Shepherds In the Field Abiding

Beit Sahour is one of the three villages that make up the Bethlehem area.  This "house of shepherds" has three Shepherds Fields which are possible sites for the "shepherds in the field abiding" as found in Luke 2:8-20.  They are identified as Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant.  No doubt, it is near one of these fields that the angels appeared to shepherds long ago.

Matthew has the wealthy and the wise coming to Bethlehem along with Mary and Joseph.  But Luke has shepherds who were considered a dishonest and despised lot in the 1st Century.  What a contrast there was in the people of Christmas!

The song of the angel was in part: "and the glory of the Lord shone around them."  For ages, the "glory of the Lord" was believed to abide in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem.  The good news to the shepherds that evening was that the Lord abides with them.  Christmas is all about the Lord who breaks out of the boxes men create.  The glory of the Lord shines on all humankind.

The shepherds hastily made their way to Bethlehem, beheld the child and returned to the same fields.  However, they were never to be the same.  "The glory of the Lord shone around them" continually.