By telling us that the shepherds are the first to hear about the new of Jesus’ birth, Luke is trying to convey to us a sense of irony because, in the ancient world, the last people to hear about anything going on were shepherds. Since they were always out in the fields tending their flocks, they were usually disconnected from everything important happening in the world. And yet, for once, they are the first ones to be in the know about this important event.

Luke also wants us to make the connection that Jesus himself will grow up to be a spiritual shepherd. His flock will be comprised of people like the men who first heard the news of Jesus’ birth—ordinary, average folks. But the connection with shepherds doesn’t stop there. We read this morning about the story of how God sends the prophet Samuel into Bethlehem to find Saul’s replacement for the job of king of Judah.

Samuel has to find someone who is qualified, someone who will be successful. God points Samuel in the direction of a man named Jesse. Jesse has eight sons, seven of whom are present and three of whom are of military age. Samuel surveys the three boys standing in front of him. He looks them over, examining them for their natural ability as a leader, their military acumen, their size and strength – all the indications of a successful leader.

Eventually, Samuel settles on Eliab saying, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” But God passes, not only on Eliab, but on all seven boys and Samuel is forced to ask if there are any others. The youngest son, David, is a shepherd boy out tending the flock. Jesse and his seven sons probably laughed, “Well, there’s David. But he’s just a young shepherd boy. I doubt he’s the one you’re looking for.” Samuel requests that they bring David from the field and, indeed, this young shepherd boy is the one who God is looking for to be the next king.

The beautiful aspect of this story is how everyone dismisses David because he’s this young shepherd. Again, this points to how insignificant shepherds were thought to be. But God says to Samuel this great line, which really forms an important core tenet of the Christian faith: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

I love that so much. It’s what’s inside the heart that matters more than the outward appearance. We judge people so much by how they look. We size people up in nanoseconds, thinking to ourselves, “Yeah, that person’s a good leader or that person doesn’t have what it takes,” when in reality it could be the exact opposite. Looks are incredibly deceiving.

I mean you can take this a step further. Somebody’s name can determine how successful we think they’ll be as a leader. You’ve probably seen the statistics that during presidential races, most people vote for names that have hard constants and glottal stops—Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump. It doesn’t matter their politics, what matters is does their name sound presidential.

But God doesn’t care about those external trappings. God cares about what’s inside a person this is demonstrated by choosing a shepherd to be the next king. This, of course, is the same philosophy that Jesus will utilize when he begins his ministry. Jesus doesn’t care about how wealthy or well connected you are. He doesn’t care about how devout or pious you might be. Jesus cares about the person on the inside: “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come…” (Mk. 7:20-21)

Another element of Jesus being connected with David is the notion that David rises from his humble origins as a shepherd boy to become the greatest king in Israel’s history. Jesus, who is a shepherd to the shepherds, will grow up to become the messiah, the long awaited king who will reestablish David’s throne, a seat that had been vacant for nearly 1000 years.

Now, why have I’ve spent all this time talking about shepherds, when the tableau for today is sheep? Well, there’s a lot behind this shepherd-sheep duality and one of the most important things is something that I haven’t yet pointed out about shepherds. As much as shepherds in their day and time were discounted as important members of society, in the Bible the term shepherd is synonymous with leadership.

As your pastor, as your leader, this title is often applied to me. I am known as your shepherd, and you all, the members and visitors of First Pres, are known as the sheep. And as soon as I put it in that context, I know some of you are thinking, “You may be a shepherd, Alex, but I am not a sheep.” Now why do we have this reaction to being called a sheep?

Well, in today’s world, sheep are synonymous with being a mindless follower. In fact, calling someone a sheep is an insult. To call someone a sheep is to say that you never question. You’re fed everything you’re told without any real reflection or thought. A lot of our perception of sheep comes from how they operate in herds, like when they are being corralled by a border collie or how weak they can be when they are separated from the herd and picked off by a predator.

However, as individuals, sheep are extremely intelligent animals capable of problem solving. Cognition tests reveal that sheep can learn tasks quickly, sometimes after as a few as two trials. They are highly visual learners. For example, sheep can learn to choose containers marked by a certain color in the blue–green–yellow spectrum. They can even teach each other this information by watching each other perform complex tasks.

In this way, sheep have incredible memories. For instance, in experimental trials, sheep remembered where food was hidden in a maze when tested 22 weeks later. They also possess insane visual memories. They can remember up to 50 sheep faces for over two years. Unlike many animals that rely almost exclusively on smell recognition, sheep have the capacity to discern familiar sheep in their flock through photographs.

