Strange Story: The Birth of Jesus Part 11 Confirmation by Visitors

It was still dark. “Up” figured that dawn was getting close. The fire was now just a small pile of embers. The baby had awakened and cried twice but each time his mother had nursed him and he had gone right back to sleep. So had she, so Dad placed the baby back in his make-shift bed.

“Up” had carefully monitored “Reb” and noticed that when she was awake, her movements were made at cost of great pain. Once again he reminded himself that he knew nothing about the birthing process, so he did not know if this much pain after birth was normal or not. He also did not know how much time it would take for her to recover.

He would register with the Romans as soon as he could, but he decided it would be best to delay their return trip to “The Holy Sprout.” He would find work and stay here for a little while, at least until mother and child could travel comfortably. And what was there to return to anyway? His hometown had totally rejected them. The level of rejection from their distant relatives in this place was not as intense as the rejection from their close relatives back home, but rejection is rejection. He had brought some of his tools, the most important ones, and he was sure he could find work in the capital city called “The Place of Peaceful Foundations.”

These thoughts were going through his mind when he heard human voices. He quickly surmised it was a combination of the boys who were guarding the pack animals in other caves, and men who were asking them questions. Then the men’s voices came closer to the entrance of his cave. His protective instincts went into high gear. He moved closer to the mouth of the cave and hid in the shadows behind some fallen rocks.

Several figures appeared at the mouth of the cave dimly illuminated by the coals of the dying fire. “Up” was relieved to see that they were not Roman soldiers. But he wondered who they were and why they were here before dawn.

The oldest of the men took one step into the cave and stopped. He looked around one more time, then spoke in a voice that was not much more than a whisper, “Shalom.”  

“Up” stayed in the shadows but asked, “Who are you, and why have you come here.”

The old man turned his direction and said, “Pardon the interruption sir, we are shepherds who guard the flocks of ‘The House of Bread,’ you know, the flocks from which sheep and goats are taken to the temple in ‘The Place of Peaceful Foundations.’ For the last hour we have been going to all the stables in and around ‘The House of Bread’ looking for a newborn baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying, get his, lying in a feeding trough.”

“Reb” heard the voices speaking but she would let her husband deal with it. She was still too tired to care.

“Up” stepped out of the shadows and asked, “Why are you looking for a newborn baby rather than a man with whom you can carry on conversation, do business, or seek help. And why do you look for a baby in a peculiar place like a feeding trough?”

In response to “Up’s” question all the other shepherds took a step into the cave and they all started talking at once. It was a tsunami of voices, all talking excitedly about an angel, or many angels that lit up the night sky, about a baby and a feeding trough.

Now “Reb” was fully awake. Her mind was trying to catch up with what was being said and put the pieces together. She was relieved when “Up” stopped them and asked for one of them, only one, to tell the story. They came closer in and their spokesman, the older one, started from the beginning and told them about the angel, about his message, then about thousands upon thousands of angels. Then he told them about their search for the child. They knew they were looking for a newborn because the angel specifically said he would be wrapped in strips of cloth and only newborns are wrapped in strips of cloth. They knew where to look because the angel had said the child would be found in a feeding trough. Feeding troughs are not found inside homes, but rather in stables. So they were able to make their way from one stable to another checking all the feeding troughs without bothering people in the houses. If this cave did not have such a child, they would apologize for the intrusion and leave to continue their search.

“Up” raised his eyes and hands in worship to God. Here was the confirmation that he had asked God for. It had been months since his encounter with the angel, but now the angels appeared again, entering into their lives in another unexpected way.

After a few moments of his revelry, a young, impatient shepherd asked, “So I take it this is the right place?” The young man was cuffed by the older shepherd, but “Up” smiled and gestured for them to follow him.

He quickly covered the short distance around “Mosquito Lake” and began to untie some pack animals to make room. The shepherds saw what he was doing and immediately helped him move some of the animals and tie them to up in other places.

When they came to the manger, the shepherds needed no explanations or introductions but fell on their knees in the urine-soaked straw and raised their eyes and hands to heaven. The cave was filled with their exclamations of wonder at this child who was announced to them with such splendor and fanfare.

 “Up” was struck by a couple of interesting things. Here was a child that looked like any other newborn child, except that he was smaller than usual, yet they saw in him a reason for awe. They worshipped him as if he were already their king. The other thing was that God had answered his prayer for confirmation by sending adult shepherds who were very close to the bottom of the barrel in their level of social standing.

Usually a family’s sheep were herded from place to place by very young boys or young girls, with an older brother supervising from a nearby hill. Shepherding was not honorable work for a real man. The fact that David was a shepherd tells us how young he was; he was not yet viewed as a man. However, the sheep for the temple were kept in one place and guarded by grown men. We can assume that these men were guarding sheep because they had no land and were unable to find work in any other way. They were probably partially crippled, maimed, dim-witted, or otherwise impaired. They were rejects in that society, only one notch above prostitutes, tax collectors and Samaritans. These sheep were highly esteemed; the men who guarded them were not.

In other words, God chose these rejected, unacceptable wretches as the first recipients of the announcement of God’s savior. God did not announce it to the religious leaders, to the rich and powerful, or even to normal people. He gave the privilege of being the first to visit this special child to those that society had cast aside.

“Up” turned away from the shepherds for a moment and looked at “Reb.” She was beaming. Her face radiated the same emotion that his heart was feeling – “This is confirmation that we are accepted, chosen and privileged.”

“Up” raised his eyes toward heaven again and thanked God for sending him something he had not wanted – visitors.

To navigate to Part 12 of this story click on The Birth of Jesus Part 12 Lots of Visitors.