"Considering the Shepherds"

“Considering the Shepherds”

Robert M. Thompson, Pastor

Corinth Reformed Church
150 Sixteenth Avenue NW
Hickory, North Carolina 28601

828.328.6196   corinthtoday.org

 (© 2011 by Robert M. Thompson.  Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures quoted are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright 2011 by New York International Bible Society.)

“God loved me enough to get involved.”  (Chuck Stirewalt)

Luke 2:8-20

December 11, 2011

Praying what I read

This Advent we have been learning some spiritual exercises from a 16^th century Catholic saint named Ignatius.  Specifically we’re learning how to read the Bible prayerfully.  As a result we’ve been looking at the stories of Jesus’ birth with fresh eyes.

The first Sunday of Advent Ignatius taught us Meditative Reading, which is allowing one word or phrase to capture and hold our attention.  The word “prophet” was our meditation as we began the story of the wise men in Matthew 2.  We will come back to that story the Sunday after Christmas.

Last Sunday we engaged in Imaginative Contemplation, which is using our senses and emotions to recreate what we are reading.  As we journeyed with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, we felt their anxiety, we heard their voices as well as their silence, we smelled the stable.  This exercise uses mostly the right brain, the creative/artistic side.

Today as we continue in Luke 2 we will use the Ignatian discipline called the Prayer of Consideration.  I watched a video on Consideration Prayer yesterday on a web site called monkeysee.com, and at the close of the video was a message I assume is standard legalese for all videos on this how-to site.  But it seemed appropriate:  “Caution: Activities depicted in this video should not be attempted without appropriate safety precautions, proper equipment or additional training.”

The Prayer of Consideration is mostly left brain activity – the logical/analytical side of the brain.  What makes this different from analytical (or inductive) Bible study is that as we analyze, we want to turn our observations into prayer. Read Luke 2:8-20 again (silently) and ask the six basic analytical questions as you read: Who? What? When? Where? How?  Why?  Then turn your insights into prayer.  After I give you a couple of minutes on your own, I’ll model that reading-prayer as we consider together.

Who?

You may have already guessed from the front of your bulletin and the lighting ceremony for the Advent candle that although Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the angels are part of the story we read today, our focus will be on the shepherds for our “Who?”

For most of my life, I’ve heard – and even taught – that shepherds were the despised underclass of the first century.  The word “shepherd” might roll off someone’s tongue like “garbage man.”  The meaning of the story, then, is that God came to the castoffs that no one else thought were worthy. 

That point may be based on a fallacy later in time as economies diversified.  More likely, in Jesus’ day shepherds were comparable to truck drivers, welders, teachers, nurses, cashiers, or waiters.  All of these are underappreciated and even disrespected by the arrogant and ignorant, but they are the workhorses of society.  Farmers, fishermen, and shepherds were the “every man” of Jesus’ day.

The positive view of shepherding is reflected all over the Bible.  Abraham, Moses, and David were all shepherds.  “The Lord is my shepherd,” wrote David.  Jesus called himself “the Good Shepherd.”  Kings and other leaders described both in the Bible and in other ancient literature were called shepherds “not as a term of reproach but as the highest honour,” according to Philo, a contemporary of Jesus.  Greek literature included shepherds at the birth of many great figures.   In writing to a Gentile audience, Luke may actually have been elevating Jesus by telling the story of shepherds at his birth scene.[1]

How might we then turn this “Who?” insight into a prayer response?  I like how Pastor Paul said it the other day: “Come as you are.”  Whether you’re an unstained angel whose brightness and holiness terrifies or a sheep herder who hasn’t bathed for a month and has wool matted into his cloak and hair, come to Jesus as you are. 

Heavenly Father, when I feel burdened by the ‘sheep’ I’m called to protect and provide for, when my nights are long and lonely, when I am disrespected by the arrogant and ignorant, help me to put aside me and come as I am….

What?

What the shepherds encounter is a unique privilege.  I considered carefully what adjective to use.  “Unique” is one of those overused and misused English words that has come to mean “unusual.”  You won’t be giving any “unique” gifts this Christmas unless you make them yourself.  Target, WalMart, and Dillard’s don’t sell “unique” things.  Nor can you put an adverb in front of unique, like, “This is very unique.”  As one blogger wrote, saying something is “very unique” is like saying someone is “very dead.” There are no degrees of “unique.”

Other than his parents, only one small group of humans was given the privilege of seeing Jesus on that holy night.  It was a unique opportunity – never to be repeated in their lifetime or any other.  Only they would get the chance to hear, to see, to tell, and to praise.

I feel that way about the unique privilege we at Corinth had to welcome Tom Weikel, whose service we will have today at 2:30.  I’m going to tell the story of his painful life today at his service, but we had the chance to bring a transforming grace into this man who felt only rejection and grief most of his life.  Nobody else was like Tom Weikel, and he really did find acceptance and grace in this church family.

Gracious God, I forget how unique is my life.  My family, my experiences, my education, my heartaches, my successes, my failures, my lifetime – they all add up to something no one else is or does exactly like me.  Let me use the unique privileges I am afforded to serve you and respond to the needs of others….

