Call
me Yitzak, Yitzak ben Yehuda. I am a humble
shepherd, as was My father, and his father before him. I am a son of Abraham
and a follower of Yeshua ha meshiach, Jesus, the Christ… I am what I am by the
grace of the Most High – that is really the Story I have come to share – the
story of His Grace! God has acted in
history of our good—but I am getting ahead of myself—I am old now, fourscore,
80 years?... but I come today to tell you of a night many years ago, I was but
a boy... Well, my 10th birthday had passed, in my culture, I was
nearly a man, it was time to work, time to join my father and the other men in
the fields! All I ever wanted was to be a shepherd.
Yes, I know that we shepherds are not
the most respected of people… especially by the pious Jews... People say we smell like sheep... [sniffs
himself, and then shrugs]. I say is that such a bad thing? If I didn’t like the smell of sheep I
wouldn’t be a shepherd! It is true that it has always been difficult for us to
be observant Jews—we need to be in the fields taking care of the flocks—how can
we get into the city for worship and sacrifice?
Of course that has changed for everyone, since the Temple was destroyed
last year, almost 40 years after our Lord’s departure… There would be no more sacrifices! Most of us Shepherds
are not educated... few of us learn letters, but then why would a shepherd need
to read? But even those who can’t
read can still hear the Word of the Lord, and learn it, and hide it in our
heart...
ybev.yO lAdG" rAa War" %v,xoB; ~ykil.hoh; ~['h'
~h,yle[] Hg:n" rAa tw<m'l.c; #r<a,B.
hä`äm hahölkîm BaHöºšek
rä´û ´ôr Gädôl yöšbê
Bü´eºrec calmäºwet ´ôr nägah `álêhem
Oh, you don’t speak Hebrew? Excuse me
my Gentile friends! Let me translate into your strange tongue: “The
people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the
land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” Do you recognize the words of the great prophet,
Isaiah? Seven centuries before the Master’s birth He spoke of the coming of the
Light of the World! Did he know that the Light would be both the Good Shepherd
and the Lamb?
Yes, for centuries shepherds
have been at the heart of Israel’s faith...
The fathers were shepherds were they not? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… Moses himself tended
sheep—ahh, and this is the heart of the matter—when God was hardening the heart
of Pharaoh, he told the people through Moses to sacrifice a Lamb, a spotless
Lamb—and to put the blood over the door and on the door posts... It meant life
in that home instead of death...
I am a just shepherd, and like my father and
his father before him I tend my sheep in the fields around a small and humble hamlet
in Judea. The name of our town means
“House of Bread,” “Bethlehem” you call it... a small place but with a great
history... Our father David was from
this same village, he too tended sheep you know, on these very hills... Ahh, the
City of David… The great prophet Micah spoke of this place when he wrote
centuries before the Master’s birth…
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the clans of
Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."
This would be the
place from which the Messiah would come… The Promised One, the Son of the Most
High… the Son of David for whom we had been waiting for so long. [Looks
aside with a sneer of disdain] We were under the thumb of Rome even in
those days, we needed our Rescuer, we were looking and waiting for the Hope of
Israel. So much we did not understand…
It was a quiet and cold night 3 score and ten years ago… can it be
that long, 70 years? It seems like yesterday… We were in the fields taking care of the
sheep with my father and a few other hardworking, humble shepherds. It was a clear night… how I love such nights,
the Heavens truly declare the glory of God! Oh, so many stars! I tried to count them more than once but I always
ran out of numbers long before I ran out of stars! (I wasn’t the brightest
candle in the Menorah!). It wasn’t a dream… I was laying on the ground, looking
up at the marvel of the heavens… Suddenly, a glorious sight, I can hardly
describe it even after all these years… There suspended above us in the sky a
shining angel of the Lord! I was already
laying on the ground, but we all knew we were in the presence of holiness! My father and the men with him fell to their
faces in fear before that powerful creature from heaven… Why was he here... what had we done... what did this mean??? And then, the incredible Word…
“Fear not…” Fear not? How could we not be afraid at such a glorious
sight? Though his voice was powerful, at
the same time his words were comforting, calming, peaceful. And you know, somehow, immediately, I was
not afraid. But he went on, and his
next words brought a message that our people had longed to hear for so long… He
said, “I bring you good
news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a
Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).
