Shepherd Luke 2;8-20

The day I met you started off just like any other day.   I was twelve  ( or maybe thirteen – I was never very good at keeping count)   and I was with the sheep as I had been all season, searching the hillsides for green places and watering sites.  I had my dog with me, and I could see my brother Lamech over on the other side of the valley with his flock and Uncle Malachi further on up the hillside.  We had agreed to meet at sunset on the far side of the eastern slopes where we knew there was some shelter for the animals and water for us all.    Id been quite successful that particular day – the animals had behaved themselves, none had wandered off or injured themselves on thorn bushes or by catching hooves in rough ground.   The dog was in a good mood and the weather was not too hot.  I had been singing to myself as I kept one eye on the flock and the other on the terrain up ahead.   The sheep had found themselves a few patches of reasonably healthy grass and I had had a warm loaf for my lunch thanks to the kindness of my mother who had also been in a good mood that day.    Safe to say I was not at all prepared for what happened next.

As the sun went down I made it to the meet up point where Lamech and Malachi were already setting up camp.  The dog went to the stream for a drink, I settled down to chat to my brother and tease him about a girl in the village called Elena who had had her eye on him for weeks.  We were laughing and joking when all of a sudden a flash of the most unimaginably bright light split the sky like lightning and a..... well.....a person, or a being, or a something, stood in front of us.   We have all been in the flash storms which sometimes hit the mountains and we know what lightning is like.  This was nothing like that.   It was like lightning slowed down and brightened a million times.   And the person in front of us was a bit like a man,  but had the feeling of a woman about them and spoke with a voice like thunder.  Im not sure if the voice was actually real or if it was something supernatural as it seemed to resonate and resound right through my body and come from inside my soul.   I was terrified.   The light was blinding and hot – yet I was able to look at the source of the light without having to shade my eyes.   Lamech and Malechi were on their knees on the ground as I too hit the deck.   I had no idea what was happening but I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to survive it.  For some odd reason I remember thinking that I hadn’t finished carving the doll figure I was going to give to my little sister.  And now I never would.  Because I was going to die.

The figure spoke and said  ‘ Don’t be afraid’   and as soon as he said that I wasn’t afraid any more.  It was almost a command rather than a suggestion.  As though he had spoken directly to my terror and banished it.   I felt full of peace and an incredible happiness washed over me as I heard him say ‘  I’ve got some incredible, amazing, great news for you!   Today, right here in Bethlehem, the promise of God has come to pass.  The one you have been longing for has come.   In David’s city, David’s heir has been born tonight.  He is the redeemer kinsman, the promised deliverer, the Messiah  and the Lord.   If you want proof that this is true go and look for Him.  You will find Him, a baby all wrapped up and lying in the manger’.

I looked at Uncle Malachi who was sobbing like a little child.  Id never seen him so much as sniff before, so to see him so moved was really touching.  I reached out a hand to him.   None of us could say anything.  We were speechless at the power and beauty and authority of the being standing in front of us.

Then, ( and I can still hardly believe this happened) it was as though the sun came out – even though it was heading into deepest night time – and the sky was full of the same lightning flash, warm beings and they were singing!   The noise was unbelievable.  The sound was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in my life.  It was breathtaking.  I literally stopped breathing as I watched and listened to this almighty heavenly display of glory.  The song ( if that’s what you call it) was not in any language I had ever heard, but somehow I knew exactly what was being sung.  It was a tremendous hymn of glory to God.  There were harmonies soaring far over the valley and I wondered how everyone in the whole world couldn’t hear this and why people weren’t running from their houses up the hill to witness what we were witnessing.  

I was gazing up into the skies as the music seeped into my veins and changed every cell of my being.  I could feel it changing me.  It was most wonderful and unnerving and terrifying and brilliant all at the same time.  When I looked back, the person who had been in front of us had gone.  And then as quickly as they appeared the other beings vanished, the night returned and the sound of sheep filled the valley.   Malachi and Lamech and I just looked at each other.  For a very long time none of us could speak.   After a minute, or an hour, or a week ( I have no idea) Lamech said  ‘ well, are we going to go and find this baby then?’    and his words broke the trance we were all in.  There was absolutely no question about it – we hoofed it down the hill into town.  I noticed Uncle Malachi seemed to be walking much more quickly and easily than he had for years.

When we got into the market square, dark and closed up for the night expect for a few stray census visitors still looking for a place to camp out and the odd Roman soldier patrolling, we stopped and looked at each other.  How exactly were we supposed to find this baby?  What had he said?  In the manger.   It didn’t strike us as particularly odd at the time, Im not sure why.  So we headed for the outskirts of town to the area where we lived.  The place where the animals were kept.

The manger is the building, well, more of a holding pen, where the lambs which have been allocated for temple sacrifice are kept.  They are the perfect ones, no birth defects, unblemished fleeces, the best of the flock. Every time our ewes give birth we keep an eye open for lambs that might be good for the temple and we take them to the manger where the priests inspect them. Any suitable lambs are swaddled up to keep them from getting dirty or injured in any way. They usually spend the night in the manger before being taken to the temple the next day.  The manger is sheltered, dry and full of clean straw and swaddling clothes so I suppose its not a bad place for a lamb to be. But not ideal for a baby.  But thats where we were told to go, so that's where we went.

As we passed Josiah’s Inn we heard a commotion coming from inside.  Seemed like a bit of a party was going on.  Lamech stuck his head round the door and asked what was happening.   A baby had been born that afternoon and Joshia and Rebekkah his wife were celebrating with a group of regulars and some census visitors.  Any excuse for a party.   We asked where the baby was and were told that the family were, indeed, in the manger which was the next building along

It wasn’t anything special really.  A young woman looking pretty exhausted but very happy.  Her husband, an older chap, lying beside her on a pile of straw,  and in an old hay feeder a tiny scrap of a baby, fast asleep, wrapped up just as the stranger had said.   As we crept inside the man sat up and smiled at us.  He didn’t seem at all surprised to have strangers visiting him in the middle of the night.   He motioned us for us to come close so we could see the child, see you.  We crept up to the trough and peeped in to see this promised child, this infant messiah.   Malachi started to cry again.  The mother picked you up and asked if I would like to hold you.  I had held my sister when she was born so I felt reasonably confident that I wouldn’t drop you.  I cradled you in my arms and you continued to sleep.  I could feel the warmth of your little body seeping into my chest.  And for some reason I cannot explain, I loved you.  I loved you more than I had ever loved anyone or anything in my life.   I felt the same rushing sense of joy come over me that I had felt on the hillside in the presence of the stranger.   I looked over at your mother and she was smiling at me.  She knew.  She definitely knew.

I handed you back to her and heard Lamech starting to tell the story of what had just happened to us earlier that night.   Neither parent seemed particularly surprised.   When we said that the visitor had said that this baby was the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Lord, they just looked at each other and smiled.  Then they thanked us for coming and we realised that it was time to leave.  So we made our way back into the inn and availed ourselves of a jug of beer, having almost completely forgotten that we had got sheep wandering over the hillsides which would need to be rounded up before dawn.