The angels said to the shepherds, "A saviour has been born unto you!" A popular and continuous Christmas antiphon.
I found myself meditating this morning as a shepherd, receiving this news, this piece of information. Initially it did not make any sense. Saviour? But saviour of what? From what is he going to save me? I really don't have any adversaries or great risks that need rescuing. Who rules or governs, and how one does so, does not really bother me. I'm no politician who has great plans and ambitions. Neither am I a scholar who is deeply passionate about ideas and theories. I no religious buff either for whom matters of faith are life and death issues. I don't interfere in anyone's affairs and everyone else leaves me alone, barely even acknowledging my presence. It is only if my sheep stray into someone's property and cause damage, do I get noticed. Apart from that it is just the grass, plants, shrubs, the sheep and me! All that I have and care about is my sheep. They have predators, and as long as I defend them, they're fine. But me? Saviour, for me?
But then, why would the angels tell me this if they knew that it would mean nothing to me? Why would the angel tell ME? Is my world too as small and limited as that of a shepherd with a few sheep? Am I to widen my interests and horizon to be now 'concerned' about greater and more complex issues?
I found myself meditating this morning as a shepherd, receiving this news, this piece of information. Initially it did not make any sense. Saviour? But saviour of what? From what is he going to save me? I really don't have any adversaries or great risks that need rescuing. Who rules or governs, and how one does so, does not really bother me. I'm no politician who has great plans and ambitions. Neither am I a scholar who is deeply passionate about ideas and theories. I no religious buff either for whom matters of faith are life and death issues. I don't interfere in anyone's affairs and everyone else leaves me alone, barely even acknowledging my presence. It is only if my sheep stray into someone's property and cause damage, do I get noticed. Apart from that it is just the grass, plants, shrubs, the sheep and me! All that I have and care about is my sheep. They have predators, and as long as I defend them, they're fine. But me? Saviour, for me?
But then, why would the angels tell me this if they knew that it would mean nothing to me? Why would the angel tell ME? Is my world too as small and limited as that of a shepherd with a few sheep? Am I to widen my interests and horizon to be now 'concerned' about greater and more complex issues?
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