Christ the Lord… Messiah had come? Messiah had come!
For centuries our people had looked for
the coming of the promised One… It was our “blessed hope” at that time to be
sure. Messiah! The prophecies had
started almost from the beginning… from the time of the Fall… Adam and Eve sinned, and brought death and
the curse upon humanity… But even then God promised a Seed, a Rescuer who would
crush the Serpent’s head… And God gave
them skins for a covering… Think of it… the Author of life, God himself, killed
one of his creatures, shedding its blood, to provide a covering for the man and
his woman… Yes, they learned quickly: sin would require a price, a life, it
would require blood… The hope of a savior, the messiah, took many shapes in
the Scriptures… The sacrifices yes, also… The great prophet Isaiah spoke
of a suffering Servant when he said,
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry
ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his
appearance that we should desire him. 3
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. 4 Surely he
took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken
by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed. 6 We all, like sheep,
have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. 7
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like
a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he
did not open his mouth… (Isa 53:2-7).
Like a sheep…He, the Messiah, the King,
the Good Shepherd, He was also the Lamb… The Servant, the sacrifices, another strand of
our hope was the promise made to David. He was promised a Son, an ideal Son who
would have an eternal reign, and who also would be called the Son of God… Yet…
who also would be a rejected, righteous sufferer. This cord of three strands, the Lamb, the
Servant, the rejected King was woven through the fabric of the Scriptures… How could they come together? When would the promised One arrive? The Angel announced that day, to us, the
joyous news…
“TODAY,
in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you… He is Christ the Lord…”
Messiah! Could it be true? Today?
Generations before had longed for this day, and now it had come! The Son of David, the Servant, the Lamb, my
King, he was here!
But what did the angel say? Could it be true? “Onto YOU has been born a Savior…” To
us? Including humble shepherds like
us? We were not the pious ones, the tsaddaqim!
We were not the religious elite! We were
not aristocracy or royalty, we were not powerful or influential. Could it be he came for the meek? Could
it be he had come for sinners?
I must say that it didn’t strike me at
that moment on that starry night, but for many nights afterward I heard my
father and the other men speculate, “Why did the angel bring this news to
us?” Why not the priests, or the
Scribes? Only years later did it dawn on
us… we were in those fields caring for the sheep, animals destined for Temple Sacrifice. He was THE sacrifice, God’s Lamb, who would
take away the sin of the world. It
was as though the angel was saying, “Why
are you here watching over these lambs? Get down to Bethlehem and see
the Lamb of God!”
Thirty years later, as he presented himself to John the Baptizer to
begin his public ministry, John saw him and said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The
blood of our sacrifices could not take away sin—the blood of bulls and goats or
the ashes of a heifer could not sanctify those who were unclean… a perfect
sacrifice was needed, one of infinite worth… The Eternal Son, Emmanuel, God
with us—The Lamb had been born! How could we imagine that one day, His precious
blood would be shed?
The word the Angel spoke was more than we
could imagine… “This will be a sign for
you… You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
Where? In a manger? The Messiah? Our King and Savior? The Great I AM, now
incarnate, in a humble stable, his first bed, an animal’s feeding bin?
Suddenly, there was with that Angel a
multitude of Angels, the hosts of heaven, praising God and saying, “Glory to
God in the highest, on earth peace to
men on whom his favor rests."
Peace! How long we had waited for
it. God’s favor had truly rested on us.
Simple people, and yes, sinful people… But God chose us to receive the Good
NEWS, he chose us to be his own, to be his witnesses, even to be his messengers…
We hurried to town, and found them… exactly
as the Angel had said: Emmanuel… A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying
in a manger… Have you held a newborn baby? So weak, so fragile. Think of it-on such a
slender thread as the feeble throb of an infant life, the salvation of the
World should hang.
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to. Instead, he
gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was
born as a human being.”
His first bed in this cold world a feeding
bin, his first shelter, a grotto used as a shelter for animals. But his name told the story: Yeshua, Jesus, the Savior.
