There’s something about the account of the shepherds as I read it each year. There’s just something about it that I feel naturally compelled towards.

I’ve blogged about them before here and here and this could include some of the reasons why I feel their behaviour is so profound.

Take a look at it now:

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

There’s no cynicism. Not a drop of ‘We can’t be bothered’. It seems a completely collective agreement in which they also correctly attribute the bizarre display they’ve just witnessed as being from the Lord.

Sure, they just saw some angels. Yet they realise they were sent from God. They don’t get tangled up in angel worship. Instead, they go to find Jesus and worship him instead.

If you were ever looking for a group in The Bible who get things right, it’s these shepherds.

And as they used to say on the infomercials – but wait, there’s more:

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 

They didn’t wait. They just went.

And they understood. They realised they weren’t just cooing over some random baby. They knew he was the Saviour.

They just ‘get it’. And then they share it.

They’re incredible.

If I ever want to think about how my sharing of the good news about Jesus is going, I just need to look at the shepherds for advice and comparison.

Receive. Respond. Share. That’s what they do.

They receive the message from the angels.

They respond straight away and hurry to find Jesus.

They share what they have seen and heard.

The shepherds really are the exemplar model response.

They followed the words of angels, as opposed to following a star, but they show us how it is done.

I have to ask myself the question, ‘How am I going with this?’ Am I still sharing, or has cynicism crept in? Has fatigue taken hold, so that I can’t be bothered right now?

It’s so easy to do when we’re busy or stressed – and frankly, December doesn’t do us any favours on this front. There is just.so.much. happening, isn’t there?

But maybe in the passage in Luke 2, there’s another model response that will help us:

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 

Mary practised mindfulness and being present before it was even a thing. She’s just given birth in presumably traumatic conditions. But she still takes the time to pause and reflect on who this baby is that she’s just birthed.

I guess a group of shepherds rocking up to the manger will do it. You don’t see that in the maternity ward every day. Something special was happening.

Mary paused, to take the time to take it all on board.

Are we taking the time to pause this December? Am I? Or are we hurrying around?

If we hurry around, let it be like the shepherds: hurrying to Jesus and then hurrying to share the good news about him.

Receive. Respond. Share.

Yours endeavouring to do the same,

Alison