Shepherds

 Today is the third Sunday of Advent.  As I’ve said before, there are many ways to interpret these four Sundays leading up to Christmas, depending on your particular church’s traditions. In the circles we run with, the tendency is to focus on Prophesy, The Wise Men, The Shepherds and finally, Bethlehem.

 

Today, those Shepherds.  You’ll remember awhile back I told you how I’d handed the box of nativity decorations to my middle grandson (he was about six at the time), and asked him to set it up for me. The rest of us went about decorating and Ezekiel was left to his own devices.

 

He did an excellent job, carefully unwrapping and placing each figure in it’s “traditional” place…… until it came to the shepherds.

 

As you would expect, he had Mary and Joseph, placed well back in the stable, out of the cold.  The towering wise men were just arriving, along with their entourage of servants and camels. Other animals were placed here and there, some curious to see the Blessed Event, others looking uninterested.  

 

Then there were the shepherds, taking no mind of the others, but crowded right up to the manger, blocking the view and in the process no doubt providing a measure of shelter from the cold. What I saw here in my grandson’s interpretation of the familiar scene, was the fact that he had actually listened to the story. Most Nativity scenes that I’ve observed (including my own) carefully have all the characters properly lined up as if getting ready for a family portrait. The center of attention, of course, is the Baby Jesus, looked upon by Joseph and Mary … carefully staged so that everyone is adequately visible. 

 

But Ezekiel, in his childhood understanding, was not interested in portraits or stage plays. He thought, “Those shepherds were the first on the scene; it was cold; and I don’t care if you’re a Wise Man or a wise guy, you’ll have to wait your turn. And as I admired his craft, I concluded that this was probably more accurate than most traditional scenes we see every year. Granted, if he’d have been a little more theologically inclined, he might have left the wise men out there in the East for two or three more years. But some things just need compressing.

 

That scene led me to ponder those shepherds, and ask myself what was going on in their minds that night? I don’t think their lives were particularly exciting, except for the odd bear or lion from time to time to get their adrenaline running, but think about it: these guys had just been serenaded by ANGELS! In a sound and light show never before seen and so far never repeated, they were proclaiming that the Savior of Mankind had been born. And then, with the real “knock the socks off” moment, they were invited to a front row seat. If I were a shepherd that night, I think I would have been running, pushing, shoving, hang the formalities and move over. Wouldn’t you?

 

How would you feel if you got a special invitation to kneel at the foot of the Master? Would you stand looking outwards at the world around, give proper credence to any and all authority that happened to be present, and take your proper place so that all could see and admire the Miracle Child?  I don’t think so.

 

So what am I suggesting? Roll up your sleeves and grab for that last Christmas present on the shelf? C.S Lewis describes those Christians who are so caught up in their own personalities as “all elbows”. For them, the Nativity is something like an extension of their own lives … focused on Jesus, to be sure, but never failing to place themselves in a position where their own image can be seen.

 

As I look again at our Nativity this year, I’m going to try and get into the mind of each and every person standing or kneeling there. And come to think of it, I’m not going to dismiss the animals in my assessment. Just think, one of those donkeys in that stable might possibly have been the grandmother of the one who had never been ridden until the day in Jerusalem when a disciple came to his owner and, “The Master has need of him.” Obedient to a fault. I’ll take that over any wise man or woman. And possibly best represented in the lives of those shepherds.

 

I’d like to encourage us all, as we bustle and wrestle into the season, to think of that ‘one last gift’ we need to pick up and think of the ‘Best Gift of All’

 

Have a great week!  

 

Marsha