"The Other Shepherd's Story"
- Rev. Ken Streitenberger
Assistant Pastor

the Gospel Lesson:
Luke 2: 8 - 20 

           We heard as the scripture reading this morning a part of one of the narratives of the birth of Jesus.  It is the familiar story of the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds who were tending their sheep on the hillsides outside the city of Bethlehem.  It is a marvelous story.  We have heard it a lot over the last couple of weeks.  I suppose it is one of many peoples’ favorites –especially at this time of year.  It is a story we can get excited about ourselves.

          I am sure we have all at one time or another imagined vividly the scene that is in that story.  A group of shepherds alone out in the desolate pastures of Bethlehem.  Telling the same tired stories they have told before.  Wondering what tomorrow will bring.  Keeping one sleepy eye on the sheep.  Building the fires to ward off unwanted and dangerous animals.  Gazing periodically, perhaps, at the stars.  Complaining about the hardness of the ground or the soreness of their feet.  A bleak, colorless band with possibly the most interesting sounds of the night being the bleating of the sheep.

          It was a very ordinary night as far as the shepherds were concerned.  It was just another night’s work.  Another night, another denarius!

          But then something happened to change all that ordinariness.  Their routine was interrupted by a marvelous announcement.  Their humdrum existence was sent reeling by what happened next.  There appeared to them an angel.  A messenger from God.  And the word the angel proclaimed was a word so magnificent they could hardly believe their ears.

“Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy,” the angel said, “which will come to all the people;  for to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

          Could this be true, they wondered?  Could the long-awaited Messiah of God have come?  It’s been so many centuries.  We’ve hoped so desperately.  Could it be that finally God’s promise has come true?  Would there once again be a descendant of David on the throne?  Would the kingdom in fact be restored?  Would the scourge of Roman rule be lifted and Israel become free?

          Oh, what a glorious night.  The sky was aglow with the presence of a heavenly host.  What joy surged through the veins of the shepherds.  Their hearts raced.  Their minds were boggled.  Their mouths wanted to shout the praises of God.  The Messiah had come!  The Christ had come!  God had delivered his people!  God was with them!

          And they made haste to prepare themselves for the trip into Bethlehem.  They must go at once and see for themselves this new king.  They must go and satisfy themselves that the proclamation was true.  They must go and pay their homage to this the Son of God.

          And so they went.  And we are familiar with all of the story –the announcement to the shepherds in the hills outside Bethlehem;  and their journey to the humble stable where they found Mary and Joseph and the Christ-child.  We know well their excitement, their joy, their reaction to the great event which they witnessed.

          But, I ask you now to come we me as we fanaticize on what might have happened that night that did not get recorded.  We have all heard the fictionalized story of the shepherd boy who didn’t know what gift to give the Christ-child, so he gave him his best lamb.  We have also heard the mythical story of the shepherd boy who had nothing to give the new born child, so he played his drum for him.

          Today, I would like to add my hypothesis to what might have happened that night.  My tale is called “The Other Shepherd’s Story” or “The Story of the Shepherd Who Stayed Behind.”

          Now true, the story in Luke reads as if all the shepherds made the journey into Bethlehem to see the newborn Christ-child.  But I ask you to think of the possibility that one of the shepherds stayed behind in order to keep watch over the flocks.  If these shepherds were good shepherds and responsible shepherds, as we would assume they were, then they would not have abandoned their charges and left the sheep alone in the dark and potentially dangerous night.  And for that reason, I propose, albeit apocryphally, that there was one shepherd who did not make the trip into Bethlehem.  Even though he greatly wanted to go, I propose that there was one shepherd who stayed behind out on the hillside.

          Now as we draw a profile of this shepherd who stayed behind, we would say that he was probably the youngest of the shepherds –he was low man in seniority.  He undoubtedly knew the prophecies of the scriptures and how they promised a Messiah from God.  He knew the history of his people and how they had suffered and how they now yearned to be free.  No doubt he longed to go with the others to see the proof of this historic event.  After all, he, too, had witnessed the great proclamation.  He, too, had surged with joy and excitement as the angels sang their glorious song.  He, too, was aware that the night held more than just its usual bleakness.  But alas, somebody had to stay behind.  He didn’t want to stay behind, but somebody had to and he was it!

