. No one wanted to be associated with shepherds.
This line of work kept them from adhering to all the extra ceremonial cleaning rituals that religious leaders required of them to participate in at the temple. They were discriminated against by the religious elite; they were unwanted and excluded from Temple worship.
Shepherds were considered the lowest in social status in the culture. The Mishnah, Judaism’s written record of the oral law, referred to shepherds in a derogatory manner. Some passages call them incompetent, and no one should feel obligated to help or rescue a shepherd if they fall into a well or pit.
Shepherds were denied their civil rights. So much so that if a shepherd were to witness a crime, they would not be considered a reliable witness. They were not to be trusted.
We are not told how this view of shepherds happened. Was it the result of a few bad shepherds or a culture of shepherding that led to their mistreatment? But one thing is sure,
Shepherds were unreliable witnesses.
Yet God first came to the edges of society — the shadows, the unwanted, the “dirty,” the “un- clean” — to announce the arrival of the King of Kings, the Messiah. He did not go to the religious who had been studying the scriptures predicting his arrival, nor to the wealthy, nor to those who were “accepted” by society, the strong, the influencers, or the good looking. God’s plan was subversive; it wasn’t meant to be announced to just anyone. He had a plan and knew exactly to whom He wanted to announce the birth of the Savior of the World. He went to the “losers” of society to make the biggest announcement and the biggest statement in world history,
“Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people.
Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; He is the
Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and ly- ing in a manger.
Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and say-ing,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, And on earth peace to those on Whom His favor rests.'”
Can you imagine the shepherds’ shock when the dark night sky opened with blazing lights, and a chorus of angels stood among them? Then, after the angels disappeared as quickly as they appeared, the shepherds looked at each other in disbelief, some wondering if what they had just seen really happened. Some eyes were still wide while others were rubbing their eyes because they could not see clearly now that the bright lights of heaven had vanished.
I can imagine them restating to each other what they just heard. Then, as the angels’ words began to sink in, they realized they had just been given “secret” information about the birth of the King of the Jews. Then, realizing that God had en- trusted them to be witnesses of the Messiah’s birth, the unreliable witnesses became reliable witnesses in God’s eyes.
They didn’t need reassurance if this was true. Nor did they ask for another sign from God to test and see; they “hurried” to the manger as though they had nothing to lose, because they were al- ready considered nobodies. They found Joseph, Mary, and the Baby lying in a manger.Just as anyone who witnesses something amazing would, the Shepherds couldn’t keep the news to themselves.
Luke tells us,
“They spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the Shepherds said to them.”
In this great reversal unreliable witnesses be- came reliable witnesses that amazed everyone who heard the them. God chose not to use the traditional, commonly accepted way of announcing his birth. He intentionally chose an alternative, subversive route to announce the most significant event in human history.
Phil Steiner 