The Shepherds - Luke 2:8-18 - Part 2

In Part One I said the angels appeared to the no-bodies. God is no respecter of persons. He loves you just as he would any other person. No matter who you are, you matter to God. He came for you.

Verse 8 -And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 

Notice, the verse does not say that the shepherds were working in the fields or passing by the fields. It says there were living in the fields with the sheep. This was not a 9-5 kind of a job. They were there full-time with the sheep. That was their habitation, their home and they lived with the sheep. And when animals are around, they don't observe toilet manners. The whole field is a toilet. You can imagine how bad it smells.

I have seen shepherds in India many times. They look dark because of the sun, they look dirty and smell much like sheep or goats. They wear worn out clothes and often not a pleasant sight to behold. Most of them are rough in character and uncouth. What else can you expect from them.

But do you know what? The angelic choir came to them, in the night, to announce and sing the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.  The best choir in the entire universe made their appearance to a bunch of dirty, smelly, useless shepherd in the darkness of the night. 

 Not to the patios of the Roman Caesar or in Herod's courtyard. Not even in the Jewish temple. But it a dirty and a polluted place.

This is reassuring. When you are going through the darkest moment of your life, when everything around you is smelly and dirty, when nobody else would like to sit with you because of who you are and how you smell like, God shows up in that kind of an environment. 

The Bible comforts the weary and says in Isaiah 43:2 -When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

God always shows up :
  • in our darkest moments
  • In our lonely situations
  • When we are sick
  • When we are financially broke
  • When there is no where to turn to
  • When we think its the end of the road
He not only appeared to the outcast of the society but He also came in the worst a situation. 

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