The shepherds went with haste to Bethlehem to see the newborn Savior, who is Christ the Lord
Fr. Steven Scherrer, MM, Th.D.
Homily of Sunday, The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord, January 01, 2023
Numbers 6:22-27, Psalm 66 (67), Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:16-21

Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted

“When the Angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:15-21).

An angel told the shepherds, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). The angel then told them the condition that they would find this child in so that they could distinguish him from any other newborn child that may happen to be in this region, for this child would be lying in a manger, unlike all other children; and like other children, he would be wrapped in swaddling cloths.

The shepherds immediately believed the message of the angel, for the messenger himself was an extraordinary heavenly being and then was surrounded by “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:13-14).

But remember that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, did not believe the angel’s message to him about the birth of his son to his elderly and barren wife. He was therefore struck deaf and dumb for nine months as a punishment for his lack of faith. And Zechariah was a priest with a good education. But here these shepherds with little education, who spent their nights camped out in the field keeping watch by turn over their flocks believed the angel and went immediately to Bethlehem to see this child.

Surely, though, they must have wondered how the Messiah could be born in a stable and laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. The Jews expected that the Messiah would come in pomp and state, surrounded by attendants in royal robes, born of a noble and wealthy family of the line of David, and perhaps in a palace, and would be a great political military hero who would lead the Judean armies to conquer the Roman Empire and make the Jews the dominant people in the world.

So when the angel told the shepherds that the Messiah was just born in Bethlehem and then told him that he would be lying in a manger in a stable for animals, they must have been struck with wonder and amazement at the incongruity of it all.

But unlike Zechariah, the shepherds showed no sign of doubt, but immediately said to one another, “‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:15-16).

The shepherds did not go to Bethlehem to verify whether the message of the angel was true. Rather they simply believed and went to see this great wonder with their own eyes. And when they arrived they became important witnesses to inform Mary and Joseph of what the angel had said to them about their child, namely that he is “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

Mary, of course, knew by the message of the angel Gabriel and by her own physical experience how this child was conceived by the Holy Spirit without a human father, and that he is the Son of God and would rule on the throne of his father David and “reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33).

So the shepherds related to Mary and Joseph what the angel told them about their child being the Messiah (the Christ), the Lord (the Son of God), and a Savior. The account of the shepherds harmonized with what Mary and Joseph already knew about him. The shepherds “made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them” (Luke 2:17-18).

Surely Mary and Joseph also must have told the shepherds what they knew about this child, namely how he was conceived and that he would be the son of David and inherit his throne over an everlasting kingdom and would be the Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit without a human father.

Then “the shepherds returned [to their flocks], glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (Luke 2:20). They thanked God that what the angel told them they would find is exactly what they did find, which confirmed the truth of the angel’s message that he was “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

Probably the shepherds told everyone they met in Bethlehem of the great wonder that they had been allowed to see with their own eyes – the longed-for Messiah, who would be a Savior and Lord. They could also tell them how he was conceived, which they probably learned from Mary and Joseph. So they would be good witnesses to the gospel in its incipient form, the good news about a Savior, the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Lord. “And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them” (Luke 2:18).

Then “at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21). It seems that circumcision was the time when a child’s name was given to him, as we saw in the case of John the Baptist (Luke 1:59-63). The name of this child was also significant. Jesus means Yahweh is salvation. It was a name that designated this child as our Savior.

All of this is important to us, because this child that we are talking about is our Savior. He came to save us from our sins and from eternal death as their punishment. He came to redeem us from Satan’s power. He came to suffer for us what we should have suffered in punishment for our sins so that we would not have to suffer it if only we put our trusting faith in him and sincerely repent of our sins, with a firm purpose of amending our life.

If we do that, God justifies us; that is, he declares and thereby makes us ungodly sinners righteous and reckons to us his own righteousness so that we shine with the righteousness of God himself. This justification is a gift of God, for we cannot justify ourselves. We do not justify ourselves before God by our good works. Only God can justify us and save us from our sins and from their punishment, which is eternal death.

God saves us who put our faith in Christ through the vicarious, substitutionary, sacrificial death of his Son on the cross. Then he calls us to live a holy life, avoiding sin in the future and growing in holiness through good works. He calls us to be saints and inherit the gift of eternal life. We need to look to Christ as our Savior who came to save those who are lost.

We should respond to the Savior with the same eagerness and faith that the shepherds had when they heard that the Savior had been born. They immediately left their flocks and went to see and adore him.

“May our spirit be like theirs! May we ever believe implicitly, act promptly, and wait for nothing – when the path of duty is clear! So doing, we shall have a reward like that of the shepherds. The journey that is begun in faith – will generally end in praise” (JC Ryle, 1816-1900).

This is how we should respond to his call to be a saint. Like the shepherds, we should respond immediately, without doubt and without hesitation or delay and follow through on this call in all we do.