One of the things I enjoy most about Biblical narrative—that is, the historical accounts in the Old and New Testament—is how often God does something completely unexpected. These can be surprising, or revealing, or thought-provoking. And sometimes they’re quite funny, as when God gave Balaam’s donkey the power of speech. Yes. An actual talking donkey, in the actual Bible. If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s in Numbers chapter 22, and it’s hilarious. But in every case, when God acts in ways that no one anticipated, it reminds us that our God is not bland and predictable. He does not conform to our notions about how he ought to act. As C.S. Lewis wrote of Aslan the Lion in “The Chronicles of Narnia”, he is not safe; he is not a tame lion. And that’s a bit disconcerting. We like to think that we understand how the world works. We want to know what to expect. And a God who sometimes acts in unpredictable ways is rather uncomfortable for us. But time and time again, God contradicts our expectations. And in doing so, he reminds us that he is sovereign; that he is the one in control. He reminds us that he is inscrutable, and that our understanding of his character and his ways is only partial and limited. In other words, He does what he wants, not what we expect. As Paul writes in Romans 11:33:
“33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Likewise, Job’s friend Zophar challenged him with this rhetorical question:
““Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7)
The answer, of course, is no. We cannot plumb the depths of God. We cannot fathom his mysteries; we cannot probe his limits. And so we really shouldn’t be surprised when he acts in ways that we do not and cannot anticipate. We shouldn’t be surprised, but we are. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah tells us:
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”. We do not naturally think the way God thinks, or act the way God acts.
Let me give you an example. It comes from the book of 1 Samuel in the Old Testament. God has determined that king Saul must be replaced, and he sends the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, because God has chosen one of this man’s eight sons to be king. We join the narrative in 1 Samuel 16:6:
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.” (1 Samuel 16:6-13)
Samuel assumed that the one God chose to be the next king would be Eliab, the oldest and apparently the tallest. In general, I’m on board with the idea that tall people should be in charge, but that’s not how it worked out here. Eliab was not the one. Well then, perhaps Abinadab? No. Nor was it Shammah, or any of the other seven sons that Jesse brought forward for inspection. So they’re in a bit of a quandary. What to do? And I love Samuel’s question. “Got any more?” Any more sons out there, Jesse? Well yes, just one. The youngest one, whom they hadn’t even bothered to bring to meet with the prophet. Because of course he wouldn’t be the one chosen. The idea was ludicrous, that little David could be the next king of Israel. David, who was out in the field, taking care of the sheep. But they brought him in, and lo and behold, God said, “this is the one”. And so Samuel anointed him. You can imagine their shock and surprise. Because this was not just unexpected, it was the exact opposite of what they expected. Why? Verse 7. Because “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” That’s why. God saw what was in David’s heart. God evaluates people and situations differently than we do. Which is why, by the way, we need to ask God to give us wisdom when making important decisions. Because we tend to judge by appearances, while God sees things as they truly are. He isn’t fooled by how things look on the surface.
And, we see this over and over in the Bible. God confounds our expectations. What did Jesus say? “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matthew 19:30) In other words, the kingdom of God involves a complete reordering, a complete reversal of the power structures and values of this world. And so when Christ returns, many people who today are respected, and wealthy, and influential will find that they are on the bottom, while many who are today rejected, or poor, or disregarded by the world, will be on top.
Let me give you another example. When it came time for Jesus to choose the Twelve disciples; those who would travel with him for three years during his ministry of preaching, and teaching, and healing, who did he choose? Remember, these were the men to whom he would entrust with the gospel message. From a human perspective, everything depended on their ability to understand the teachings of Christ and to carry them to the world after his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. If they failed, there was no Plan B. So who did Christ choose for this critical task? Theologians, scholars, rabbis, teachers? No. He chose mostly fishermen. And a tax collector. Acts 4:13 tells us that the disciples were recognized as “unschooled, ordinary men”. From a human perspective, there was nothing special about them. They weren’t paragons of holiness or learning. They weren’t intellectual or spiritual giants. They hadn’t proven their courage in battle. They were just regular guys. Regular guys whom Jesus transformed.
