Christmas Chronology: Luke 2:8-20

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Shepherds were not well regarded in that society. They were thought of as untrustworthy drunkards, and could not testify in court. So why did the angel appear to shepherds, rather than some more trustworthy and respected type of people, like priests? Because Jesus came for the outcasts, the undesirables, those with no social status.

I’ve been trying to read these passages, which I’ve read so many times before, with a new eye. I’m discovering that the traditional images we have of these events bears little resemblance to what the Bible actually says. For instance, the mental image I’ve always had of the angels and shepherds is that the angels were in the sky, with the shepherds below. But Luke doesn’t say that. Verse 9 just says an angel appeared to them. An angel appeared to Zechariah, and also to Mary, but not in the sky, so why would this angel be in the sky? When angels appear in the Bible, more often than not, they appear as men, standing on the ground.

Another point that we’re all aware of by now is that Jesus was probably not born in December. This account is evidence of that. Shepherds were not out in the fields with their flocks in the winter. It’s most likely that this took place in the spring, during lambing season.

Of course, the angel has to start by saying, “don’t be afraid,” as usual. Then he says he brings good news of great joy. This is not just a turn of phrase. The angel is literally bringing the Gospel, the Good News. This good news will bring great joy to all the people. Keep in mind who the angel was talking to. These outcasts probably did not have a lot of “great joy” in their life. They worked a monotonous job, and weren’t well thought of by others. The angel’s good news wasn’t just for the privileged, the educated, or even the righteous, but for everyone, including them. Including you.

What is this good news? A Savior has been born, Christ the Lord. Israel had been looking and waiting for a Savior for centuries. Christ means anointed one, and it’s basically the Greek word for Messiah. The Lord is one of the Old Testament terms for God, of course. The angel is saying that not only has a Savior been born, but he is the Messiah, and he is God.

After the amazing statement in verse 11, the next statement in verse 12 must have made little sense to the shepherds at first. He’s the Savior, the Messiah, he’s God, and he’s lying where? Everyone knew the Messiah would be descended from David, so everyone assumed he would be born of royalty. I’m sure the shepherds expected to be told to go to the house of some wealthy, politically connected family. But instead, they had to go and search for a baby lying in a feed trough.

 God is making an amazing statement to these downtrodden peasants by doing it this way. The angels appeared to representatives of the Temple, but not to the priests. And Jesus was born to a descendant of David, but not to a ruler. By being born to a poor peasant family with no political power, and by announcing his birth to the lowest caste of those who worked for the old Temple and its system of sacrifices for sin, God was making clear that this was indeed good news of great joy for all people.

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

The term heavenly host is also translated armies of Heaven. This was not an just an angelic choir, it was an army. The Levite singers used to march in front of the armies of Israel singing “His Love Endures Forever” as they went into battle, and God granted them victory when they did (2 Chronicles 20:21-22). Here the armies of Heaven burst into song over the victory that God would win over sin, death, and hell with the birth of the Savior.

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

There was no star for the shepherds to follow. So how did they find the baby Jesus? Again, the imagery of the traditional Nativity scene can get in the way of understanding what really happened. We think of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, the shepherds and wise men, angels and barnyard animals, all there at the same time, with the Star of Bethlehem overhead. And of course, they all have haloes. But that’s not how it happened. The angels didn’t go with the shepherds to the manger. The shepherds didn’t leave the field till the angels had gone back into heaven, as it says in verse 15.

In my last post, I talked about how Jesus was born in a lambing cave, the place where the lambs that these very shepherds watched over were born. When the shepherds heard the angel say that they would find the baby in a manger there in Bethlehem, I imagine that this was the first place they thought of. They would have known exactly where to find mangers in Bethlehem. They had probably been there many times when sheep that they took care of gave birth. And it was lambing season. I think it’s possible that the shepherds had, in the course of their duties, had to make trips to that lambing cave before, and had encountered this poor couple keeping house there, about to give birth. But it wasn’t until the angel appeared to them that they knew that the baby was born, and that he was someone very special.

The sheep that the shepherds watched over were intended for sacrifice in the Temple. Did they recognize the significance of the Savior being born in the place where the lambs who were meant for sacrifice came into the world? Do we?

After they had seen the Christ child, the shepherds spread the word of what they had seen and heard, and everyone was amazed at their story. Given the shepherds’ reputation, I’m sure more than a few were incredulous, and attributed their story to too much wine. The contrast between the shepherds’ response to these events and Mary’s is interesting. Mary didn’t go around telling everyone what she had heard and seen, She treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. All through these first two chapters of Luke, I’m trying to keep in mind that all of this probably comes from Mary. The shepherds obviously told Mary and Joseph about the angels, and Mary included that in her interviews with Luke. Who would have known about Mary pondering these things in her heart but Mary herself?

After all of these incredible experiences, the shepherds returned to their work, but with a new attitude. Now they had an attitude of glorifying and praising God because of their encounter with Jesus. When we meet Jesus, the drudgery of our everyday work is transformed into service for God. Now we do what we do as unto the Lord, all because we came into contact with the Savior, Christ, the Lord.