A Shepherds Tale

Luke 2:8-20 describes the experience of the shepherds when Jesus was born. But, if think about that for a moment, out of the whole of all of ancient Jerusalem society, God picked a band of shepherds to hear the good news of Jesus' birth. That's intriguing because shepherds were among the lowest and most despised social groups. Even worse than lawyers.

The very nature of shepherds' work kept them from entering into the mainstream of Israel's society. They couldn't maintain the ceremonial washings and observe all the religious festivals and feasts, yet these shepherds, just a few miles from Jerusalem, were undoubtedly caring for sheep that someday would be used as sacrifices in the temple.

But, see, god loves irony, and so do the folks who wrote the bible. I can imagine the circle at the writing room:

"Dude, dude, I got it. We'll have the shepherds be the first to know of the Lamb of God! Lamb, lamb? Huhuh huh! Get it?"

"Yeah, I get it Luke."

The rest of the tale assumes that it was the shepherds who came to see Jesus the night he was born. No one else did. (As in the Three Wiseman post, it's possible they didn't get there until he was 2 years old!) Though the shepherds went back and told everyone what they had seen and heard, and though "all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds" (v. 18), not one other person came to see firsthand.

Scripture doesn't describe how the shepherds' search for the baby Jesus actually unfolded, but I can imagine quite a good comedy in that. So imagine a bunch of dirty stinky hippies entering Bethlehem and asked questions: "Hey, man, does anybody know about a baby being born here in town tonight?"

Yeah, I don't open the door for the pizza guy without triple checking - imagine a bunch of stinky ass Shepherds knocking at your door in the middle of the night - asking to see a newborn? Rob Zombie would be hard pressed to make a creepier scene. So the shepherds might have knocked on several doors and seen other newborn babies before they found the special Child lying in the feeding trough. At that moment, they'd know for certain that the angels' announcement was a word from god. After their encounter with Joseph and Mary and Jesus, the shepherds couldn't help but tell others about what the angels had told them. They became, in effect, the first New Testament evangelists.

Which would be extra weird; and probably why Herod wanted to kill all the newborn kids in the area.

The shepherd's story is a good illustration of the Christian life. Or maybe that of someone who gives up booze for the AA lifestyle. They first hear the revelation of the gospel and believe it (Romans 10:9-10). Then they pursue and embrace Christ. And having become a witness to the glorious conversion, they begin to tell others about it (Luke 2:17).

...and annoy the living hell out of their friends, and think you're as nuts as the guy who thought that Pompeii really beat Caesar.

Dear Friends and Family on Facebook

The last couple days there has been a grassroots-Facebook-cutnpaste effort to either enact change in American politics in the healthcare debate, or annoy the sh*t out of people who disagree with the proposals put forth so far.

The following is on about half of the Facebook updates that I've seen the last couple days:

"Healthcare should be a right not a privilege. No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."

Question 1: Where did this originate? Is it grassroots or more sinister? I suspect that it'll go back to David Axelrod's astroturfing firm in Chicago. Maybe it was an unpaid intern who had an appendicitis? Who knows? I don't, and that's why I'm asking.

Question 2: Do you realize that by cutn'pasting this into your status update you are telegraphing how you voted in the last election? I'm sure some people don't mind putting bumper stickers and wearing Obama shirts everywhere they go - but if you work for someone who is being affected by the current administration's policies - and you were fool enough to friend your co-workers or, worse, management don't be surprised when you're one of the first ones cut in the next round of trimming.

Question 3: Did you cutn'paste that because you sincerely believe it, or are you just keeping in step with the peer pressure of the other people in your circle? That's a legitimate question that I want answered. Peer pressure is an amazing tool. And you're definitely a tool if you're just trying to be cool in the flock.

Question 4: Do you also plagerize your term papers too? The lack of originality in this mini-campaign is even more disturbing than the debate.

Question 5: What are the results? Okay, you sincerely believe in the cutn'paste that all your friends have as your status update. But what happens next? All the sudden the 'Blue Dog Democrats' change their mind and buy out all the private insurers and there's one big happy single payer Universal Health Care system? Really? Is that what you think is going to happen because you put it on your Facebook page? Congrats. That's more dilusional than believing the Democrats were really going to implement a single payer option in the first place.

On the plus side, all these cutn'pastes are better than hearing about how hungry or tired you are - or what level of Farm Wars you've achieved.