Now, before I proceed, a couple of points of clarification. Although we cannot always predict exactly what God will do, we can rely on his promises. And so when God tells us that he will do something in the future, we can rely on that. Absolutely. We can also rely on his character; his goodness, and his wisdom, and his power, and his love. And although we do not naturally think the way God thinks, or understand completely his ways, the Holy Spirit is continually working in believers to mold us into the image of Christ, so that more and more, over time, we do come to think God’s thoughts after him and see the world as he does. Nevertheless, God still acts from time to time in ways that are unexpected, even to us.
All right. I brought up these two examples—David the shepherd boy being anointed king, and Jesus choosing uneducated men as his disciples—because today’s text also involves a very unexpected choice by God, and it concerns the announcement of the birth of his Son, Jesus. We heard the account from the gospel of Luke, and I’m going to read it again so that it is fresh in our minds.
“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 that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, 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 heaven,
and on earth peace to those 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. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:8-20)
Let’s start by looking at the most obvious feature of the story. Who does God announce the birth of His Son to? Who does he invite to come and see the new baby? A ragtag collection of sheep herders! There is only one announcement of Christ’s birth recorded in the Scriptures. There is only one invitation from God to anyone to come visit Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus. And that one invitation goes to a bunch of uneducated, smelly, low-class, social and religious outcasts, a bunch of shepherds. No offense, if we have any shepherds here this morning.
Let me tell you a bit about shepherds in ancient times. They were the last people you’d expect God to take notice of. First of all, they were religious outcasts. According to Jewish religious law, these men were ritually unclean. Their line of work prevented them from participating in the feasts and the holy days that made up the Jewish religious calendar. Why? Because somebody had to watch the sheep. When everyone else was making the trip to Jerusalem to make sacrifices at the temple, or to participate in one of the annual feasts, they were out in the fields, watching over the sheep. A modern day example might be a trucker or a shift worker, whose job keeps them from regularly attending church. It wasn’t their fault. But they were looked down on, from a religious point of view, because whatever might have been in their hearts, they weren’t able to participate fully in the religious life of the community.
Not only that, but shepherds were borderline social outcasts. They were on the fringes. Since they were constantly on the move to find new pasture for their flocks, they were looked on with suspicion. They were transients. People viewed them like some today might view gypsies, or carnival workers. They were often accused of being thieves. If something came up missing, it must have been those shepherds. They were not permitted to give testimony in a legal proceeding, because their word wasn’t considered trustworthy. And on top of all that, they didn’t have much contact with other people. Most of the time, they were “living out in the fields”, as verse 8 tells us. This was not a 40-hour a week job. They didn’t come home at night or on weekends. They were with the sheep 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During the day, they led the sheep to grass and water. They watched while the sheep grazed. They kept an eye out for predators like wolves. And at night, they actually slept in the sheep pen with the sheep to guard against theft and animal attack.
Being a shepherd was lonely, wearisome, often boring and tedious, and sometimes extremely dangerous. It gave them a lot of contact with sheep and wildlife, but very little exposure to people. No wonder that David, the shepherd born in Bethlehem who became king of Israel, was such an accomplished musician. Many shepherds learned to play the flute or some other instrument, because they had hours and hours with nothing to do but watch sheep eat grass. So they had plenty of time to practice the flute.
Now, step back for a moment. Imagine that you want to announce the most amazing, incredible, joyous news ever; an event which will literally change the course of history – the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The birth of the One who will be the Savior of the world. The One for whom the nation of Israel, for centuries has been waiting, and hoping. Finally, He has come! Who do you announce it to? Who do you tell? Who do you invite to come and see? “Shepherds” would not have been anyone’s first guess. Or second, or third. Not at all.
Think about it. When a child is born to a member of British royalty; for instance, when William and Kate’s children were born—George, Charlotte, and Louis—they didn’t send a messenger down to the docks to break the news to the longshoremen and the fishmongers. They didn’t issue personal invitations to the cab drivers of London to come visit Catherine and her new infant in Windsor castle. If any announcements or invitations were sent out, they were probably printed in gold leaf, and hand delivered to political leaders and heads of state. Right?
The point is that you would expect a momentous event like the birth of Christ to be announced to the most important people in the nation.
• You might expect that political leaders—kings, governors, magistrates, even Caesar—would be invited to come and pay homage to the future ruler.
• You would also expect that Religious leaders—Priests, rabbis, synagogue officials, the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin—that they would be invited to worship their Messiah.
