The First to Hear--Sherpherds

(Luke 2:8)

The shepherds--lowliest of the low class--had no rank in Judean society. They couldn’t testify in court. With a semi-nomadic lifestyle, they spent a great deal of time away from their families.

These men had no comforts when they tended their flocks. They slept on the cold, hard ground at night. They might have had bedrolls.

They led a dreary and dangerous life. Wild animals always waited to pounce on the sheep. The shepherds fought off wolves with whatever they had. When the winter winds howled, they had to move their flocks into valleys or canyons between mountains to protect themselves and the sheep from the winter winds.

Yet, God chose to include them in His plan to spread the news of Jesus’ birth. He used them to convey the idea that Jesus came to earth for all of us--the homeless, the poverty stricken, the chronically ill, the seriously ill, the upwardly mobile, and the elite.