Jesus’ birth was first announced to homeless people

A week ago, the guest pastor in my church was talking about Psalm 23 during sermon time. Shepherds were, he said, an unwanted job, often assigned to the youngest child in the family or whoever in the family that you wouldn’t miss.

In those old days, he said, they’d stay out with the sheep in the wilderness — sleeping in the wilderness at night. Most of the time they wouldn’t be home. They were smelly, for obvious reasons.

I felt odd but it didn’t hit me right away; it did a week later though: Except for those rare moments that they could be home, shepherds of old were eseentially homeless. With a job, for sure, but still most of the time not much different from being homeless.

I never understood why announcing Jesus’s birth to shepherds was such a big deal until I made the connection: Essentially, his birth was first announced to a bunch of homeless folks.

We’re all guilty — except those who’re actually helping homeless people.