Like all the people we’ve been looking at in the Christmas story, the shepherds of Bethlehem are heroes because they also were called to be part of God’s plan to bring salvation to the world. The job of the shepherds was to share the good news that the Savior had been born and that’s what they did. (Luke 2:17) After the shepherds find Jesus lying in a manger – they go through the streets of Bethlehem and tell people not only about a baby lying in a manger but how they found the baby because a heavenly lost of angels told them where to look, and then they shared with people what the angels said about the child, that he was the Savior, Christ the Lord.
To me the shepherds are heroes because while the angels told them that the savior had been born and they told the shepherds where to find the child, the angels never told the shepherds that they had to share this news with anyone. The angels give the shepherds a sign so they will know that they have found the Savior, but the angels never told the shepherds that once they found the baby that they had to share this good news with others, the shepherds did this all on their own. From the glory of the angels that appeared to them on the hillsides, to the humility of a child found lying in the hay of a feeding box, the experience of God that the shepherds had was so profound, so life changing, that they couldn’t keep it to themselves, they didn’t want to keep it to themselves, they wanted to share this experience with others. The shepherds wanted others to know the glory and the power and the love of God, so they shared the experiences of that holy night with others. We become heroes when we share our experience of God’s love and grace and power with others, and we need to do it not because we have to or because God calls us to, but simply because we want to. Have we had an experience of God’s love and grace so profound and so personal that it compels us to share it with others? That’s really what the shepherds experienced that night, the profound grace and love of God and their story tells us that God’s love has no limits.
You see, of all the heroes in this Christmas story, the Shepherds are by far the most unlikely. While the shepherds we see standing in our nativity scenes and in our Christmas pageants look innocent or even righteous, as a group, shepherds were not held in very high esteem. Shepherds were known for being crooks and liars. They could not be counted on to do or say the right thing and they had such a bad reputation that they were not allowed to give any testimony in a court of law because they could not be counted on to tell the truth. So it’s to a known group of liars and thieves that God chose to reveal his son on the night he was born.
Why would God do this? Why choose such an unlikely group to reveal this most important news? I mean, God could have sent the heavenly hosts of angels to kings, or priests, or even the holy and righteous men and women of Bethlehem. God could have sent his angels to people who at least others might trust and listen to, but God didn’t. God sent the angels to a bunch of men who had the reputation for not being able to tell the truth, and without even having to ask them to join his plan of salvation – they responded in faith and trust and so they said, hey, we’re in, we’re going to spread this good news of great joy. This bold move on the part of God to choose shepherds above all others shows us that the birth of Jesus and the love and salvation Christ offers are for everyone. There is no one outside of God’s reach, and there is no one outside of God’s love. God not only declares this at the birth of Jesus by choosing the shepherds, but Jesus reinforced this truth throughout his life and ministry.
Think of the kind of people Jesus called to follow him, they weren’t the best and brightest of the society and they weren’t the religious scholars and leaders of his day, they were fishermen and tax collectors. They were people passed over for others and even those who were hated and despised by their neighbors. Jesus constantly reached out to love and forgive men and women who made terrible choices in life. They were sinners, and yet not one of them was beyond the grace of God. And there is not one person today is who beyond the grace of God. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done or where we are in life. We may be facing the biggest failures we have ever faced, we may be struggling to make sense out of broken relationships, broken promises, broken dreams, and we may be wrestling with the stranglehold of sin that simply won’t let us go, but none of that can keep God’s love from us.
Look at what Paul says in Romans 8: 35-39.
There is nothing can separate us from the love of God. God loves us, and his greatest desire is for us to know that we are loved and forgiven, and that the gift of salvation is ours through Jesus. I hope that like the shepherds of Bethlehem that even if we have doubts about God’s love or God’s ability or desire to forgive us, I hope that we would at least be willing to go and check it out. That’s what the shepherds did. They went to see for themselves this thing that the angels talked about. They went to find for themselves this savior, and I hope that if we have any question about whether or not God loves us or forgives us that we will just check it out and see if it’s true. We can check out the claims of God by reading God’s word. We can read about the love of God lived out in the life of Jesus. See what God says – see what Jesus does. Pray and listen to the still small voice of God. Above all the noise and busyness of this season, take a moment to hear the voice of a savior say, I love you and I forgive you, and you are mine. The birth of Jesus proclaims that God loved the world, but the choice of Shepherds to be the heroes who first tell this story of God’s love, is a sign that God loves all people, even the most unlikely, the most distant, and the most sinful.
Heroes not only accept God’s love, they share this good news and they share God’s love with others. Are we willing to share the love of God? Are we willing to say by our words and actions that God’s grace has touched our hearts and lives? One of the most powerful ways we share this good news is in how we talk about the people around us. When we are critical of one another and when we put one another down or say things that are not encouraging and uplifting, then we are not sharing the love and grace of God. And what’s sad is that even in the church, this kind of talk takes place. Cutting people down is so much a part of our culture today that many times we may not even be aware that we are doing it and so it creeps into the life of the church. But when we look down on others, when we judge and are critical of their actions, their looks, or their lifestyle, we are not sharing the good news that all are loved and accepted by God and the truth is there is no place among the people of God for words and actions that don’t lift others up. In Ephesians 4:29 it says, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
In a world where people think nothing of cutting others down – we become heroes who offer grace and salvation when we speak words of love and acceptance at all times and in all places. We can’t just say the right thing when we are here, we have to say the right thing everywhere because the world is listening. Look at the end of Ephesians 4:29, so that it may benefit those who listen. It’s not just those we are talking to who are listening to us, the world is listening. People are listening to how we in the church talk about one another and if we can’t say positive things about our brothers and sisters, then what hope is there that we can offer the world the grace and love of God. If we can’t truly accept one another right here, then how can we possibly share with others that they are loved and accepted by God. People are listening to us and they are evaluating our words. People are listening to see if our words are filled with grace, or judgment, and they are using what we say to determine if we are filled with grace or judgment.
The words of the shepherds were filled with grace and love and joy because they had been accepted by God. They knew God’s grace because they realized they had been chosen by God to see the Savior. They knew God’s love because they found the child lying in the manger just like the angels told them. The message of the shepherds wasn’t learned from a book, they didn’t read somewhere that God loved them, this was their story and so they shared out of their own personal experience of God’s love and grace. When we share our own personal story of God’s acceptance and forgiveness and love at work in our own lives and when we live that out in real ways in the world around us, we are the heroes who are part of God’s plan of salvation.
I believe the world today is in need of heroes. People don’t want to hear criticism, and they don’t want to hear some truth we learned in a book, people want to know how we have experienced God’s acceptance and forgiveness. They want to know that they are loved and they need to hear words of acceptance and grace and love from us. So as we get closer to the Celebration of Christ’s birth and as things maybe get a little more stressful and a little more hectic, let us first find those moments of silence to hear God’s words of love and grace and then may we share those words with others. When we are that kind of hero – we will help bring salvation to the world.
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