Out Our Way: 'Shepherds?'

And there were shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night; and an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Be not afraid, for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For unto you, in the City of David. is born the savior who is Christ, the Lord."

Luke 2:9-11

Many years ago, when I was still in my "salad years," i.e green and mixed up, God plucked me out of the mountains of Colorado and sent me east to Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. My boots, jeans and hat made me something of an oddity and I was quickly dubbed "Bronco" by my class mates. To be honest, I played up the redneck hick routine a bit as it made me popular and got me a few dates with some "sophisticated" Ivy League beauties who were fascinated to meet a real live westerner.

However, I did sometimes resent those few who assumed that anyone from west of the Allegheny Mountains was a dim witted, uncultured, rube who thought electricity might be black magic and indoor plumbing a recent invention. But fortunately, despite my willingness to play along and act the part for my own amusement, most knew better. But you know, rural folks have not always been so acceptable in society.

I have suggested to my congregation that Galilee was, to the people of Jerusalem, what the Hi-Line is to some folks in Missoula and Kalispell. Jesus coming from Nazareth was like Him being born and raised in Havre to someone from New York or LA. And as for the shepherds in Bethlehem, you couldn't get much lower on the social scale. And unlike cowboys, there were no "drug store shepherds" or popular romantic stories about life on the range for them.

Indeed, because shepherds had to be with the flock, they didn't bathe very often, smelled of sheep, and clearly didn't get into town to attend synagogue very often. Most rabbis and the good, "God fearing" people of the day didn't want anything to do with them. Too low class - too uncouth - too smelly!

And then one night, in the little hick town called Bethlehem, a baby was born. Not just any baby - but the long awaited Messiah or Christ. For centuries God had spoken to the Chosen Ones of His plan to restore the whole human race to what He had created it to be before sin messed it up: perfect and whole and complete. To Abraham and Sarah, God revealed the plan as having three parts.

First a special people who would become the model for all others, the prototype for the new humanity He was going to restore. To them He gave the Law and the Prophets to show them the way.

Next, He promised to give them their own place on earth - the crossroads of the world in which they could not help but be noticed. And so they came to the Promised Land,  which even today is the focus of the world.

And then finally, a blessing was to come through this people in this land which would transform the whole human race. For hundreds of years the prophets spoke of this final part of the plan - and declared it would be the coming of the "Anointed One" - "Messiah" in Hebrew, "Christ" in Greek - who would save the world and created the Kingdom of God here on earth.

One night in the tiny town of Bethlehem - out in the boondocks were no great celebrities or socialite would be caught dead - God announced the time had come. And the first ones to know about it were not the kings or emperors of the earth - not the High Priests, nor the powerful movers and shakers of society - but lowly shepherds. Seems God sort of likes the little people and tends to favor them above the high class mucky mucks the rest of us tend to favor.

Dirty, smelly, uncouth, unsophisticated, ordinary shepherds were the first to be invited to come and see and rejoice. Maybe the Hi-Line isn't considered very important to a lot of folks. Maybe Havre and the other towns out here are small and seemingly insignificant to some folks. But the God who chose Nazareth and Bethlehem and shepherds for His glory has His own ideas about such things.

(John Bruington, Goliath and Scout can be reached at [email protected]. Copies of this article, sermons and children stories are available at havrepres.org, and the book ªOut Our Way: Theology Under Saddle" is available at Amazon.com.)