Sermonette for Jan. 7, 2019

And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Luke 2:18

Among the people (and animals) in the Nativity, shepherds may be the most surprising.

In first century Palestine, shepherds were weird. They stunk of barn animals, they worked from sunup to sundown, always on call if a sheep should get separated from the pack. They were not Jewish insiders.

But an angel of the Lord appeared to them.

There aren’t many people who’ve had an angel show up, this clearly, and this well-documented. Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, yes. And to the shepherds. The angel’s greeting is always the same: “do not be afraid.”

It must have been significantly important that these outcast shepherds believed, that these shepherds not be afraid. Why?

We don’t know any personal information about the shepherds. We don’t know if they were searching for something, or naturally fearful, or even their basic human needs in their context.

We know that shepherds spent much of their time with the sheep. It was dirty, outdoor, exhausting work, with few opportunities for bathing. And we know, as with any rancher, there were many opportunities for shepherds to be in contact with blood, which according to Jewish law would deem them unclean, and therefore unable to attend worship. In Jesus’ time one of the signs of a pure and good Jew was that they went to a place of worship regularly. So socially the shepherd was on the fringe of society.

That the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds means that God is widening his scope. The babe, who was promised for Israel, will be for those outside the tradition as well. The Lord God, coming to earth as a vulnerable baby, will welcome the most vulnerable among us.

And that includes us. When we are lowly, when we are vulnerable, when we are outcasts, “unclean,” rejected by society, our families, or even when we despise ourselves, God is with us. Loving and caring for all the dark places inside, coming in surprising and expected ways, encouraging us to not be afraid, shedding light on us and giving us hope.