I was asked to give a talk in church today on the Shepherds at the birth of Jesus. I wasn’t able to give the talk because of all the other amazing talks and performers. We just ran out of time. I am posting it here because…because I wrote! I hope you enjoy it.

I actually spent a lot of time over the last week or so thinking about the shepherds who they were and why they were even in the story of Jesus’ birth.

When you think of all the key players in the story of the birth of Christ, everyone has a purpose. 

Mary is kind of a big deal. I loved Barbie Dee’s talk last week about Mary and the fact that she said yes. It would have been a different story without Mary’s willingness to do what was asked of her.

Joseph is another big name in the story. He also had to say yes. Brother Christensen gave an awesome talk about Joseph and fatherhood and the example he was to us all about being humble and willing to do what was asked.

I don’t really have to explain the role Jesus had in the story. I mean, it was really His story. Without him, there isn’t anything.

The wise men are interesting characters as well. They were the smart ones. They knew the signs, they understood, we think, what it was all about. They planned ahead and were prepared and traveled far to pay their respects and I think, to prove to themselves that they had been right. I imagine they were kind of like scientists with a theory, testing it out through their travels. I’m sure it was much more spiritual than that though.

There were other characters in the story like King Herod and the Inn Keeper, and Elizabeth, and so on, but then there are the shepherds. What purpose did they have in the story?

There are actually quite a few references to shepherds in the scriptures. Of course, the most common reference to shepherds that comes to mind is when referring to our savior as a Shepherd. He is the good Shepherd, and he watches over his flocks not only by night but always. Jesus taught parables about shepherds searching for the one. Not only keeping track of the ninety and nine but making time to go and search out the one that might stray. You, like me, probably remember many pictures of the Savior that portray him as literally being a shepherd and looking out over sheep. Sometimes he is watching over a flock and sometimes he has a lamb in his arms. We may imagine ourselves as one of the sheep in the fold or we may feel like we have been the lamb in his arms, and sometimes we may even feel like we are that sheep that is off track, stuck in a bush or hole, or tangled in something and the Saviour has come to free us and bring us back to the fold. 

Some of the scriptures that I read, also negatively talked about shepherds. In Ezekiel, the Lord is talking to the shepherds of the people criticizing them and even condemning them. They have been guilty of feeding themselves instead of feeding their sheep. I assume these scriptures are talking about leaders like the Pharisees who were worried about their own knowledge, personal salvation, and position and focusing on the letter of the law instead of teaching the people in their stewardship as they should have. Of course, it is easy to stand here and nod to ourselves and think of all they should’ve done. It’s easy to think wow they’re so prideful they really should’ve been looking out for people more than just looking at rules. But we need to take an inward look as well.

I think of our modern-day prophet and so many of the prophets before him, especially the prophets during my lifetime who have led the people with such love and compassion. President Monson was probably the biggest example of just loving, serving, and teaching in my lifetime, and our current prophet President Nelson is the same way. 

Whenever one of his snippets of a talk pops up on my Instagram or Facebook and he’s facing the camera and you see him take that breath and just start talking, you can see the love that he has for the people of the world. I think he’s an example of a good Shepherd in the way he leads and tries with all of his might to give us knowledge and instruction that will protect us just, as a shepherd would for his sheep.

Of course, there are other examples of shepherds in the church. There are other shepherd positions in the church, like Bishop, elders quorum president or relief society president,  ministering companionships, or quorum leaders. 

I think you would break it down even further and say there are shepherds in a friend group or even a parent or sibling. At every level, you can apply the title of Shepherd in some way. 

Right now I’m a teacher at a junior high-high school. I teach eighth and ninth grade English and yearbook and I’m a Shepherd. I have my little flocks and then I have the flock of the whole school, and I have my flock of teachers on my team.

When you look at it, it’s hard to find a place or a role that you may have in your life where you are not some sort of a shepherd. There’s always someone to look out for even if you’re only thinking of it as your actions the choices you make and what people see you do as being a form of shepherding. 

You might think that you’re just living your own little life and the things you do don’t really matter, but they do because people see you. People watch you, and your actions affect those around you both as the image of you and who you represent as a member of the church and also your family and just individually.

 In the world today we spend an awful lot of time and energy watching other people. We watch them on Facebook. We watch them on Instagram. We watch them in movies. We watch them in our neighborhoods. We are constantly watching other people, and that means in a way, we are being watched and therefore we are a kind of or a type of a Shepherd.

Now that I’ve made being a shepherd relevant to everyone in the room, I want to return to those shepherds who are in the Christmas story. These were actually shepherds who were watching actual sheep. I imagine them walking around, trying to keep the sheep together. I don’t suppose the sheep were running off willy-nilly in the middle of the night. Perhaps they were kind of dozing and snuggling into each other’s fluff. 