When?

The word that grabs my attention when I ask “When?” is a word in the angels’ announcement:  “Today in the town of David….”   

If you live the life of a Bedouin shepherd, you might spend 20,000 nights in the fields during your lifetime guarding, feeding, and guiding sheep.  For these shepherds, 19,999 of their nights may have been indistinguishable from the others.  Find a pasture. Locate fresh water. Count the sheep.  Ward off predators.  Nurse the injured.  Find the lost.  Eat when you can.  Sleep in rotation.  All in a day’s work.  24/7.  No Sabbath out in the field.  Every day was the same.  Except “today.”

“Today” is a powerful biblical word.  Jesus told Peter, “Today you will disown me” (Mark 14:30).  He told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”  (Luke 23:43).   Paul said, “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). The writer of Hebrews (3:15) quoted the Psalms (95), “Today… do not harden your hearts.”  James (4:13) warned those who believe today is the day for making money or any other presumption which leaves the God factor out.

“Today” is worthy of our consideration.  Where is God speaking to me today?

Lord, I don’t want to miss the opportunities of today.  I don’t want to be so busy doing the things I need to do or ought to do or want to do that when you speak to me, or want me to see something, or give me a chance to spread the word, I realize the window of opportunity has closed….

Where?

I’ve never pondered the manger in the past as much as I have this year.  There may be several reasons.  I listened to this text being read electronically by my “smart phone,” which apparently thinks this word is pronounced with a hard “g.” That caught my attention, especially since Luke uses this word three times (vv. 7, 12, 16).

More importantly, it donned on me that the detail of Jesus being placed in a manger is small and irrelevant, except as a “sign.”  If you read this story carefully, you’ll notice no reference to a stable or barn or cave.  The only hint we get that Jesus was born among barnyard animals is the word “manger,” which was a feeding trough.

Normal births in typical settings don’t find the baby in a manger.  But it is the abnormality of a manger-cradle that will assure the shepherds they have found the right baby – the one the angel spoke about.  Otherwise, they may wonder as they wander through the streets of Bethlehem whether whatever baby they came across was the Savior who had been born to them, Christ the Lord.  It would be pretty bad, wouldn’t it, to fall on their faces before the son of Jeconiah and Miriam, who happened to be in Bethlehem for the registration as well?  How would they know they found the right baby?

They would find him away in a manger, no crib for his bed.  It would be their visible assurance they were at the right person, with the right baby.  And when it happened, just as they had been told, they had their confirmation that they hadn’t just had a weird dream as a result of spoiled olives, that they had heard the angel right.

Lord Jesus, you have a habit of showing up in expected forms and places.  Come to think of it, you’re hardly ever where I would first think to look.  Surprise me with manger-signs, and help me not to miss them.  Especially don’t let me miss the faces and voices of those who are needy, neglected, and rejected….

How?

I am impressed with the sense of urgency and passion in this story.  Most of their life was lived on a slower pace – “living out in the fields” and “keeping watch” (8).  The dazzling light of the angel terrified them, and then “suddenly” there was a battalion of angels praising God in heaven and on earth.

The shepherds got caught up in the fervor.  They “hurried off” (16) to find the holy family, and you definitely get the sense that their spreading the word (17) and praising God (20) had this same sense of excitement and hustle.  They show a contrast to the reflective Mary, content to hold the baby and ponder.

Holy Spirit, there are times for quiet meditation, but there are also times that call for energy and action.  Help me not to confuse those times for each other – not to bring busyness into my rest and reflection, or inertia into my service and praise.  That discernment is hard for me.  Please help….

Why?

I’ve told you these last weeks how grateful I am for the Bible study groups that I meet with each week.  They help me read more insightfully and pray more reflectively.

The quote of the week was from a rather quiet member of my Thursday group.  He’s rarely the first to speak, and often says less than anyone else.  But when we got to the “Why?” of this passage, I loved his answer:  “God loved me enough to get involved.”

The current issue of Christianity Today has a profound, but very intellectual, article on the meaning of the incarnation.  In addition to my favorite artistic depiction of the shepherds visiting the manger, the article notes that we moderns divorce what we think from what we believe.  Faith is personal, and you can believe whatever you want to believe as long as you keep it out of the public sphere.   My favorite line in the article addresses this disconnect between reason and faith:  “The gospel is wildly improbable – except that it happened.”

What is this gospel?  It is the incarnation – that “God loved me enough to get involved.”  It is that God knew we would never find him by looking for him.  In fact, our attempts to search for God or meaning or however we want to phrase it are doomed to failure before they begin.

God would have to come to us.  He would have to become one of us.  He would have to “get involved.”  That’s the “Why” of Luke 2.

Lord, you came to be with me.  Why is it an ongoing challenge for me to take time to be with you?  Why would I not, in response to your coming, hurry off to a place where I can unhurriedly worship you?  I wait for you quietly now.  Speak to my heart….