This is not to say that sheep don’t have a good sense of smell and taste. They have the ability to recognize different species of plants and can categorize them according to similarity. They learn which are beneficial and which to avoid. Like various other species, including humans, sheep make different vocalizations to communicate different emotions and this is because the sheep’s main form of protection is to flock together.

This is why they are so apt to follow each other around. Sheep are vulnerable by themselves and, by sticking together, not only do they have more eyes to detect a predator, but with so many bodies moving together, it’s harder for a predator to single out individual prey. Because they depend so much on each other, sheep build up relationships of mutual cooperation and friendship because they have to trust that they have each other’s backs.

Now, of course, today, most people are so removed from farming that we have no real context for understanding just how intelligent sheep are. Whereas most people in 1^st century Palestine worked on farms with animals, so this was common knowledge. Therefore, when Jesus employs the metaphor of calling himself a shepherd and then referring to his followers as sheep, this is really a compliment to his followers. Think about it: Jesus is saying that if you follow him, you’re a highly intelligent creature that can problem solve, values mutual cooperation and cares deeply about the members of your community. When you put it in that light, I think all of us should wear the badge of being a sheep with honor!

However, this is not what people often think of when it comes to sheep. Just look at these sheep. The word that comes to mind is meek. Sheep are meek animals. If I didn’t know all the stuff I just told you about their intelligence, I would assume that sheep are very quiet and gentle. Indeed, because of their obedient character, sheep are among the most popular animals beloved by mankind. They are in almost every children’s book on animals. At petting zoos, children love to pet sheep and lambs because they are so gentle.

And I think it’s important to point out that these qualities are also something that Jesus values in his disciples. Jesus calls not the mighty and powerful, but the meek and kind. To take on the mantle of Jesus’ gospel requires a certain level of willingness to set aside your own personal wants and desires to benefit the greater good of the world. You can’t do this if you are not humble, which, in many ways, is the number one qualification for being Christian.

Humility is perhaps one of the greatest challenges we face as humans and that’s because, as a species we are hierarchical. We rank ourselves according to various characteristics—physical strength, athletic ability, wealth, intelligence, attractiveness, political power and fame are common dividers. Humans like to know where we reside in the social hierarchy and our respect for another person changes based on those factors. When you become a follower of Jesus, he asks you to stop viewing the world through that hierarchical lens.

When you adopt a posture of humility, the first thing that happens is you stop trying to advance yourself through the hierarchy. I will tell you that this is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a Christian. My entire life has been about betterment. I am always trying to be smarter, stronger and more successful. For most of my life, my sense of accomplishment was always in reference to other people. That guy is smarter than me, but I’m stronger than he is. Oh, that guy is way more financially successful than I am, but I’m smarter than he is. Geez, that guy at the gym is way stronger than me, but I’m smarter and more successful than he is.

As I really started living into Jesus’ teachings, I realized that I had to stop making comparisons with other people. I could still focus on becoming smarter, stronger and more successful, but I stopped basing my sense of accomplishment on comparisons with other people. Now, I’m simply competing with myself and I’ve set aside my judgment, which leads to something even more remarkable. Once you stop caring about how you stack up to other people, you stop caring about those qualities and characteristics that normally determine how much or little you respect someone within the social hierarchy.

What this means practically is that you show as much respect and reverence to a homeless person as you would to a millionaire athlete from your favorite sports team. This type of humility creates a sort of beautiful neutrality where you are always looking for the best in everyone, which brings us back to this idea of looking to the heart for the value of the human being. Easy to say, but very, very hard to do.

But the story of the shepherds being told about Jesus’ birth first is supposed to remind us that had we applied the same social hierarchy to Jesus’ birth that we apply to ourselves, we would have never assumed he would have grown into a one of the most important religious figures the world has ever known, literally changing the course of human history.  

The moral of the tableau for today is that striving to be a sheep is not such bad thing. In fact, rather than being a mindless follower who never questions anything, becoming a sheep is one of the most important things we can do in our lives. Not only does being a sheep indicate that you’re a highly intelligent creature that can problem solve; not only does it indicate that you value mutual cooperation and that you care deeply about the members of your community, but it also indicates that you are humble and see all people as possessing equal value and dignity.

So, as we anticipate Jesus’ birth on Christmas day, I hope you will remember our new Advent motto that the shepherds have taught us: Be a sheep. They’re not so bad. Amen.