“In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood before them….” (Luke 2:8ff.)
I wonder a lot about that first Christmas.
I wonder about the shepherds Luke told us about, the men tending their sheep throughout the night in the field outside Bethlehem.
What a magical moment this must have been for them. I wonder what that was like.
As a farm boy, I can imagine myself outside in that field with them. I’ve kept the calves and cattle, the pigs and the mules and horses. I could keep sheep. It’s basically unskilled labor, we’re told. I’ve heard that shepherds in Judea ranked on the social scale one notch above lepers. I could be a shepherd. What would that have been like that night?
–I wonder what they were talking about in the few minutes prior to the angels’ visit. Did they have a fire going? Were they talking or dozing or joshing with one another? Were they friends or even brothers?
–And when the Angel of the Lord arrived and filled the sky with Heaven’s glory, I wonder if anyone else could have seen what they saw and heard what they heard. Could someone in an adjoining field have been dazzled by that same display? Or would it have been dark over there and they would have seen nothing?
I am almost willing to bet they would not have seen a thing, that the angelic host that evening was sent to the shepherds and for no other eyes. Over in Matthew chapter 2, we’re not told of anyone else noticing the wandering star. No one else seemed to have been transfixed by a star that seemed to have a specific direction in mind.
So maybe this was just for them.