We shouted to whoever would listen that
Messiah had been born. The Rescuer was here, the Lord had come, let earth
receive her King! But, many had shouted that before—who would listen to a
handful of Shepherds?
We were the first, but not the only ones that received a
revelation that the Messiah had come. Sometime after His birth the Magi came
from the East to see the new born king, they offered Him gifts and worshipped
Him, and then left by another way to return to their own land. What followed next was the most
horrific experience our village would ever know. That madman Herod!
We had no warning, Herod’s soldiers stormed into town, ripping babies and toddlers
from their mothers’ arms... slaughter... every male child under 2! Oh the
wailing! The unspeakable grief! They could not be comforted. The
pain of violently losing a Son… Do you know it? God does... [pauses,
looks downward and sighs] …but His time had not yet come. We later
learned that Mary and Joseph had escaped with the Son to Egypt. Only after
Herod died did they return to his family’s home in Nazareth.
You know the rest of the story… He
grew up as did I, and for years, we heard almost nothing more about him. It was only later that we began to hear
reports of a rabbi who taught with authority… a prophet, miracle worker and
preacher. When I heard the stories, I was
sure it must be Him. He healed the sick,
fed the hungry, cured lepers, cast out demons, gave sight to the blind, he even
raised the dead! When I heard his name, Jesus,
there was no doubt. The name his parents
had given him that night in Bethlehem! We thought he would soon assume the
throne of David and establish his kingdom.
Even we, the shepherds, forgot what the Lamb had come to do.
He entered Jerusalem that last week… At
first to cheers, “Hosanna to the Son of
David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. The King of Israel!”
A week is such a short time… the days pass quickly… Then it happened.
Betrayal. Denial. Scourging. A crown of thorns pushed down on his holy brow. The cross. Darkness. How could they do it? Why did he let them?
We should have known: “Without the shedding of blood, there could
be no remission of sins.” There was
sadness and confusion among us for three days.
What had happened? What did this
mean? Three days later, all doubt was
removed forever! The tomb was empty! He
appeared, first to Cephas, then to the 12, and on one occasion to over 500 of
the brethren at once! I have spoken with
those who were there—they saw him, and touched him, they even ate with Him—he
is alive! He is the resurrection and the life… the Way, the Truth and the Life!
For forty
days he appeared to His disciples and taught them about the kingdom. The time
came for him to return to heaven… The disciples then asked Him: “Lord, will you at this time restore the
kingdom to Israel?” The Master is so
patient with us! He didn’t rebuke them, like a Shepherd guiding a lamb that was
wandering he simply “redirected” them. It wasn’t a stupid question, it
was just the wrong question! Rather than ask “when?” the kingdom will
come they should have asked “what shall we do until that day?”!
He said they were to wait for the Comforter
to come, the Spirit who would empower them, then they would be His witnesses
starting in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the
earth! When He finished speaking, before their very eyes, He ascended
into Heaven! As they stood,
gazing heavenward, an angel spoke: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand
gazing upward? This same Jesus, who you saw go into Heaven, will return in like
manner!” HE WILL RETURN! Now, in faith, we wait. Our beloved brother Paul said in a letter to Titus,
11 For the grace of
God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the
blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every
lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good
works (Titus 2:11-14).
That is my hope, that is how I must live. And you? Have you put
your hope, your trust in Him? He is the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who laid down his
life for the sheep…
Yeshua,
Jesus, there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must
be saved. Are you looking for the Blessed Hope, the glorious appearing of our
Great God and Savior Jesus Christ? As
surely as he came the first time, in fulfillment of Scripture, he will come
again, according to his promise. Are you
waiting? Is He your Blessed Hope? Good. How will you live until he returns? Your trees and lights and decorations are
beautiful. But even more beautiful is this truth: The Word was made flesh, and lived for a while among us… and, …as many as received Him, to them He gave
the power to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name.
Do you know Him? Have you received the true gift of Christmas? Will you follow
Him? During these days of celebration, tell someone you know and love about the
Gift the Father offers them!
Baruch
ha shem Adonai, Yeshua,
ha Meshiach! Blessed be the Name of the
Lord! Jesus, the Christ. Shalom! Peace!
Go, tell your people what the Lord has done for you!
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