REFLECTION: Hope found on a dark hillside and in a dirty stable
REFLECTION: Hope found on a dark hillside and in a dirty stable
18 December 2019
The shepherds tending their sheep found unexpected hope in the cold and dark the night Jesus was born. Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash
“Silent night … all is calm, all is quiet …”
Well, I guess that’s how it started – a quiet night out in the fields, sheep slumbering quietly nearby (or perhaps not so quietly), the day’s work done and the heat of the day giving way to a chilly night. Stars shine brilliantly in the blackness of the sky. The men watching the sheep take it in turns to doze. Or perhaps they are not yet asleep, perhaps they are talking quietly, or making jokes as they settle down for the night. These were possibly illiterate men, who were on the edge of society, given that they couldn’t just abandon their sheep to take part in religious or cultural gatherings.
What is intriguing about these men is their sheer anonymity. They get just a few paragraphs in the whole of our Scriptures. They don’t get mentioned again – we don’t know anything about their past or what came next. All we know is that on that one night, something extraordinary and unexpected happened – and they responded with joy and enthusiasm – after their initial terror!
So here they are, in the fields near Bethlehem, watching their sheep by night. And out of the blue, or more literally, out of the darkness, an angel appeared, surrounded by the dazzling glory of God. And as is so often the case, his first words are meant to reassure: “Do not be afraid”. Because, of course, they are terrified! This is not part of their job description!
But the message the angel speaks is possibly even more unexpected: he speaks of good news, great joy, and the birth of a Saviour, the Messiah! Again, these are people living under cruel Roman occupation, people who know the ancient promise, people who have hoped – or perhaps have given up hope.
God interrupts our ordinary world with the extraordinary.
Into this world, into the darkness and silence, an angel speaks words of unbelievable hope. And if these words and dazzling light are not enough to be convincing, the glorious choir that then appears fills the quiet fields with music and rapturous praise! Now, this is convincing! This is life-changing!
So these shepherds turn from the quiet, dark hillside and hurry off to a stable in Bethlehem. From the glory and radiance of angels, they turn to a dark stable and find a newborn in a manger – and they worship. And they make sure that everyone else they run into knows what has happened. They return to their sheep, to the quiet fields that were their home and they continue to praise and glorify God.
I would love to know what happens next for these shepherds, these ordinary men going about their ordinary lives. The Gospel stories, however, only pick up the thread of Miryam (Mary) and Joseph – and the one born to be Messiah. And this is an amazing story in itself – nothing more is needed.
Yet my heart turns occasionally to these men, whose ordinary lives were interrupted in such an extraordinary way and who got to be the first to know that the hopes of Israel had been fulfilled, that the ancient promise had come true, and that the good news of great joy was indeed for all people everywhere. These ordinary men got to be the first to worship the King of Kings, the Saviour of the world – well before the wise ones who came with precious gifts!
We may not get to see and hear angels in this extraordinary way, our messages from God may come more subtly or silently, but we will certainly experience hope in the most surprising places. We, too, will find the dark and quiet places suddenly filled with grace and glory that we did not expect, and we, too, will be invited to worship and acknowledge the greatness of God – even if it may ‘only’ be in a dingy stable and from a simple manger.
As this year draws to a close, as you celebrate the birth of the Christ-Child, may you know your dark places filled with light. May your quiet moments be filled with angel-song, and may you find, whatever your surroundings might be, that you are drawn to your knees in worship because the hope of the world has come – and you get to be part of that story!
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