Word of Salvation – Vol. 39 No.41 – November 1994

 

The Shepherds’ Reaction

 

Christmas Sermon by Rev. H. O. Berends on Luke 2:8-20

 

Brothers and sisters, young people,

I find it very interesting, when I look at the various accounts of the birth of Jesus, to study the reactions, the attitudes of the people and groups of people involved in this.  There are Joseph and Mary, for instance, the earthly parents of Jesus.

Joseph obeys the angel and takes Mary as his wife and is willing to accept this child of his own in humility and obedience.

And Mary, the baby’s mother, praises God and calls herself most blessed in that beautiful song called the Magnificat, although she must have known full well the difficulties this miraculous event would cause her.

And there are Anna and Simeon in the temple, and the wise men who came from the East; all are keen and eager to meet and worship the baby Jesus.

And then of course there are the others, the villains such as king Herod who also wants to find Jesus for quite different reasons.  And the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, who answer the wise men’s questions.  But they themselves have no intention at all of verifying the birth of a Saviour.

All these people show different attitudes to the birth of Jesus.

But this morning I want us to look at yet another group of people, namely, the group we meet in our reading.  The shepherds out in the fields that night, keeping watch over their sheep as was their custom.  We want to see their reaction as the angel came to them and announced that the Saviour of the world was born that night.

1.  What was the reaction of these shepherds?  Well, the first thing we see is that they listened.  They listened to the angels’ announcement of the birth of Jesus.

Did you know that shepherds were amongst the most despised of people in Christ’s time?  Especially the pious Jews tended to look down their noses at these people.  Shepherds were despised by the orthodox people of that day because shepherds were quite unable to keep all the details of the ceremonial law.  They could not observe all the meticulous hand-washings and rules and regulations that the Jewish law demanded.  Their flocks made far too many demands on them, and so the orthodox looked down on shepherds.

And yet it was to these despised shepherds that the message first came.  It was they who were amongst the very first to hear the good news of the birth of Jesus.

It was apparently the custom in those times that the father of a baby was not present at its birth.  Instead he would be waiting somewhere for a messenger to come and tell him that the delivery had been successful.  That does not seem to have been the case here with Joseph.  Because of the special circumstances surrounding this birth, it looks as if Joseph himself was present.  In any case, he was not really the father.  And so instead God sends his messenger to these shepherds.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord’.

The shepherds listened.  They listened carefully to all the angel had to say to them.

Yes, the first thing about the shepherds’ reaction is that they listened.

Do we listen, congregation?  Really listen?

There are so many people who do not really listen to the Christmas message.  Oh yes, they hear it, year in year out, every Christmas.  They hear it in Sunday School; they hear it in church when they go there, once a year, at Christmas.  They hear it in the carols blaring out from the loudspeakers in the shopping malls.  Year in year out they hear the Christmas story, the wonderful message of the birth of Jesus.  But they never listen.  It never sinks in.  The tremendous meaning of the Christmas message escapes them.

With their ears they hear the words: Today in the town of David has been born to you a Saviour.  But instead of seeing Jesus, they see Santa Claus and the only angels they believe in are the tinsel ones on top of the tree.  And the only gifts they see are the packages beneath the tree.  For they never really listen to the angel’s announcement of the great gift from God.

Do we listen to the Christmas story, congregation?

Oh no, the story does not come to us through the voice of an angel.  In that way the shepherds did have the advantage.  The story comes to us in the pages of God’s Word.  So let us listen to it, in order to see the wonder of its meaning.  Let us make sure that the real Christmas message is not buried under the presents and the tinsel and the trappings.  For we must always remember that Santa Claus never yet died for anyone.  No, ”Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is Christ, the Lord.”

2.  The second aspect of the reaction of the shepherds is that they responded.  Not only did they hear the message and listen to it, but they also responded.  They did not just sit back when the angels disappeared again into heaven.  They did not say to each other, “Now, wasn’t that a great experience?  Here’s something we will be able to tell our grandchildren.”

No.  After the angels left, our story continues.  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.  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

They responded.  They did something.  They reacted to the angels’ message because they recognised it as the Lord’s message.  They went to Bethlehem in obedience to that message.  They left their sheep and went to Bethlehem to see the Christ.

