Meanwhile, Outside Of Town

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

With verse eight, our scene changes from Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus in a Bethlehem manger to something calm, placid, and serene. At least as calm, placid, and serene as it got in Roman-occupied Judaea (which was actually by and large NOT a hotbed of revolution; the vast and often silent majority worked and played and grew and lived and died without every one of their actions being a call to arms); it is likely the field where the shepherds watched their flock was not too far away from Bethlehem, and it is even more likely that it was not the dead of winter (when the birth of Jesus the Christ is celebrated in most churches, December 25 by our reckoning) when this occurred. December 25 was chosen in the early fourth century to supersede a festival that honored another god.

Throughout the Bible, although shepherding is not necessarily the most dignified or honored of occupations, those who watch over the sheep -- and make no mistake, these four-legged sacrifices and purveyors of wool (hey, EVERY part of a sheep is useful) have to be watched all the time -- are very much needed ... but very smelly. What is important about what will happen to the shepherds as we continue reading the second chapter of Luke is that it happened -- yes, like I am going to tell you what ... keep reading) -- to people regarded, by it seems everyone else but God, as the lowest of the low. For those who took care of the sheep, this was just another day. Yes, King David was a shepherd as a boy; indeed, he was inspired to write a great many of the Hebrew Psalms from that time.

The prophet Amos was a shepherd, and in the New Testament letters pastors are called -- and will be called to account for -- being shepherds of their own flocks (that is, the assembly of people sharing faith they lead we now call "church"). Often in Sunday school programs, at least this is true in my church, the people who make sure children get to where they need to be and keep them from being unruly are shepherds as well. And Jesus Himself will refer to Himself as the Good Shepherd, the One Who Lays Down His Life For The Sheep. At night when you can figure most creatures are either off sleeping or preying on less-defended creatures, it is understandable that it is easy to want to drift off. But a true shepherd never will.