The Shepherd Who Did Not Get to Bethlehem for Christmas

This year, as Christmas approaches, I have been thinking about the holiday and all that we associate with it. For some reason, I keep thinking about the shepherds.

All we know from their story in the Bible (which you can read at the end of this article) is that they were working that night. An angel appeared with a message, then a multitude of angels appeared, and then the angels all left. After a brief conversation, the shepherds went to Bethlehem, and then they "made known abroad" what they had seen, and those who heard them "wondered at those things."

I want to do now what Lew Wallace did when he wrote Ben-Hur (more) or Cecil B. DeMille did when he filmed The Ten Commandments (more), expand a biblical story with a bit of fiction.

Notice that the shepherds are reported to have had a conversation after the angels left (verse 15). While it is tempting to think that the experience with the angels was so overpowering that they fled to Bethlehem, I would like to ask a question.

Would the shepherds have left their sheep unattended?

The Bible does not say whether these shepherds were rich enough to own the sheep or were poor agricultural laborers, hired and exploited the way agricultural laborers are even today (more). Regardless of their status, unless they had been completely crazed by the appearance of the angels, would they have left the valuable animals to bandits and wild animals?

Wouldn't they have left at least one shepherd behind? Who would that have been? Let's give him a name, Amos, since that was the name of a shepherd/prophet in the Old Testament. I believe that Amos would have been the oldest or the youngest of the shepherds.

Perhaps Amos was an old man, who would have volunteered to stay behind, telling the others that he had seen many things, and besides, his rheumatiz was bothering him. He did not really want to make an extra trip into town, he would tell them. If so, then Amos was the first human being to give a Christmas present, much as, today, people whose spiritual traditions do not include Christmas volunteer to work so that their friends can take off to celebrate Christmas.

Perhaps Amos was the youngest of the shepherds. If so, he probably would have been the most eager to go. After all, they had just seen bright lights and had heard - well, we usually think of the angels singing, but that is not what the Bible says. If Amos were the youngest, then, he was the first human being to be stuck in a routine of forced giving (drawing names, swapping gifts, shopping for someone who already has everything) that turns giving into gifting.

Amos alone

Back in 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission (which led to the first manned moon landing), as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin played on the moon's surface, Michael Collins orbited alone above them. Someone said that when he was passing across the far side of the moon, out of radio contact, he was more isolated than anyone had ever been.

Poor Amos might have questioned that, as he sat, huddled alone in the field, although, like Collins, he came very close to a great historical event, so close, and yet, so far. It was a darkness broken only by starlight, a darkness more profound that most of us have ever experienced. There was no noise except for the shifting and grunting of the sheep. He had no cell phone, no MP3 player, no parties to plan, no gift shopping to dread.

And yet, as he sat there in the silence, in the dark, maybe glad that he could help his friends (whether he had wanted to or not), he had a peaceful Christmas that I would like to share with him, and that I would like to share with you, except for the complete silence.

Instead, I would like to offer you a very special Christmas celebration, to enjoy the Christmas music of Olivier Messiaen, which I wrote here, and, in particular, the selection from Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord) dedicated to "Les Bergers" ("The Shepherds"), which you can listen to here.

Luke 2: 8-20 (Authorized or King James Version)

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.