Grahame Walker

The centre of this part of the Christmas story as told by Luke was a group of people known as the shepherds. They were told about the birth of Jesus before anyone else. When the Angels told of the birth, this message did not come first to kings, presidents or priests but to a group of shepherds. This is such a familiar part of the story that we quickly move past this. I want to encourage you this morning to stay with this part of the Christmas story. That is the angelic announcement to the shepherds. Early in the Bible almost everyone was a shepherd. They had to be because almost every family-owned sheep, so someone in the family had to be shepherd and look after the family sheep. Many of the early leaders in the Bible were shepherds, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David. By the time of the 1st and 2nd century, fewer people owned sheep personally, and shepherding had become more of an outsourced enterprise.