Shepherds

     Just read this morning: "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel appeared..."  Just stop right there--dirty, smelly sheep with exhausted, filthy shepherds in a dusty field, and then the very next words are "And an angel appeared..."--Geez.  Can you imagine a more shocking juxtaposition?  Dirt and divine?  God loves to do this, doesn't He?  Incredible.
     Okay, back to the rest of the verse: "And an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear."  (Lk 2:8-9)
     We tend to imagine an idyllic setting for the shepherds.  They are wearing clean, flowing robes with a nice white sheet and hairband on their immaculate heads. That's what we saw in the school plays, right?  The sheep feature pearly white wool, and they are baahing gently in the background while the shepherds sing Psalms and hold hands and gaze at the heavens in wonder.
     I don't think so.
    Shepherding was considered the lowest of the low in terms of professions at the time of Jesus' birth.  Shepherds were dirty and smelly--like their dumb sheep--and theirs was a hard and humble life.  Endless days and nights out in the fields searching for fresh pasture and water for their flock, trying to deal with scorching heat or frigid nights.  Not too glamorous, and certainly not well regarded by others.
     And yet they are the ones to whom God chose to reveal Messiah's birth!  The despised.  The desperate.  The dirty.  And so we see the words "shepherds" and "flock" together with "angel" and "glory."
     How can you not love a God like that?  His ways surely are not our ways, are they?
     Absolutely no one is too high and mighty that they do not need the love and salvation of the Infant-Savior.  And absolutely no one is too far gone, too wretched of a sinner, or addict, or loser, or bigot, or failure that He is not mighty to save and restore and redeem.
     He came for us all.  The greatest and the lowliest.  The best and the worst.
     Tim Keller says, "Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own.  God had to come to you.  It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be.  Salvation comes to those who are willing to admit how weak they are."
     I love how Martin Luther expressed i: "Do you know what a stable smells like?  You know what that family would have smelled like after the birth when they went out into the city?  And if they were standing next to you, how would you have felt about them and regarded them?"
     Would I have wrinkled up my nose and felt all  high and mighty and superior?  Would we have looked with thinly veiled disgust at those dirty shepherds running full tilt to the stable after the angel's visit and thought, "What are they doing here?"
     Then we would have missed it.  Totally missed the greatest event in the course of human history.  God piercing time and space to come as an infant for shepherds... and all the rest of us dirty, messy members of humanity.
     The shepherds experienced the glory of God.  The shepherds found their Savior.  In the midst of their busy work, their busy lives, their mess and dirt and exhaustion, they took the time to go and look and see.. and then worship the King.  
      Will we?  
      To God be the glory.