Shepherds and Other “Undesirables”
Luke 2:1-20[1]
In the middle part of
the last century, a psychologist named Abraham Maslow proposed a theory of
human well-being that came to be known as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Unlike
Sigmund Freud, Maslow wanted to study healthy people to figure out how we can thrive
in this world. You may be familiar with the “pyramid.” At the bottom of
Maslow’s “hierarchy” were basic needs for food, shelter, and safety. Then came
more emotional needs for belonging and esteem. At the top of the pyramid was
what Maslow called “self-actualization.” It’s a fancy word for what we know as
“being all you can be.” He believed that the goal of our lives was to achieve
our full potential.
If you’re like me, you
grew up with the message that it was almost a “duty” to fulfill this potential.
The words of then President-Elect Kennedy influenced many of us at that time: “For
of those to whom much is given, much is required.”[2] He
made that statement at the beginning of the 1960’s, which was a decade of great
change and turmoil. But it was also a decade of great achievement. The
president had announced that we would put a man on the moon by the end of the
decade, and we did it. There seemed to be nothing we couldn’t achieve if we
decided to try. All of this made the message of reaching one’s full potential a
powerful motivation my generation.
Given that context in
our culture, I wonder if our Gospel lesson from Luke this morning doesn’t leave
us at least a bit confused. I think the story of the Magi coming to King Herod
to ask about the one who was born as the “King of the Jews” makes a lot more
sense to us. After all, we assume the birth of a king should be announced in
palaces and royal courts. But that’s not what happens in Luke’s Gospel. There
are no Magi in Luke’s Gospel. There is no announcement to the “powers that be,”
although Luke names them in his story of Jesus’ birth. In Luke’s Gospel, the
Angel’s announcement, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2:11), is delivered not to Herod the
Great, or Augustus Caesar, or even Quirinius, the Roman Governor. It was made
to “shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over
their flock by night” (Lk 2:8). Because we’ve heard the story so many
times, we might not be able to hear how strange that announcement must have
been.
In the first place, we
should not mistake that the “angel of the Lord” was indeed announcing the birth
of a king. Jesus was to be the “son of David,” and the “Messiah.” Of course, we
know he didn’t fulfill that role as “Son of David” and “Messiah” in the way most people expected. He
didn’t lead an uprising to throw off the yoke of the Roman oppressors and
ascend to the throne of David as the King of the Jews. He did more than that.
He gave his life for the whole world, and afterwards God raised him from the
dead. But finally, Jesus was exalted to the right hand of the throne of God,
where he still reigns as “Lord.”
You’d think the
announcement of the birth of the one who would ultimately ascend to the right
hand of the throne of God would have been made to all the most powerful leaders
throughout the world. But it wasn’t. Not in Luke’s Gospel, anyway. The titles
“Savior” and “Lord” were reserved for God in the Hebrew Bible, and in the
Mediterranean world they were applied to Caesar. You’d think the announcement
of the birth of one who would hold these titles would be made to the most
important religious leaders. But it wasn’t. It was made to “shepherds living in
the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.”
Despite our tendency
to romanticize the shepherds, in that day they were peasants at the bottom of any
“ladder” you could come up with. It would not be inappropriate to compare them
with the “sharecroppers” of an earlier time, or the “migrant workers” of our
day. They made a living, but only just. You could not say that these were
people who had achieved their full potential in life. They were barely getting
along by the skin of their teeth. So I would say that most people of that day
would have found it incredibly strange that the birth of the “Son of David,”
the “Savior” and the “Lord” would be announced to shepherds.
And yet, it’s no
accident that this announcement comes to the least of the least. One of the
themes in Luke’s Gospel is found in Mary’s “Magnificat”: “He has brought down
the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly” (Lk 1:52). It’s not
just a coincidence that Herod “the Great,” Caesar Augustus, and the Roman
Governor all show up in the introduction to this story. They were the “key
players” on the world stage at that time. But no messenger was sent to them.
The “angel of the Lord” made the announcement of Jesus’ birth to lowly shepherds.
Luke tells us that
they responded to the message by going to see for themselves. And they found a helpless
baby lying in a feed trough in poverty and apparent powerlessness. Again, the
contrast between the “powerful” sitting on their thrones and the “lowly” comes
to mind. Jesus was not born in a palace, in a place of privilege and comfort.
And yet, despite all appearances, Mary’s son lying in the manger is
the “Savior,” the “Messiah,” and the “Lord.”
It’s telling that the angel said to the shepherds, “to you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,
the Lord.”
And it was these
shepherds, the lowest of the low, the least of the least, who were able to see
past appearances and recognize the truth of the angel’s announcement to them.
Luke tells us not only that the shepherds “made known what had been told them
about this child,” but also that they “returned, glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen” (Lk 2:17, 20). In other words, these peasants who
were likely illiterate, who were the least and the last and the left out, had
the insight and the faith to believe that this helpless child lying in poverty
was indeed the “Savior” and the “Messiah” and the “Lord” sent by God.
There is something
more than a little ironic about all of this. But I think there is a point to
it: that God’s salvation is not a “reward” for those who have achieved the
heights of personal fulfillment. Rather, salvation is for everyone. Part of the
irony is, as St. Paul says, the message about Jesus was offensive to those
looking for someone to check off all the right religious “boxes” and it was
foolish to those who prized learning and power (1 Cor 1:25). But that’s because
“God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger
than human strength” (1 Cor 1:27). That’s why, right from the beginning, the
“angel of the Lord” made the announcement of Jesus’ birth to shepherds in the
field. One of the themes of the Bible is that you have to be humble enough to recognize
your need for a Savior in order to be able to put your faith in him. I would say
that for those of us who can get rather caught up in “being all that we can be”
it means that we may need to set all that aside in order to open our hearts enough
to recognize Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
[1] ©
2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 12/25/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/U9yeNlsjXSQ
[2] John F. Kennedy, “Address to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” January 9, 1961. Accessed at https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/massachusetts-general-court-19610109
on 12/22/2022.
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