The Shepherd Chapter 2

Chapter 2

          As the cold wind stirred the tops of the trees, Sammie felt an uneasiness. “What was wrong?” he thought. He looked around the campfire, but nothing was amiss. Most of the shepherds were dozing near the fire. Hameed poked the fire with a stick and Nathan squatted nearby, knees under his chin. Nothing was wrong, but Sammie just felt as if something was wrong. Even the sheep must have sensed an uneasiness. They stirred and moved around getting closer and closer to each other. Then a stiff wind stirred the tops of the trees and the trees seemed to moan aloud. The men who were awake moved a little closer to the fire and the men who were asleep began to stir.

          Suddenly, Sammie was blinded by a dazzling light from above. He instinctively threw up his arms, shielding his face from the blazing light. Each shepherd shielded his own eyes, lying on the ground stunned in place. Then Sammie heard the booming voice say, “Fear Not, for behold: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Sammie saw between his fingers that it was an angel! But how did he know that it was an angel?! He had never seen an angel before! But somehow he knew it was an angel. And as the angel spoke the words, somehow, Sammie wasn’t afraid anymore. Sammie was still trembling, but not with fear, he was trembling with excitement! Somehow Sammie just knew that the angel was there for his benefit. For his good!

          The angel went on, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” What?! A Savior?! Sammie had heard of a coming Messiah - a coming Savior; but he had no idea that it would be now! He had no idea that it would be announced to him! This was absolute craziness!

          The angel went on, “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

          And suddenly, the sky was filled with ranks of angels. Sammie couldn’t imagine the bright sky being brighter yet, but it was! The sky blazed with angels backed by more angels backed by more angels! And then the first angel led the others in a great, uniform chorus as they cheered together to the Almighty! “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” It seemed to Sammie as if each angel fed on the shouting of the other. They each seemed to be trying to outdo each other as they praised God in heaven above!

          Sammie’s mind was almost to explode when the angels disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. The wind had ceased. The trees fell silent. Even the sheep were quiet as they stood not moving in place. It took Sammie’s eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness of the night once again. And then Sammie looked at Baruk. Baruk was looking at him with a drained stare. Sammie looked around to the other shepherds. They were each one looking at one another. Sammie was sure that the same thing that was on his mind was on their minds too.

          “What had just happened?” he thought. “Was this real?! I know that I wasn’t dreaming!” As each shepherd talked with the man nearest him, they each knew that it had been real! They each knew that they had just witnessed the greatest announcement ever made to mankind! And it was made to them! To lowly shepherds! Sammie suddenly realized that he was talking and no one was listening. Each one of the shepherds was talking - but no one was listening!

          Mr. Isaac held up his hands quieting all of the others. “I know exactly what you are thinking,” he said. “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what the angels have told us about.”

          “But, what about the sheep?” Old Benjamin objected. But as the shepherds turned to look at the sheep, the sheep were absolutely quiet. Almost too quiet. It was as if they were saying, “Go ahead, we’ll be just fine.” The shepherds looked at each other and knew that they had their answer.

          Hameed said, “Let’s go. The sheep will be just fine.” And they were.

          Mr. Isaac took the lead. He grabbed his staff and headed down the valley that led toward the lights of Bethlehem. All of us fell into step right behind him. Usually the dogs would follow, but they didn’t. It was as if they knew that they had to stay behind to watch the sheep. Even the dogs knew that they had an important job to do.

          After a few paces, Old Benjamin spoke up, “Hey! What are we looking for? How will we find this Savior? There are two hundred houses in Bethlehem with hundreds and hundreds of strangers here to pay their taxes.”

          Mr. Isaac kept right on walking. He called behind himself confidently, “Oh, we’ll know. The same God Who wanted to announce to us this Christ Child’s birth is the same God Who will lead us to the Holy Child.” And He did!