I Wish I Was a Shepherd!

Have you seen the movie, The Nativity? If not, I highly recommend it. My church watched it together last Saturday night as part of our Christmas celebration. It was the first time I had seen it and I will probably be buying it pretty soon. It was excellent “seeing” the Christmas story. I am a visual person and I love seeing the Bible come to life. Granted you have to allow for some inconsistencies and directors add ins, but all in all the movie was excellent. Seeing the story brought to life, not on a church stage or in a church parking lot, was great. We got to peek into the life and possible thoughts of Mary, the struggles Joseph faced, the difficulty of life during that period, the insanity of the political system (Herod), the faith it took for wise men to travel across the world for this special event, and we also get to see the arrival of OUR King, and the love of OUR God.

My favorite scene in the movie involved a shepherd. He is the kind of guy I pass everyday here in Nashville. He is easy to miss because he is of little value to our society. The shepherds of that day tended to the animals and were not a real part of society, out of sight out of mind as they say. Mary and Joseph were traveling and it would have been easy to pass right by, but he, the shepherd, shared his fire with the young couple. The one in the position to be pitied, had compassion. He shared what he had with no expectation of anything in return. Later on, that same shepherd is the one the angel appears to and he gets to see the baby Jesus. A man removed from society, far down on the totem pole, was the type of person Christ invited to meet the Savior. God born as a baby, and His birth was celebrated by the rejects and outcasts. His baby room was decorated with hay, manure, and smelly animals. His crib was a trough better suited for slop. To say He entered on humble terms seems insignificant. That fact that the insignificant were why He came, is very significant.

I like that the shepherd had a front row seat. I like that he got that gift. He was a witness to a once in history event. The most miraculous of all the miracles. The event that divided history, and he had an invitation. It kinda gives me hope today. I can come as I am, dirty, smelly, covered in sin, and know that Christ came for people like me. And He offers us a life different than anything we could have ever expected. After meeting Christ, the babe, the shepherds’ lives changed. They immediately left and began telling people about what they had seen. The lowest people in society had a gift to share, and share it they did. We find ourselves in that same boat today. We have a gift to share and to not share it is wrong. To not live life differently is wrong. To see people hurting and not help is wrong. To see people living life without Christ and not love them and tell them about Christ is wrong. We have an opportunity to BE the gift of Christmas. He is for ALL mankind, He loved ALL mankind, and He died for ALL mankind. Let’s allow Him to teach us a new way to be human!