Lowly Shepherds

Now there were in the same country

shepherds living out in the fields,

keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them,

and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them,

"Do not be afraid..."

Luke 2:8-10, NKJV

If you were going to announce the greatest event in the history of mankind, the birth of the one individual who would forever change the course of the universe and the destiny of all that is, who would you tell first?


Would you announce it in the halls of government to the seats of power? Would you print an announcement in the most widely-read publications of the world? Would you call CNN or FoxNews and request a video crew for the event? Think of all the fuss that gets made every year on January 1 over the birth of the "New Year's Baby", and multiply that by like, I don't know, a gazillion. If my baby was the most important baby to ever be born, I would want the world to know--right then.


Wouldn't I?


Imagine the press coverage at the nativity: Virgin Gives Birth. Son of God Born in a Barn. The Lord Has Come, Let Earth Receive Her King.


Cynics would challenge the veracity of Mary's claim and look for old boyfriends to smear her claims. Skeptics would debate the existence of God and the possibilities of Him fathering a child. Intellectuals would try to carefully explain away all evidence of the miraculous. Every citizen of the world would cry "Freedom" 'cause we don't need no stinkin' king!


God knew what the world was like, and there were lots of other considerations to making this most important of announcements. Like the mad king who would want to kill him. Like the need for a middle of the night flight to Egypt in perilous conditions. Like the wisdom of obscurity until it was time for the Christ to be publicly revealed.


Instead of the media circus, God chose to do something spectacular...and practically secret. Hundreds of miles away, astronomers were reading the signs in the heavens with excitement because the event they had been anticipating for centuries had finally arrived. And closer to home, nobody was expecting anything of this magnitude to occur. So God sends an angel to wake up some shepherds and give them the good news, thus demonstrating a long-held principle in the history of God's dealing with mankind--God often uses the humble things, the small things, to put to shame the wisdom and greatness of the world.


The first humans to hear the good news of salvation were a rag-tag bunch of sheep herders camping out on a hillside with their sheep. The first ones to know that the Son of God had been born were men of no reputation, servants, common men whose names are not even recorded for posterity's sake. How typical of God to show his greatness and his glory to those the world might consider least deserving or worthy. But imagine the life-changing impact such an announcement had on that huddle of men. When the good shepherd was born, God didn't send an angel to wake up kings and priests in the middle of the night; he made the announcement to folks who might actually appreciate the message, people who knew their need for what he was offering.