Advent Trail December 20th - Luke 2:8

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. (Luke 2:8)

Why were these shepherds the first people privileged that night to hear the news of Jesus’s birth? Shepherds generally were a despised class of people, with a bad reputation and considered untrustworthy. This particular group appear to have been devout men who responded joyfully. Nevertheless, they were among the social outcasts of their day and it was for people like them that Jesus came (Luke 4:18; Luke 15:1-2).

The nature of their work also made them ceremonially unclean as they were unable to keep all the regulations which the temple worship required. The irony is that they were very probably pasturing sheep destined for the temple sacrifices, as flocks for that purpose were located in the area near Bethlehem. The shepherds who looked after the lambs for offerings in the temple may well have been the first people to see “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Perhaps too the shepherds were chosen to hear the news about Jesus because he would not only be God’s lamb but also God’s appointed shepherd. Micah’s prophecy about the birthplace of the Messiah goes on to say “he will shepherd God’s flock” (Mic.5:2,4). The Messiah would be a shepherd-king like David (Ezek.34:23) and Jesus is that “great shepherd of the sheep” who lays down his life for them (Heb.13:20; John 10:11).