• Who else? Military leaders. Wealthy merchants. Men and women of influence and distinction.
But none of them got the word. Not one of them were invited. It’s true, some wise men from the East figured it out by following the star of Bethlehem, and they did inform king Herod. But the wise men didn’t get an angelic messenger, or angel choir. Only these few, poor shepherds, these social and religious outcasts, received the announcement. So why? Why did God do this? Why did He send His angels to announce the birth of Christ to these shepherds, to invite them, and them only, to come and see the child?
Were the shepherds especially pious? There’s no reason to think so. The passage does tell us that when they received the news, they believed what the angels said, and did what the angels told them to do. So they had faith. But there’s nothing in the text to indicate that they were more religious than anyone else. There must have been many other faithful and pious Jews in that region. Then were they special in some other way? Was there something else about them that commended them to God. No. In fact, if I’m a shepherd, I’m probably convinced God has no idea who I even am. I imagine these shepherds, night after night, gazing up at the dark and ancient sky, filled with thousands of stars, reflecting on the vastness of the heavens, and thinking that they were absolutely insignificant.
So why did God send the angels first to the shepherds? I think the answer is simple. God wanted to show that His love does not discriminate on the basis of class, or wealth, or education, or social standing. He does not respect kings and princes more than hourly laborers, he does not value priests and pastors above the people in the pews. God does not show favoritism; He does not give preferential treatment to one group of people over another. His love is available to all on the same basis. And that basis is faith in Jesus Christ, and faith alone. Let me give you a couple of references:
In Job, the character Elihu says this of God,
“Is He not the One who . . . shows no partiality to princes
and does not favor the rich over the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?” (Job 34:18-19)
And in Acts, Peter makes this statement:
“34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” (Acts 10:34-35)
Let me ask you: do people give preferential treatment based on things like social standing, or wealth, or political influence? Of course they do. It’s so common that we tend to accept it as normal. That’s just the way things are. But that’s not the way things are with God. His acceptance of us; his love for us, has nothing to do with our family name or heritage. He is completely unimpressed by our net worth. He cares not a bit for any power or influence we might have in this world. None of those things matter to him. Because they all came from him in the first place, didn’t they? And in fact, we ourselves were formed by his hands; he made us. So none of these things that men work for, and covet, and ardently desire—power, honor, influence, wealth—none of these things matter at all to God. The only thing he cares about is our faith and our obedience. And a lowly shepherd can possess those in the same or greater measure than a nobleman or a billionaire.
In other words, God was demonstrating, by His choice of these humble shepherds to be the first to receive the news of Christ’s birth, that Jesus was not going to be the Savior of only the political and social and religious elite. Jesus was not going to be the Savior only of kings and governors, or popes and priests. Jesus is the Savior of all, from the highest to the lowest. He doesn’t give preference to any group or any class. Nor does he discriminate on the basis of intelligence, or education, or wealth, or profession, or political power, or social standing, or any of the other qualities that human beings judge by. His love is offered indiscriminately to anyone who will repent and believe, anyone who will trust in Him as Savior.
Paul makes the same point in his first letter to the Corinthians:
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)
In other words, God especially likes to use people who are humble and ordinary, because that makes His power and wisdom all the more evident. When He uses people who are obviously very gifted and powerful, then the results could be attributed to human effort and human talent. But if He uses people of obviously low to average abilities, then all the credit for the results go to Him.
In fact, many passages of Scripture indicate that God loves to lift up the lowly and humble, while at the same time bringing down the proud and self-satisfied:
“You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.”
(2 Samuel 22:28)
“This is what the LORD says: . . . "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2)
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:5-6)
I do want to make one important clarification. God does not show favoritism on the basis of wealth, or family name, or power. But neither does he discriminate against those who possess such things. He doesn’t grant special privileges to the high and mighty, but neither does he exclude them. Note that in verse 26 Paul doesn’t say that there weren’t “any” who were wise, or influential, or noble; he says that there weren’t “many”. In the 18th century, a countess named Selina Hastings came to faith in Christ, and later said that she was saved by the letter “m”. Because it reads not “many” noble, rather than not “any”.
