The Shepherd and the Lamb

 Happy Wednesday! 

In Luke 2 there’s a story about some shepherds chilling in the field at night watching their herd. I think we all know this story. An angel of the Lord appeared to these terrified shepherds and announced to them that “today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” He told them where they could find him. Heavenly hosts showed up and sang a praise to God and then when the angels left the shepherds pulled themselves together and went to go find baby Jesus. 

I was going to talk about the immediacy of the shepherds. How they up and left their herd and dropped everything to seek out Jesus right in that moment once the angels left. But a sermon from Moody I had listened to about Psalm 23 came to mind as I was thinking about this story of the shepherds. The pastor was talking about Psalm 23 through the lens of David who had written it and who had been a shepherd himself. He talked about how God is our shepherd and how sheep can not rest until they have all of their needs met and feel safe. The pastor talked about how only a very good shepherd can fulfill all the needs of their sheep and “make them lay down.” And I just wonder if there’s some symbolism behind why the angel of the Lord decided to appear to a bunch of humble shepherds. They were the first ones to get to see baby Jesus and spread the news of Him. 

This is just my thoughts but what if the angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds because Jesus will grow up and become our shepherd? He frequently called his followers His sheep and His flock. Even more than that though, Jesus isn't just our shepherd. He's also the sacrificial lamb. He died in our place, spilled his blood to wipe our sins clean the same way that those in the Old Testament killed lambs to make themselves ceremonially clean so that they could be nearer to God. Jesus is all wrapped up in symbolism that has to do with sheep and shepherds. So, maybe it's just me, but I see a lot of purpose in the Angel of the Lord appearing to the shepherds that night. They were the first ones to get to know about Jesus after He was born. God is in all the details, so I have a hard time believing that there isn't meaning behind the shepherds who cared for their sheep being the first to get to go and worship Jesus. 

As I think on this part of the Christmas story and Psalm 23, I find a lot of comfort in Jesus being our shepherd and I thank Him and praise Him for being our sacrificial lamb, for dying for us. 2020 has been a crazy and difficult year. It feels like hard stuff just keeps being thrown at us from all sides and I think we could all use some comfort and hope during this time. I certainly could. There's been some hard moments leading up to this Christmas for me and I find it amazing that I had written this blog post at the start of the month, not knowing I would need these words myself later in the month. Maybe you need to hear them too. Go and read through Psalm 23 and then the passage in Luke about the shepherds and rest in the hope and comfort that Jesus is our shepherd, “he makes us lie down in green pastures and restores our soul” and is also our sacrificial lamb who died so that we could have everlasting hope in Him. Hold onto that during the rest of this Christmas week. Keep it close to your heart throughout tomorrow, Friday and the weekend.