Frightened, but Fortified
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.
1 Samuel 17:34-35
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
Luke 2:8-17
Regardless of social class or questions of conduct and character, shepherds were not cowards. David was an exceptional young man, but was he exceptional among shepherds? In rescuing sheep from lions and bears he did that which was common to shepherds. There was a reason he carried a sling, and there was a reason shepherds carried rods and staffs. Protecting the vulnerable prey animals from predators was precisely the job they were assigned. It involved many other things, but it always involved that.
In the sparse and unforgiving wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula and throughout the Holy Land, large game was not abundant for these predators, making livestock their favored mealtime option. Both Asiatic lions and Syrian Brown Bears would have been in relative abundance during the first century. Both were terrifyingly aggressive animals, as desert predators must be. That’s to say little of Arabian wolves, hyenas, panthers, and jackals. All of them in constant search of easy meals. Domesticated sheep are the definition of an easy meal.
So it is no wonder we find shepherds “keeping watch” at night. Under the cover of darkness, in the night hours shepherds must be most watchful for all of these nocturnal predators. Every single one of them had experience fending off and confronting wild animals capable and favored to kill a man. A shepherd was not a coward. By nature of his occupation he should not be, but after only a short time spent keeping watch in the inky black wadis and dark valleys surrounded by danger, he would not be. The rods and slings of the shepherds on that Bethlehem hillside saw frequent use. These may not have been clean cut and classy men, but they were capable and courageous ones.
I quite like to think they were like so many men I know who deal in ordeals. The law enforcement officers, first responders, soldiers, and sailors and the like. The traumas of their trade are frequent and fierce. They match pluck against panic and sort their daily dealings into unnaturally stoic rhythms. The compounded adrenalizing adventures wind such tight knots that the soul’s strain demands a decompression. The traumas are translated into tales and yarns told to the jests and jeers of their peers. It is a sacred unwinding. They are no more enlivened than when they have occasion to observe their sacrament of storytelling.
A wolf’s howl or a panther growl would not have roused fear in these shepherds so much as stir them to action. But on this night in Bethlehem’s back forty, a sight and sound would strike a different reaction. An angel of the Lord appears and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They are sore afraid, terrified. These stalwart men were scared out of their wits, which is saying something. But as the heavenly host carol the anthem of peace and goodwill, their fear becomes fortitude.
They resolve to run the reconnaissance mission into town and see the Christ-child with their own eyes, just as the Father planned, having planted the clue for the shepherd scavenger hunt in the angel’s greeting. These shepherds were the ancient masters of forensic finding after all, they could not resist. They will find the Lamb of God with little problem it seems. They will wonder and worship in their steadfast and sacramental way; They will unwind their story on all who will listen, and listen they will, because the tale was entrusted to the best storytellers around.
What’s your story of encounter with Christ?
Is it a tale you can tell well?
If you had not encountered Christ, what would your life look like now?
