The Shepherds

Thereis a lot to be said about the shepherds of Jesus’ day. They were a marginalizedgroup of men, spending their days and nights out in the wilds watching overtheir sheep. Their occupation was necessary, especially since the priests werealways in need of perfect, unblemished lambs for sacrifice in the temple, butstill shepherds were looked down on.

Okay,so the sheep from my nativity set from Mexico are far from perfect. They lookmore like seals, don’t they? My thought is that Jesus is the only One who isperfect – completely white without blemish, without sin. Us sinful people downhere on Earth? We are kinda green and goofy looking, and not even always sonice on the inside. But if we believe that Jesus came to die for us and cleanseus of our sins, we can shed that skin of imperfection and be white as snow.

Luke2:15-20, New Living Translation

Whenthe angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s goto Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has toldus about.”

Theyhurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lyingin the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happenedand what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard theshepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heartand thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks,glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as theangel had told them.