A light for the world; that is what I had told them. That is what I believed. But where was the world? They had to come see for themselves.

And so, the angel went in haste to see the shepherds keeping watch in their fields. Shepherds? Shepherds? Are you crazy, God? Why shepherds? The shepherds, sure enough, were in their fields watching the sheep. They were the poor of the world, a step above beggars, however, because at least they owned sheep.  But they were poor, they were dirty and smelly, and they were too young. They were young men and women, teenagers, watching the sheep while their parents stayed home and worked their meager little farms.  But there was a fraternity of sorts among the shepherds. They looked out for one another and for the sheep of the other shepherds.  They clung to the fantasy of being like King David, called from the field to rule the nation. Although they all knew that none of them would ever be called to rule anything other than a herd of sheep, they could dream, couldn’t they? And, like David, they whiled away the endless hours of sheep-watching by writing music and singing to themselves and their sheep. The sheep didn't seem to mind any, even if their voices were not angelic and even if their poems and songs were not as stirring as those David wrote.  

Occasionally something eventful happens in the fields, like a wolf or a lion appearing to threaten the sheep, and these little dramas made for great tales to be told in the village of the shepherd’s heroism. But these occurrences were rare indeed. For the most part, it was routine and boring work, this shepherding business.

Tonight, however, would be one of those events, an event like none other, and one that very few people would even believe when the shepherds at last found the courage to talk about it.  An angel of God appeared, right there in the field full of sheep! Nothing like this had ever happened to any shepherd before, they were pretty sure, not even to King David. The angel had some amazing news for them - the long-awaited Messiah had come. Hurray for the shepherds! They were saved from their life of boredom, from being poor and oppressed, from always being stinky and dirty, and from not sleeping in a bed sometimes for weeks at a time.  Yes, indeed they must go find this Messiah! But when the angel told them the Messiah was a little baby just born in a cave where the animals were stabled, they couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, it sounds like this ‘Messiah’ is no better off than we are. Surrounded by stinking animals and sleeping out in the cold night.”

But there were some among them who did not laugh. Little Esther, one of the youngest, said, “Well, let’s go see for ourselves, surely if an angel has come to us, this must be something important, maybe this baby really is the Messiah.” Esther’s older brother Samuel agreed, after all David was young when he was chosen, “Let’s go and see for ourselves,” was his suggestion. Pretty soon they were all in agreement that they would go, but then Joshua, always the pragmatic one, had a practical thought. “But we can’t leave all the sheep here, what if they get lost, our parents will kill us if we lost even one sheep.” At this thought, Esther turned to the angel and said, “Can you watch our sheep for us?” Samuel chided her, angels don’t watch sheep.

Indeed, I knew nothing about watching sheep, but it was critical that these shepherds get to see the face of Jesus. They needed to see him, they wanted to see him, they must see him. I couldn’t let them not see him.

This excerpt is from the second edition of my book, The Face of Jesus. You can pick it up here: The Face of Jesus : Lysakowski, Linda: Amazon.ca: Books