To Be the Apprentice of a Newborn
Jesus and the Shepherds take their places in our Creche. They go together as they go together in the climax of the nativity story. Jesus and the Shepherds are tied together, and will be so forever. Why shepherds? Why did God first give the good news about Jesus’ arrival to the shepherds? Yes, Jesus’ family of course knew. But the shepherds were the first neutral party to hear the news. Why? There are a few reasons, I’d say. I give them quickly before I get to the heart of what I want to say. John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, will later call Jesus the Lamb of God by who takes away the sin of the world. So the shepherds come to see this new lamb who will change their lives. There is a foreshadowing here. Also, there is the even-then revered scripture we know as the 23 rd Psalm – The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. The Gospels will also later point to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. So the shepherds are also coming to visit a fellow shepherd, the shepherd’s shepherd,