Sheep at Christmas
Luke 2:1 – 20
“Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.”
– Luke 2:8, NRSVUE
Lots of sermons have explored the shepherds in the story of Jesus’s birth. But what about their flock?
These sheep—or possibly goats, or both—are also present when angels appear in the field at night. They may have been terrified too, like the shepherds. And they may have accompanied the shepherds into town to find newborn Jesus.
What animals were privy to this event? What might they show us about God’s coming?
Christmas tends to be a human-centric day and season. But this holiest of times revolves around a vulnerable life, which is a feature common to human and non-human animals. In this baby, God participates in the vulnerability of animals. God experiences their needs and ours. God joins the ecosystems of this planet and dwells with all living things in our delicate dependence upon one another.
God’s incarnation, then, is not just for human beings. It is for the sheep and goats in that field. It is for the critters that may have been scurrying around town. It is for every creature because God entered into all of creation and became vulnerable with us all.
What creatures are greeting Christmas with you this year?
Get the “Advent with the Earth” Devotional PDF
Credits
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version updated edition of the Bible
Image of sheep is by Jack Seeds on the Unsplash website
