Luke 2:8-18
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
Shepherds – To Bethlehem Through Art 2
We are taking a different path to Bethlehem this year, by looking at some famous works of art. Last week I talked to Alyssa about what she thought of the video, and she replied quite frankly, “I hated it.” Turns out, the video which very quickly flashed what seemed to be random images made very little sense to anyone but me. So we are remodeling it a little bit, and taking some more time to introduce it today.
The first part of the video will show us some historical pieces of work have been labeled and dated, and we will work our way up from the 1300’s, to the 1400’s, 1500’s… you get the idea. Now… the reason I chose artwork is that you can do some really amazing things with artwork. You can maximize some things and minimize others. You can highlight what you want, and make anything at all the focal point. Every single painting we will look at has the exact same focal point… the exact same center of focus… the exact same highlight… I want you to try to see if you can spot it. Notice how the artists pushes everything else into the background… and pulls the most important thing forward.
The second part of the video, as you may have guessed from last week, comes from our resident artists in the preschool and elementary Sunday School classes. I call it a “modern take” on this historical scene.
Finally the third part of the video is the Junior High class acting out the drama as only they can, putting their own interpretation into this historical event.
All of these, I hope… combine to create a snapshot of this event that swings us from the very historical to the very modern, so we can look on it with eyes anew… and see the glory that God has to reveal to us.
[PLAY VIDEO]
Did you notice who the artist tended to bring Christ forward and push all else backwards? Did you catch how your eyes were always drawn to Christ? The use of color, the use of light and shadow… pushes you to focus on the most important thing in the painting. It’s not Mary…. It’s not the shepherds… it’s Christ. The focus is Christ.
One would think, that if you did a search for paintings about the Shepherds… you would find paintings about shepherds. But something very interesting happens when you do a search for paintings about shepherds… 90% of the paintings you will find are titled… “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” and in every single example the focus of the painting isn’t the shepherds… the focus is always Christ. The shepherds are scenery… they are furniture… they are servants on bended knee worship the Lord.
My question was why? Why not highlight the shepherds? Why push them to the background? I think the answer comes in understanding more about who these men really were.
In Jesus’ time; shepherds -- specifically, hireling shepherds -- had a rather unsavory reputation. The great historian Jeremias writes "most of the time they were dishonest and thieving; they led their herds onto other people's land and pilfered the produce of the land." They often went months at a time without supervision, so they were consistently accused of stealing some of the surplus. Consequently, the pious were warned not to buy wool, milk, or kids from shepherds on the assumption that it was stolen property. In fact, they were SO mistrusted… that Shepherds were not allowed to serve on a jury or be admitted in court as witnesses, because you couldn’t trust them. Let’s just be clear, these weren’t the sort of men that we would expect to be rubbing elbows with angels.
The angels should have appeared to the wisemen instead, to people trained in religion and philosophy! The angels should be talking to THEM. But no angels come to them. They came to those rogues… those outlaws… those outcast shepherds instead
God, in a strange sort of wisdom, sends the heavenly singers to the shepherds… men who don’t know anything about books, men who never study the skies for anything, except maybe clues for the weather. God chooses men of absolutely NO social stature to proclaim the good news. This… is something we should not take lightly, because it goes against… everything.
We forget that… we forget the shocking reality of the greatest news coming to the very least. We forget the dirt and grime of the fields… suddenly becoming holy ground. We forget the controversy this event would cause… as the shepherds went to tell the world what they had witnessed… and verse 18 tells us “and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them!” Ya think!?! We forget the awe and the fear that the shepherds must have felt… when they came face to face with the almighty glory of God.
The angel says to them… “Do not be afraid. I bring YOU… (not kings… not wisemen… not religious leaders…) but YOU dear shepherd… I bring YOU good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” And let us be clear on this… oh shepherd trembling… you were chosen to hear this message… because this message really is for ALL people. No one will be left out… not even the most despised and most hated in your land. You, shepherd, receive this message because you are loved and cared for as much as the littlest sheep of your flock.
We tend to forget all of that. But every artist we looked at this morning did NOT forget that. Are the dirty and despicable shepherds the focus of the paintings? No… Christ is. And it’s not because we don’t like the shepherds or that we are trying to hide the shepherds… it’s because of this: how much do you think their low position, their dirt, their grime, their sin… how much does all of that matter in the presence of Christ? Christ sits in the presence of the dirt and grime and brings light TO it!
We forget… just who this message was intended for! “Do not be afraid. I bring YOU good news of great joy, YOU convict… you homeless… you poor… you lonely… you abandoned… you sick… you persecuted… you shunned… you hurt… you average Joe… you average Jane… I bring YOU good news of great joy which will be for all the people!” We forget that. We forget how God turned the world upside down that day… how he gave the greatest gift in the world to the least deserving! The grace of God is the greatest gift man can receive and far too often we treat it like it is a gift only for those deserving… for those who fit the part… for those who do their share or are important enough to receive it. God reminds us today, who HE thinks is really important. This Christmas, we need to remember this message… that this Christ child has come for the very least of all of these… he has come. May we remember this Christmas… what is truly important. “Do not be afraid. I bring YOU good news of great joy that will be for all people.”
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
