God has a way of choosing different people than we would.
The first people told about Jesus weren’t scholars.
They weren’t religious leaders.
They weren’t connected.
They were shepherds.
That detail often gets treated like trivia. It isn’t. It’s the point.
Shepherds were doing a job nobody admired. They worked odd hours. They were dirty. They were often rough characters when they weren’t working. They were even considered unreliable witnesses in court.
Not exactly the people you’d choose if you were trying to establish credibility.
And yet, they were first.
Not because they were humble in some sentimental way.
Not because they were especially spiritual.
But because they weren’t invested in protecting a reputation.
God didn’t reveal Himself to the people with the most training. He revealed Himself to the people with the least to lose.
That pattern shows up over and over.
The ones who recognize what God is doing tend to be people who aren’t trying to manage an image. They aren’t filtering everything through how it will sound or who it might offend. They aren’t waiting for permission from the right crowd.
The people God doesn’t seem interested in impressing are usually the ones who expect to be impressed.
Religious experts missed it.
Political leaders missed it.
Cultural authorities missed it.
Not because they were stupid. Because they were invested.
They had systems to defend.
Status to maintain.
Explanations to protect.
A baby in a feeding trough doesn’t fit cleanly into any of that.
The shepherds didn’t need it to fit. They just needed it to be true.
That’s still how it works.
People who need God to affirm their intelligence, their morality, or their importance usually end up disappointed. God doesn’t play along with that.
He reveals Himself to people who are paying attention, not people who are credentialed.
That’s uncomfortable. Especially for those of us who like to know things. Or explain things. Or be right about things.
It suggests that proximity to truth has less to do with preparation and more to do with posture.
The shepherds weren’t elevated because they were shepherds.
They were included because they were available.
They heard.
They went.
They told others what they saw.
Then they went back to their work.
No promotion.
No platform.
No ongoing role.
Just obedience in the moment.
That detail tends to get skipped.
God didn’t recruit them into a program. He let them witness something and trusted them to respond.
Which raises an uncomfortable question.
Are we actually open to God revealing Himself if it doesn’t flatter us?
If it doesn’t confirm our self-image?
If it doesn’t come through the channels we respect?
If it doesn’t arrive with the right tone?
Christmas says God doesn’t wait for the world to be ready. He shows up, then lets people decide whether they’ll notice.
Some people were too important to be interrupted.
Others were just watching sheep.
Those were the ones who heard the announcement.
PS — I think it’s a good idea to own a physical copy of the Bible. Reading online or on your phone is convenient, but it only works as long as the power is on and the connection is there.
Is it likely that goes away? Maybe not.
Is it possible? Absolutely.
There are places in the world where the Bible is suppressed. Could that happen here? It seems unlikely, but just in the last few years we’ve watched plenty of “unlikely” things happen.
Either way, there’s no downside to owning a hard copy of the best-selling—and for many, the most important—book ever written.
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