And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-9)
Terrified shepherds?! I guess so. Look at what happened, leading up to the words in the text cited above: 1) they were minding their own business (which was minding the sheep); 2) suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them; 3) the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.
I understand the “terrified” bit. Sort of like how I would feel if a spaceship landed in the front yard, with blinding lights and someone who emerged who spoke to me in my language. As the old preacher turned the phrase, I would be “scared spitless.”
And that was just the beginning of the heavenly announcement of the greatest news ever spoken on planet earth.
The angel gave details, like:
the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior, has been born;
where the Messiah has been born;
and by what circumstances people will recognize him.
And if that wasn’t enough, the angel (singular angel, who definitely had their full attention and didn’t seem to need any sidekick help with the announcement or a backup choir for dramatic effect) was suddenly joined by—are you ready?—the armies of heaven praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Terrified indeed.
I’m struck somewhat by God’s humor: he made the announcement to shepherds. No doubt, they were uneducated, materially poor, untrained labor. When asked by someone the common let’s-find-out-your-vocation question, “What do you do?”, they might even be interrupted by the inquirer quickly following on with, “Oh, I smell you; never mind.”
It’s humorous to me, because God had how many professional scholars available to whom He could have made the Big Announcement? How many religious teachers who spent their days searching the Scriptures? Who knew by heart the prophecies of Micah and Isaiah and Jeremiah? Who would have loved the chance to be the first to hear the greatest announcement ever made!
But God chose the low road. The terrified response couldn’t be helped. (I reckon even the scholarly elite would have acted the same way.) God put his message on a level that the uneducated, poor, and common person could hear, receive, and obey. In delivering the message in this way, he “put the cookies on a low shelf.” It could not be missed!
And these guys ran to see everything that they had been told. On arrival, they told “everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them.” Everyone was astonished; Mary was pondering these things in her heart; and it’s safe to say there was a buzz that this geographical area had never known.
Then I love to read that they returned to their flocks! This event happened in the midst of their every day (or night) lives, and that’s how God chose to break the news to the world. He broke it to terrified shepherds, totally unaware and unprepared, and did so when they were tending their nightly business!
His message continues to come, even after these centuries, to those who are not expecting it. It comes to those who are not necessarily well versed in God’s Book, nor are they scholars of any sort. It still comes to those who lead simple lives with simple professions. It comes to those whom God is choosing!
“Father, thank you for the delivery of your message to a group of men who could receive it. You overcame their fright to convince them that this message was the real deal, and that it was good news for all people. Thank you for choosing these humble servants as the recipients of your announcement!”
Freddy Boswell 