Why were the shepherds the first to hear the good news?
Shepherds at Christmas. Why?
In Luke’s infancy narrative shepherds play a key role. They are invited by an angel to come and visit Christ, just born and lying in a manger. But why did Luke take so much trouble to recount the involvement of shepherds during Christmas night? Why did he stress that shepherds were the first people to hear the good news and see the infant Jesus? Why shepherds? Why not farmers, soldiers, fishermen or other village people?
In Jesus’ days shepherds were considered to hold the lowest profession possible in society. Rabbi Joseph, son of Cheninah, wrote: "In the whole world there is no more contemptible occupation than the job of a shepherd, because his whole life he walks round with a stick and a bag". Rabbi Gorion of Sidon stated: "No father may allow his son to become a shepherd".
The scribes and pharisees looked down on the ordinary people. They did not want to be seen in the company of camel drivers, sailors or travelling merchants. But they had a special contempt for shepherds, because they considered them untrustworthy and dishonest. One scribe wrote: “Shepherds rank with tax collectors.” Another said: “From shepherds you may not buy wool, milk or goat’s kid because you do not know whether this has not been stolen.” The shepherds were good enough to look after animals, to be kept far away in the fields. For all practical purposes they were not considered human.
But Jesus had come precisely to “set the downtrodden free” (Lk 4,18). His message was directed at those who needed redemption most: “Happy are you poor, you who are hungry now, you who weep” (Lk 6, 20-21). His message was directed at those who needed redemption most: “Happy are you poor, you who are hungry now, you who weep” (Lk 6, 20-21).
Jesus was the saviour of all people, and most of all of the abandoned and oppressed (Lk 8,31). Therefore, it was not the rich and well-to-do, not the scribes or the priests, not the respectable citizens of Bethlehem, but the social outcasts who were invited to welcome the Child.
The new, revolutionary values of the gospel impress us even allowed more if we know that in Jewish courts they were not allowed to give testimony. Targum Sanhedrin declares: “Robbers, murderers and Shepherds, that is, all who cannot be trusted, may not be called as witnesses. Their testimony is always invalid.” No one was willing to believe what a shepherd said he had seen.
God trusts those who we do not trust. God's presence among us is not an experience reserved to scribes, pharisees and other so-called pious people. “All humankind will see the salvation of God" (Lk 3,6). That is why shepherds are called upon to see what God has done in Jesus. "Let us see this thing that has happened, that God has told us” (Lk 2,15).
The shepherds anticipated the Christian experience that God reveals himself to every person, whether old or young, man or woman, slave or free-man (Acts 2, 17-18). Jesus was to pray: “Oh Father, I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise” (Lk 10,21). And to his disciples he said: “How happy are you to see the things you see! For prophets and kings, I tell you, wanted to see what you see, but they could not” (Lk 10,23-24).
There was another reason why it was fitting that shepherds should represent humankind on Christmas night. Jesus himself was the good shepherd who was going to lay down his life for his sheep (Jn 10,11). The job of a shepherd considered so vulgar and lowdown by Jesus' contemporaries, was to be the model of Jesus’ mission. Others had only observed the tattered clothes and uncouth manners of the shepherds. Jesus had watched their love and sincere care for their sheep.
He had been moved by the joy and happiness of a shepherd who finds a lost sheep and carries it home on his shoulders (Lk 15,5-6). In this poor shepherd's love he found the best example to express his Father's affection of sinners (Lk 15,7) and his own readiness to serve them (Jn 10,14-15).
That is why Jesus was born not as a king, but as a shepherd. Like a shepherd's baby he was not born in an ordinary house but in a stable. His bed was not the cradle of the rich, but a manger, a foddering trough used by shepherds to lay their babies in.
Jesus was born not as an emperor with the signs of future power, but as an ordinary shepherd with the sign of poverty. "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Lk 2,12).
There is a mystery in the Old Testament prayer: “The Lord is my shepherd” (Ps 23,1). There is an even deeper mystery in the lowliness and poverty of Christ lying in a manger recognised as a Saviour by shepherds.
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