Posts Tagged ‘Luke 2:8-20’

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Luke 2:8-20

Most people will say that they remember exactly where they were and whom they were with at the time of an epic historical event, such as a tragedy or something shocking and unbelievable.  Usually it is when the life of the world is altered in a split second, leaving no one unchanged.  My mother would tell the story of how, as a young teenager, she was at Junior All-County Band clinic when she and the other students found out that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.  In my own lifetime, the Challenger disaster and of course 9/11 are etched in my mind in vivid detail.  Not only was 9/11 shocking, but it invoked a great deal of fear that shook the world.  No one was the same after that day and we all recalled our stories to each other as we tried to process our emotions and begin the very long journey to healing.

I imagine that this is probably the experience of the shepherds in our gospel lesson from Luke this morning.  This particular evening was just another speck in the sea of time, poised to be like all the others, keeping watch over the sheep in their care.  These men were country dwellers who lived on the margins of society.  To the temple leaders and social elite, they were among the dregs of society, unclean due to the nature of their profession.  Because their jobs allowed them little time away, they were unable to make the appropriate temple sacrifices with any kind of regularity.  They were literal outcasts because they tended the flocks in the rural regions on the perimeter of town.  Yet, it was their job to see to the well-being of sheep that were most likely to be presented in the temple for sacrifice by people who could afford it. Read More