I imagine the shepherds were sitting on rocks, looking up at the stars…maybe they were thinking about a sweetheart at home, or making plans for the next day. Maybe they were contemplating their existence or sorrowing over a mistake they had made. 

If they were shepherds today, they most likely would have been on their phones, listening to podcasts, practicing their DuoLingo, talking to a friend, or even making some TikTok videos where they jumped over the sheep or something.

But, they didn’t have any of that. I imagine it was quiet. The sheep may have been making little sheep noises…maybe there was an owl or a far-off wolf cry. 

In Luke, we read: 

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great Joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.”

They were watching sheep, and they were out on the hills and it was night.

And then suddenly, there was a bunch of angels in front of them. The sky burst open with heavenly light and then…my favorite part…there was music.  Can you imagine it?  I like to think that I was a part of the heavenly choir. Glory to God! Glory to God in the highest. And Peace on earth!

Whenever I read those words, I hear the music of Handel. I love listening to the music of the Messiah. My family is pretty used to me playing it almost every Sunday and many days that are not Sunday. It is more than Christmas music to me. It speaks to my soul.

I imagine if I had been a shepherd there on a hill, zoning out or looking at the stars when the angels started to sing. Yes, seeing heavenly beings appear would have definitely gotten my attention, but the music would have been what moved me.  Music is one way the Spirit speaks to me. There is great power in music. I like to think that when the shepherds heard the music, they just had to go and share that message with others.

That brings us to the next part of the shepherd’s story. There they were, up on the hills, getting a visit from angels, getting their own personal concert, and then they moved. They went. They didn’t just look at each other and say, “Whoa, that was so cool!” and then go back to tending their sheep. It doesn’t say that they took their sheep home, locked them in the gate, and checked in with their wife to make sure it was okay to go out with the guys. They didn’t go get a snack for the road, change into nicer clothes or put on deodorant or anything else. All it says is they went.

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us NOW go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with HASTE, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a  manger.”

They came with haste. They had been given an amazing gift and they had to go.

So they got to see the Christ child. How amazing would that have been?  There are a few Christmas songs that talk about seeing the Christ child. One of them is the little Drummer Boy. I know you have probably all heard this song. Everyone is going to see the baby Jesus and take him a gift. The little shepherd boy doesn’t have anything. He’s worried because he feels like he needs to take a gift. He decides to play his drum for the baby. 

As a mother, I would not have been excited for a boy to come into my sleeping baby on the night he was born and bang on a drum. But, of course, the message is to bring who we are and what we have and mostly to give our heart to him. Another song is Go Tell It on the Mountain. I love this song because it talks about the shepherds watching their silent flocks by night and how they feared and trembled but then were told to go and spread the word over the hills and everywhere that Jesus Christ was born.

And that is just what the shepherds did. 

Back in Luke, it says:

“And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.”

It isn’t enough to just know the truth. It isn’t enough to just follow the commandments and stay on the path. The gospel isn’t something we can just take home, put in a little box, and keep safely on a shelf. It is something we have to share with others. Part of our role as a shepherd is to go tell it on the mountain. Go and share what we know. President Nelson said:  “The Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty”

Does that mean we need to be out on the corner like that guy in Gilbert last Monday, with a loudspeaker, shouting out to everyone around that Jesus Love You!? I don’t think that is a bad idea, but I think we can do it in all the little things we do each day. President Nelson also said,”

 “Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.”

So let’s recap. As I have so convincingly shared, we are all shepherds. We are all examples and therefore leaders of someone else. We have the responsibility to not just take care of ourselves, but to take care of others and share the light of Christ with them. We aren’t here just to get through life and move on to eternal glory. We have overlapping metaphoric flocks that we need to protect and guide and show the way back to our Heavenly Father. 

In a conference talk from October 2018 by then YW General  President Bonnie Cordon, She talked about how important it is to truly minister to each other. She said, “The Lord invites us to feed His sheep, to tend His flocks as He would. He invites us to be shepherds to every nation, every country.  When the day comes that we will kneel at the feet of our beloved Savior, having nourished His flock, I pray we can answer as did Peter: “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” These, Thy sheep are loved, they are safe, and they are home.”

I pray that we will all take stock of where we are, who we are, and what we can do. How can each of us be a shepherd and go tell it on the mountain? How can we show the world that Jesus Christ is born? How can we see beyond our little flocks and minister to the ones who may be stuck in a bush or have wandered off the path or just need a friend to listen to them? 

I promise you, that if you look outside yourself a little more, you will learn to love the people around you and start to feel a bit of the love the Saviour has for all of us. We are all connected through our Savior.

I love my Savior. I love this season of the year when we get to focus more directly on his life and why he is here and the miracle of his birth and life. I pray that each of you will feel the love of the Savior and know that you matter to him. You are loved by him. You have a place with him. He is Your shepherd and he calls to you personally.

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