December 24, 2021
William G. Carter
It was a cold night in the hills outside of Bethlehem. Ezekiel stirred the fire with his shepherd's staff. His brother Shemuel yawned and said, "It's getting late."
"Yes," Ezekiel agreed. "One of us will watch over the flock while the others take their rest."
"Oh let me stay up," said the youngest of the three. His name was Yitzak. He was the only son of Ezekiel. This was the first night that his mother allowed him to join his father and uncle for the night watch.
Ezekiel turned and smiled broadly. "Little one, you can barely keep your eyes open. I give you only a few minutes before you nod off to sleep."
"But Abba - Poppa - if I stay awake, maybe this is the night I will see an angel."
With that, Ezekiel and Shemuel looked at one another. They sat in silence. After a long pause, Shemuel said, "Child, that was a long time ago."
"Yes," said the boy, "but the way you describe it, it could happen at any time."
Ezekiel nodded. "We were startled. There was a burst of light, at first a fierce, frightful light, but . . ." His voice trailed off.
"But Abba, you were there."
"Both of us were," said Shemuel, "along with a few others. If one of us had been alone, the others would have dismissed it as a dream. Or a fantasy. But no, it wasn't a dream. It was an angel."
The fire crackled. Ezekiel stirred it again.
"Abba, something about the story is hard to understand. I thought God didn't like shepherds."
Ezekiel laughed. "Where did you ever hear that?"
"In Jerusalem, when I was young."
"You are still very young."
"When I was much younger. Our family delivered three lambs to the temple. For the sacrifices. They were spotless. And the man in the dark robe was angry. He was mean, and said, 'Get out of here, shepherd.' He wanted our lambs, but he didn't want us."
Shemuel growled. "That stupid man had a short memory. David, our greatest king, tended the sheep. So did Amos, one of the greatest of our prophets. And Ezekiel, the prophet for whom your father was named - he knew the true leader of God's people is a shepherd."
Ezekiel touched his brother's sleeve and motioned for him to be quiet. "Son," he said, "It's a recurring property dispute. We follow wherever our flocks will nibble. The sheep know the land belongs to God. The grass of the fields has been planted by God and given to our flocks as a gift. But the city people, who spend money trying to claim land as their own, they complained and complained. So, some years ago, the leaders of the Temple wrote our names on a list. The list said, 'You are not welcome in our Temple. Not unless you atone for all the sins of your sheep.'"
The boy replied, "Is that why we do not attend the festivals or offer the prayers?"
"No, we don't go to the festivals," said the father, “especially if we are not welcome. But we pray everywhere. We pray in the fields. We pray when the sun comes up, we pray at night when the moon replaces the sun. Our work is hard. We need help, so we pray."
Yitzak sat by the fire. It was warm. He was starting to grow very tired. But a new question was making its way to the surface. "Abba," he said, "did the angel go to the priests in the Temple?"
"I cannot say," said his father. "All I know is that the angel came to us, out here, far off in the fields. The angel knew where to find us. He knew because God the Almighty knew. He knows where we are and who we are."
"Yes, indeed," added Shemuel, nodding his head. Now he was smiling, too.
Yitzak said, "What was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"The angel!"
Shemuel said, "Terrifying. Confusing. Hard to take it all in. The angel spoke in a song. We didn't know all the words."
"Oh stop," said his brother, "we could understand. The angel sang that the Messiah is with us, out here, in the fields. It was so compelling. All our hopes, all our memories, all of the promises are in God's hands. That fierce song began to sound sweet. When we blinked, there were hundreds of angels - above us, around us, before us and behind us - all of them singing the same song. Then suddenly they were gone."
A log in the fire sparked. Then another. Yitzak asked, "Abba, is that when you left to see the baby?"
"Oh yes." Both men were nodding, smiling.
Yitzak said, "What did he look like?"
Shemuel said, "That's the point of it all. He looked just like us. And that was enough for me."
"Me too," said Ezekiel. "When I saw him, and the humble place where he was born, I knew that God had truly found us. The Temple may not want us, but God does. The angels may have vanished, but I can still hear their song. God has come among us. God is still here. So go to sleep, little shepherd."
Yitzak yawned deeply, then protested with a small voice, "But I want to stay up and see the angel."
His father pulled the blanket up around his son. Then he said, "We don't have to see everything in order to trust that it's true. It is enough to remember the song."
(c) William G. Carter. Share the story with those you love!
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