Week 3 | Rise Up Shepherd And Follow
Lisa Scheffler, author
The shepherds had an angel,
The wise men had a star,
But what have I, a little child,
To guide me home from far,
Where glad stars sing together,
And singing angels are?
Lord Jesus is my Guardian,
So I can nothing lack:
The lambs lie in His bosom
Along life’s dangerous track:
The wilful lambs that go astray
He bleeding fetches back…
…Those Shepherds through the lonely night
Sat watching by their sheep,
Until they saw the heavenly host
Who neither tire nor sleep,
All singing ‘Glory, glory’
In festival they keep.
Christ watches me, His little lamb,
Cares for me day and night,
That I may be His own in heaven:
So angels clad in white
Shall sing their ‘Glory, glory,’
For my sake in the height.
— Christina Rosetti, from “A Christmas Carol: For My Godchildren”[1]
Our cities are full of bright and buzzing street lights and 24-hour traffic noise. Those of us who live in a city have to use our imaginations to picture the night Christ was born. Of course, the shepherds who camped outside of the village of Bethlehem were quite familiar with dark and silent nights. Spending the night in fields illuminated only by the distant sparkle of a million stars, the only sounds the shepherds were used to hearing were the bleating and rustling of the sheep. How astonished they must have been on the night Jesus was born!
Their seemingly ordinary night was joyfully disrupted when a host of angels penetrated the silence and pealed back the darkness. Their glory shining like the sun and their voices raised in exultant proclamation, the angels announced the best possible news for humanity. The Messiah had arrived!
But why shepherds? Of all the people they could have visited on the day Christ was born, why did the angels appear to shepherds? Last week in our Advent study we considered the task of the angels. We traveled along with them as they delivered the amazing news of Christ’s birth. This week, we’ll spend the night with the shepherds. We’ll ponder why they were chosen, examine what they were told and reflect on how they responded. Modern city dwellers can learn a lot from a first century group of shepherds.
Advent Guide
At the end of Day 5 you’ll find an advent guide that you can use to celebrate Christmas with your family or friends. The third Sunday of Advent is this week, but it’s not to late to join the rest of us in observing Advent!
[1] Christina Georgina Rossetti, New Poems by Christina Rossetti: Hitherto Unpublished Or Uncollected (Macmillan and Company, 1896).
Day 1 | From One Shepherd To Another
The image of the good shepherd is prominent in the Bible. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the God who repeatedly describes himself as the shepherd and his people as his flock would choose a group of shepherds to welcome his Son into the world.
In the poem above, Christina Rosetti makes a connection between the shepherds watching over their sheep and Christ watching over her, “his little lamb.” The angels who rejoice in the birth of the Savior also rejoice when a lost sheep is saved.
For the rest of week, we’ll focus on the Bible’s account of the shepherds receiving the news of the Jesus’ arrival, but for today, let’s take a moment to reflect on what it means that God is our shepherd. During a time of year when it easy to get distracted by both the joys and the stresses of Christmas, take time to worship the good shepherd who watches over you, his little lamb.
Pastor David Murray relates some lessons he’s learned from living in the Scottish Highlands surrounded by sheep.[1] He notes that sheep are excessively foolish, frustratingly stubborn, and dangerously fond of straying. “A sheep may get caught in barbed wire trying to break through a fence. And the next day it will try it again, and again…So many times I was out in the middle of nowhere when I would come across a sheep – miles from anyone and anything – and totally unconcerned. I would look up on a cliff and there was a sheep out on a lethal ledge.” His conclusion: sheep are completely dependent on their shepherd and will die without him. Furthermore, all of us resemble sheep more than we’d like to admit. It’s a good thing that you and I have a Shepherd who loves us so very, very much.
Reflect on the following verses and consider how we are all prone to act like sheep. Also notice how God treats his sheep — with love, care and compassion. Then praise God for being your good shepherd.
[1] David Murray, “Sheep: “This Time It’s Personal”,” HeadHeartHand Blog (blog), January 5, 2011, http://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/01/05/sheep-this-time-its-personal/.
Read
Isaiah 53:6
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Psalm 23:1-4
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Isaiah 40:11
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Matthew 18:12-14
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
The good Shepherd loves you. The eternal Son entered time and space as a human being to gather his flock so he can bring them home!
Reflect on the loving care your Shepherd shows you. What do these passages tell you about how Jesus feels about his sheep?
Praise him for it and ask him how you should approach the celebration of his birth. How should his love and guidance affect the choices you make during the Christmas season? How should it affect the way you treat your fellow sheep? What about the ones who are still lost? Take time in prayer to consider these questions today.