Day 21

The Gospel of Luke tells us that at the same time as Jesus was being born, there were shepherds out in the fields that night watching their sheep. After an unnamed angel and then a heavenly choir appears to them, they agree to find the newborn child.

Shepherds had very little status in the ancient world. These are humble folk, and they reflect the earliest constituencies to which the teaching of Jesus appealed. Jesus compared himself to a shepherd in his teaching and drew on analogies from shepherding life, speaking of the lost sheep and the judgement of God at the end of time in shepherding terms. Farming and peasant society were familiar to Jesus; it is where he lived his life and in doing so demonstrated God’s bias towards the poor.

Let us reflect of God’s delight for us as we are. We are all called in the simplicity of our being to listen to the message of the angels.