God's Love Bypassed Elites for Humble Shepherds
Daily Scripture
Luke 2:6-9
6 While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.
8 Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. 9 The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
We usually see noble, reverent shepherds in Christmas pageants and manger scenes. Yet at the time of Jesus’ birth, most people looked down on shepherds. Shepherds stayed with their flocks full time, so they couldn’t observe all the religious rituals other people followed to maintain ritual purity. Devout Hebrews deemed them ‘unclean’ and avoided them. The night shift shepherds, * working the least desirable hours, had the lowest status of all. Yet God loved them and sent them the first news of Jesus’ birth.
- Imagine you lived in first-century Israel and didn’t know this story. Jerusalem’s Temple housed the ruling Council and respected Scripture experts—people who claimed to be waiting for the Messiah. Would it shock you that God’s love didn’t follow human beliefs or social hierarchies, and reached first to those society ignored? This foreshadowed how the religious authorities would later reject the adult Jesus (cf. Matthew 26:57-67). What did God’s choice of shepherds reveal about divine values?
- Was Jesus born on December 25? Probably not. “That shepherds were watching their flocks outside at night, rather than having them in pens, suggests that the season was warm.” ** While we celebrate Christmas on a specific date, the good news of Jesus’ birth isn’t limited to one season or climate. How does this historical detail remind you that God’s love in Christ is for all people, in all places, throughout the entire year?
Prayer
A daily reminder from Pastor Hamilton: Our hope is that tonight or tomorrow morning, continuing through Christmas, each of you will, either in the morning or at night, take the time to write down three things you are thankful for. You might write these in the form of a thank you letter to God or simply write down a journal entry.
Prayer: God of all people, you care more about my inner openness to you and your purposes than you do about the status human society assigns to me. Help me to see those around me through your eyes. Amen.
GPS Insights
Amy Oden
Dr. Amy Oden, who serves as Adjunct Professor of Early Church History and Spirituality at the Oklahoma campus of Saint Paul School of Theology, wrote today's Insights for us in December, 2023. Teaching is her calling, and she looks forward to every day with students. Her book (Right Here, Right Now: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness, Abingdon Press, 2017) traces ancient mindfulness practice for Christians today.
Jesus’ birth didn’t make the headlines in all the Jerusalem papers and cable news shows. People were too busy with sideline analysis of the politically powerful. Their gaze was focused only on celebrity. The religious people completely missed God’s coming into the world in a manger. Most of them didn’t even know any shepherds personally.
But neither do I. The Luke passage makes me wonder: who are the shepherds in my life? Who are the people I might not even notice, who nevertheless have amazing news—first given to them by a messenger from God and then confirmed with their own eyes? Who are everyday people who have a witness about the amazing things God is doing in out-of-the-way, off-the-radar places every single day?
Do I see the shepherds in my life? Hear them? Do I pay attention or do I miss it? When I am able to hear it, do I receive it with wonder and praise? Or do I scoff, ignore it? Maybe my shepherds are the people recently released from incarceration who are making positive and permanent change in their lives. Or a child helping a friend who’s been sick or injured. Surely there are many, many shepherds with untold stories of the Holy One inbreaking into our lives each day.
After Christmas, when the excitement is over and we return to everyday life, the shepherds are just beginning to tell their story, the amazing news of what they have seen and heard, “good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people” (v. 10). This good news is God’s coming into the world—not in a chariot, not at the microphone of a press conference, but in an out-of-the-way, off-the-radar shelter for animals, with illiterate field workers in charge of spreading the good news. God is coming into the world this very day. I pray that I will see and hear the shepherds in my life!
© 2025 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* The phrase is from Adam Hamilton, a chapter from The Journey: A Season of Reflections. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011, pp. 115-120.
** Craig Keener in NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Zondervan, eBook (Kindle Locations 232417-232418). Kindle Edition.