          Needless to say this young shepherd felt left out.  He resented the fact that it was he who was missing the excitement.  He was bitter that he was left alone.  All he had for companionship were sheep.  And the rustling of grass and the bleating of sheep were hardly any consolation for missing the revelation of a life-time!  He was cold.  He was hungry.  He was bored.  There was nothing but darkness.  He had extra work because he had to kindle the fires by himself.  The sheep would probably all scatter in a multitude of directions.  He was angry and he was disappointed.

          We can understand how he might have felt.  We can identify with that shepherd-left-behind.  We know that we, too, would have wanted to go to Bethlehem.  We would have been bitter and resentful at having to stay with the sheep.

          But something strange began to happen to this shepherd-left-behind.  He was alone now.  And solitariness has its own system of benefits and rewards.  The prime benefit of loneliness is time to think.  Shepherds were known for their solitude and their  great amounts of time to think.  Some of the greatest songs and thoughts in the bible came from shepherds as they meditated on the lonely hillsides.

          This shepherd began to think.  He began to put together all the things he had been taught as a child about the promises and prophecies of God.  He remembered the great hopes expressed by his ancestors.  He added in the experience of this night with its almost inconceivable announcement.  And his attitude began to change.  His bitterness at having to stay behind began to give way to understanding.  The plan and method of God began to come clear in his mind.  He began to see purpose in what was going on.  His resentment began to turn into appreciation –appreciation that at least he had heard the announcement;  appreciation that at least his friends, his colleagues in the field, would be able to share with him first-hand what they saw in the stable.  Gradually even his self-pity began to erode and in its place their arose a sense of gratitude.  He was grateful for what he was learning about himself and his position in God’s great plan.    

          Finally, the full impact of the night dawned upon him.  He came to the realization that although he had not been permitted to travel into Bethlehem where the scene of all the action was, where the incarnation of God was made fact –God was also with him there on the hillside.  While he was not able to visit the Christ-child in person, still that Christ-child had come to be his King.  Perhaps even the angels re-appeared to him or perhaps it was God himself who came and assured him of the truth of what he had just discovered.

          This shepherd who stayed behind was now filled with joy.  Excitement ran rampant in his soul.  What he had thought was a routine, humdrum, disappointing night had turned into something special, something glorious.  He had seen a new light.  He had witnessed the revelation of God.  He had become aware that while he could not go to the Christ, the Christ had nevertheless changed his life.  When and where he had expected it least, the spectacular had happened.

          “The Story of the Shepherd Who Stayed Behind.”

* * * * *

          Now I tell you this fictionalized story because while we love and cherish the account of the shepherds’ visit to the manger in Bethlehem as Luke records it, we have more in common with the mythical shepherd who stayed behind.  For most of us a trip to Bethlehem at Christmas is not a realistic possibility.  For all of us the re-enactment of the Christmas event is impossible.  It is history.  But still, we, like the shepherd who stayed behind, can know that God is with us and among us.  While we cannot go to Bethlehem to see the newborn Christ-child, that same Christ can change our lives by his presence.

          Friends, this is the first Sunday after Christmas.  It is also very near to the eve of a brand new year that holds who knows what in store for us and our world.  In the face of that uncertainty, in fact, in the very heart of that unknown, I want to say to all of us, out of the experience of the shepherd who stayed behind, let us not be afraid of what lies ahead, let us not despair because of loneliness, or when we feel left out or resentful at missing something special or when we think our life is humdrum and ordinary.  Let us rather remember the shepherd who stayed behind and celebrate the fact that God is still with us;  let us rejoice in the fact that God is still working in this world –even through the commonplace— to bring change and peace and comfort;  let us be glad of the fact that God is still interested in you and me –even in our ordinariness;  and let us realize most of all that God has a place for us in his great plan and this year that lies ahead.

          On this, the First Sunday after Christmas and this cusp of a new year, let us acknowledge that although we in effect are with the shepherd who stayed behind, God has indeed come to us;  God has revealed himself to us;  and the Christ, born in a manger, is also our King.

          Praise God for the gift of Christmas!  Praise God for the gift of a new year!  Praise God for the gift that comes even to those who stay behind!