Yes, the shepherds not only listened, but they also responded.  And again there is a lesson for us here, congregation.  For again, so many people do not respond to the Christmas message.  So many people are not like the shepherds but rather like the orthodox Jews who despised them.  Remember their reaction when they were told of the birth of Jesus?

When the wise men came to Jerusalem and inquired there about the place of the birth of Christ, the Jewish leaders were summoned by Herod and were glad to tell them.

“Oh,” they said, “In Bethlehem, Ephrata, for so it is written in the prophets.”

These leaders had listened.  They knew where the Christ would be born.  They knew their Bibles backwards, but do you think they responded?  Do you think they went to Bethlehem?  Do you think they were willing to travel that twelve kilometre journey?

We know they did not.  That is still the case with so many people today.  Oh yes, they have heard the message and perhaps they have even listened.  And they have thought about it and they believe that Jesus really is the Saviour.  Every year they read the Christmas story and in between they read the rest of the Bible.  And they know it well, from Genesis to Revelation.  And perhaps they come to church each Sunday and they listen to the minister preach his sermons.  But yet they have never really responded to it.  It is still all in their heads only.  It never gets down to their hearts.  It never really affects their lives at all.

Have we listened, congregation, and have we responded?  Have we really responded to the message of the birth of Jesus?  Oh no, we cannot now go to Bethlehem physically to see the baby Jesus.  But we can travel there spiritually during this Christmas season.  We can go there to worship the Saviour, to swear him our allegiance, to promise our loyalty to our Lord and King and to give our lives to him who not only was born but also died for us.  He was lifted up on a cross, some thirty three years later, in a place not very far from that Bethlehem stable.

He did all that for us so that all might come to him and find in him their salvation.

Have we come to that cross and to that stable?  And have we gone from there as forgiven sinners in order to truly serve our Lord?

3.  The third thing we see when we look at the shepherds’ reaction is that they witnessed.  Not only did they listen to the angel; not only did they respond by going to the stable; but after they had heard and seen, they went and told others about it.

‘When they had seen him,’ our story continues, `they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.’

Yes, the shepherds not only listened and responded but they also went on and witnessed.  They went and told all who would hear about the marvellous things they had seen.  And, you know, there is a divine irony in this, congregation.

For you see, shepherds in Israel were not allowed to witness!  I already mentioned that shepherds were very much looked down upon.  They were regarded as irreligious people.  And they were regarded as untrustworthy.  Shepherds were not to be trusted, said the Jews in Jerusalem.  It is much too easy for them to bear false witness.  If they want to steal a sheep from the flock, all they have to say is that a lion came and took it.   And so the Jewish law at the time of Christ actually forbade a shepherd to be a witness in a court case.  It was assumed that a shepherd could not be trusted.

And yet God himself chose these shepherds to be the witnesses of the birth of his Son Jesus.  And these men, who by man-made law were not allowed to witness, were selected by God to give first testimony to the birth of Christ.

Yes, these shepherds were chosen to witness and they witnessed!

Do we witness, congregation?

Is it our desire to witness now that we have heard the wonderful news of the birth of Jesus?  Perhaps we feel that we cannot do so.  Perhaps we feel that we are not qualified to be witnesses to the coming of the Saviour.  So many Christians seem to think that.  So many seem to think that they can safely leave that to the so-called professionals – the minister, the missionaries and those who, in some professional way, are trained to proclaim the gospel.  But that is not the way the Lord looks at it.  He did not choose the professionals of Israel to be the witnesses of the birth of Jesus.  No, He chose the lowly, the despised, the shepherds.  He chose those who were expressly forbidden to bear testimony in the courts of Jewish justice.

Why?  Because it is not the witnesses that are important, but the message.  The important thing is the good news that the Saviour has come.  Those who tell it are merely messengers.

And so even shepherds, yes, and even we, whoever we are, can spread that message.  Yes and we should spread it this Christmas.

When they had seen him they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.

To listen, to respond, to proclaim; that was the reaction of the shepherds.  May that also be our reaction, congregation, this Christmas.  As Christmas Day is being celebrated the whole world over, let us take a lesson from this story of the shepherds.  And while so many listen without hearing and without responding and without proclaiming, let us follow the example of the shepherds.  Let us listen to the angel’s message, and go to Bethlehem and see the Saviour, and pledge him our allegiance.

And then let us also go from here to tell the world about it.

Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere,
Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born!

AMEN.