So, what does all this mean to you and I? Well, if you identify with the shepherds, it should be very encouraging. Perhaps you see yourself as someone who is on the outside looking in. I imagine that many nights, as the shepherds sat out in those cold, lonely fields, with nothing but their animals to keep them company, they looked over at the village, saw the lights of the homes and heard the faint sound of families, people laughing, and wished they could be a part of that. Maybe you’ve felt that way too. Not one of the “beautiful people,” not especially wealthy, or powerful or influential. Not likely to ever see your name in the paper for some great accomplishment. On the fringes socially. Maybe when you consider your level of religious observance—church attendance, Bible reading, prayer—you see a lot of room for improvement. You imagine that if God is even aware you exist, He probably doesn’t have a very favorable opinion of you. And you know what? A lot of people, deep down, secretly feel like that. Even people you would think of as “having it all together”. On the surface, everything is going great. But on the inside, they feel like you don’t fit in. They feel like God doesn’t really care, and maybe couldn’t care, about someone like them.
If any part of that description strikes a chord with you, then I have good news. The best news possible. God loves you. Just like He loved those shepherds. And you are special to Him. Just like those shepherds were special to Him, so special that He gave them the incredible privilege of being the first to hear of Christ’s birth, being the first people other than Joseph and Mary to lay eyes on the Son of God, the first to tell others about Christ. He didn’t give those privileges to the Roman Caesar or to the Jewish high priest, he gave it to the shepherds. Not in spite of who they were, but because of who they were—humble, ordinary people with no high opinions of themselves.
Simple people who were willing to simply believe what God told them and to simply do what God told them to do. When they heard the news, they didn’t seek out the religious professionals for a second opinion. They didn’t debate whether the angels really meant what they said. They simply accepted what the angels said to them. When they were invited to visit Bethlehem to see the newborn Messiah, they didn’t worry about who was going to watch their sheep. They didn’t get bogged down in discussions about how they were going to find one small baby in a village of several hundred people. They simply obeyed, and went, and worshipped. And as a result, they were privileged to witness a scene that, had they only known, all of the kings and nobles of the earth would have given their entire fortunes to see. The infant Jesus in a manger. Not to mention a private concert by the finest voices in the angelic choir. That must have been something! Can you imagine? That must have been like the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Choir, singing the Messiah, times a thousand. But it wasn’t granted to the high and mighty of the earth to see and hear those things. Only the shepherds were granted that privilege.
And by the way, it wasn’t only the shepherds who were humble, ordinary people. Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph were also people of low status. Joseph was a carpenter, a blue-collar worker. He wasn’t a scribe or a rabbi; he wasn’t someone with any kind of authority. He wasn’t a wealthy man. When he and Mary made the long journey of several days from Nazareth to Bethlehem, with Mary being several months pregnant, she walked or perhaps rode on a donkey. She didn’t ride in a chariot; she wasn’t carried along by servants. No, they were just ordinary people, people of no great reputation.
But what about those who don’t identify with the shepherds? What about those who identify with the elites, the gifted, the accomplished, the powerful? Because God welcomes those as well. But those folks should recognize that in God’s sight, they are on the same level as everyone else. None of us has a head start with God. In fact, anything that causes us to think too highly of ourselves; anything that stimulates pride, actually puts us farther behind. So we all need to understand that we are accepted before God on the same basis as anyone else – not because of who we are, or anything we have done, but only because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who gave His life and suffered the penalty for our sin so that we could have eternal life and receive forgiveness.
I’d like to make one more observation about the shepherds. How important were they? The answer is, not at all. Until, that is, God chose them; until God called them. And then, they became a central part of the Christmas story. Very important indeed. Not only did they have the unimaginable privilege of being the first to welcome the baby Jesus into the world, but they also had the privilege of being his heralds, to announce his birth to everyone. Luke’s account tells us that in response to what they had seen and heard, they “spread the word”. And I’d like to suggest that this is the appropriate response for us as well. Each one of us has great value in Christ. Not because of what we have done, but because of what he has done for us. And just like the shepherds, he has made us his heralds, his witnesses. So let’s spread the word. There are still many people, including some of our friends and family, who don’t know Christ. And this time of year is an excellent opportunity for us to witness to what we have seen and heard, just like the shepherds did; to share what Christ has done in our lives and what he means to us. Not because we’re anything special, but because the news is so wonderful that we can’t help sharing it. Let’s take the opportunity to do that, just as the shepherds did twenty centuries ago. Amen?
