Many people have asked me this question over the years, often with a quiet curiosity: Why shepherds? It’s a beautiful question, because it touches something deep in all of us—the longing to know whether God truly sees ordinary people. On that holy night, God could have chosen kings, scholars, or priests. Instead, He chose men watching their sheep under the open sky.
In the Gospel of Luke, we hear that angels appeared to shepherds in the fields and proclaimed the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Shepherds were not powerful or admired figures in society. Their work was hard, their lives simple, and they were often overlooked. Yet it was precisely to them that heaven opened and sang, “Do not be afraid… today a Savior has been born for you.” This tells us something essential about God: He comes first to the humble of heart.
The Church has long seen a tender wisdom in this choice. Shepherds know what it means to watch, to wait, and to care for life entrusted to them. In many ways, they mirrored who Jesus Himself would be—the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep and lays down His life for them. By calling shepherds first, God was already revealing the kind of Messiah He was sending: not one of force and glory, but of gentleness and self-giving love.
What does this mean for us today? It means that no life is too small for God’s attention. You do not need status, perfection, or spiritual achievement for God to come close. Like the shepherds, you are invited just as you are—to listen, to trust, and to go and see. Faith often begins quietly, in the fields of our ordinary days, when we dare to believe that God is speaking to us, too.
Reflection – A Closing Thought
May the shepherds remind us that God’s greatest gifts are given to open hearts, not exalted positions.
Let us listen carefully, for even in the stillness of our lives, heaven may be speaking.
— Fr. John Matthew, for Christian Way
