Shepherds walk

The shepherds were afraid.

Just a few moments ago, they were sitting in the field watching over the sheep graze, counting them every once in a while to make sure one didn’t go lost or run off.

They might have snack on olives , spitting the pits into the distance as they finished each olive one by one.

This was a quiet evening though, a silent night if you will; not much was occurring until an angel appeared.

Angels were not typically seen on the hillside the shepherds sat upon, they were on that hill so that they might view the their flock more easily.

In fact, no one really would typically come to visit the shepherds, much less members of God’s communications team.

The shepherds were considered unclean.

Even though Psalm 23 starts with those words, “The Lord is my shepherd” shepherds were considered unclean, uneducated, and undesirable by their community.

And yet there stood an angel and the first thing out of the angel’s mouth was, “Do not be afraid.”

Do not be afraid said the angel and I wonder if there was some skepticism there on the part of the shepherds, some bit of doubt because they knew how they were treated by their neighbors.

Be not afraid?

Nobody has visited us in lo these many years and this glowing angel appears before us, radiant in light and the Lord and we are not to be afraid.

And yet their fear subsided.

And it is notable that they were the first to hear of the newborn Messiah’s arrival on earth.

Shepherds, those lowly of the lowly, first heard this proclamation of hope from the angel before them.

And they were told to go see this newborn child and really this would be reason for more fear, no?

They were told to visit their savior.

Who were they to visit such a child who must have been born in the palaces they walked past but were never allowed to enter into, homes full of gold and satin fabrics.

But their fear was unfounded, they quickly realized this savior though from a line of kings was not himself a king.

This savior they were told would be found in a manger swaddled in bands of cloth.

Wrapped in cloth just as the shepherds would have been when they were a baby.

They too would have been born near a manger; this child was of their ilk.

This child was a human king, a neighbor savior.

The shepherds were familiar with the context in which this child was born.

Their fear subsided once more.

And then with the fanfare of all of heaven, the angel took leave of the shepherds.

The meadow grew quiet once more; starlight replaced the heavenly light of an angel.

I just wonder what the conversation must have been amongst the shepherds when that angel left.

I wonder if there was some sort of pause, some open mouthed agoggedness, some sentences that trailed off into silence rather than finishing with cursing.

Did they look at one other asking, “What was that?”

Did they disbelieve what they had just seen, did one shepherd joke that they might be spending too much time alone in the fields?

I wonder and yet after a time they recovered, if they truly needed to at all, and decided to see what was taking place in Bethlehem.

So they went.

They walked from their fields to town, past the mansions and palaces of the well to do, the places from where they imagined their savior would come, and arrived at a modest looking building.

There inside, just as they were promised they found a child wrapped in bands of cloth lying in a manger.

They saw their own humble existence in this room, they recognized this child’s birth as matching the experience of their own birth and the birth of their own child.

This was a child born of their community, hardly a prince or future king.

And the shepherd told everyone in the room just what had taken place.

They told the family members around the holy family about the angel appearing to them and joked about how they almost choked on the olives they were snacking on.

They talked about how this child would be a savior for all of humanity.

Could you imagine, the crowded house replied?

And they talked amongst themselves in wonder and with such hopefulness that this baby would change the world.

Glad tidings everywhere, people chirped and chatted and cooed over this baby with the good news this baby would bring.

And distant cousins and uncles to the Mary heartily shook the hands of these shepherd strangers bringing news of their savior.

And distant cousins and aunts to Joseph kissed each cheek of each shepherd and held them by their shoulders as the family thanked for this news they brought from the heavens.

And Mary, held Jesus close to her chest, she rubbed her cheek upon her child’s soft baby hair and with her head bent and eyes scanning the room, her heart was warmed with the joy this child would bring.

Her heart felt the weight of such things, her heart was lightened by the arrival of our savior, the arrival of her first-born son.

The shepherds took their leave.

They left proud and with puffed chests for they brought this news to the family of a child who was already so very much loved as some children are by those waited for him, that he would be their savior, our savior who change the world and the hearts of a world that need changing.

Upon sunrise, they would return to their modest homes after leading the lambs to a new field or to their pens.

The shepherds, utterly changed, walked into their home in the early morning sun.

The shepherds, returned to the life they knew.

And this child, this child would be named Jesus which means: the Lord saves.

On this, the second Sunday in Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Name.

On this day we recognize the importance of that name, that the shepherds were told by the angels that this child’s name shall be the one who saves, Jesus.

Jesus.

The Lord saves.

And the question becomes, saves who?

Certainly, those who can afford to pay the cost of salvation will be saved.

Of course, those with clean hearts will realize salvation first of all.

But then, can you purchase salvation?

Is anybody’s heart truly clean of sin?

Can anyone here truly claim salvation is there’s?

Well, let’s look to this morning’s story.

God announced Christ’s arrival to the shepherds sitting in a field.

In their time, their profession was not very well respected, in their time they might have even been looked down upon their neighbors, maybe even by those who hired them to tend their flock.

God announced Jesus’ arrival to the low born.

And Jesus, born in the humblest of conditions, in a home not his own, was born amongst those he would save.

Jesus, this baby helpless in swaddling clothes, would grow up into the one who would heal the bleeding woman, the centurion’s servant.

Jesus would not lay down for the mighty nor was he born amongst them, instead he was the one who saved us all.

Without prerequisites we are saved.

Each of us in this room are granted salvation through faith and the love for each other and works that derive from that faith.

We are but the shepherds receiving the good news, we are but the shepherds passing on the good news to others for we have found salvation.

For the Lord saves us all.

In all our brokenness, is found wholeness through Christ.

On this day, let us understand just how amazing that is.

In our lowly states let us understand how great it is to be amazed; in the midst of our highest highs, let us still be amazed that God so loved us, loved the world that God sent us a son to be born amongst us.

And that son ruled with us and not over us.

And that God healed us and did not rail against us for being sick.

And Jesus saved us from sin despite our sinfulness.

Today we celebrate that a son was born.

And that son was named Jesus.

The Lord saves.

Amen.