Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a classic Christmas story with a clear villain: the Herdman family. Just the sound of their name is enough to give a person the heebie-jeebies. What with their bad behavior, atrocious language, and overall lack of social decency, it’s little wonder that nobody wanted to be around them.
It’s always been that way. In the first century people like shepherds and magi were considered outsiders when it came to how life should be lived. Shepherds were excluded because they worked with animals which essentially made them ceremonially unclean. They were the first century Herdmans.
Today it’s not much different. There are a host of groups that are often thought of as being Herdmanesk. For some it’s homosexuals, Muslims, street people, crack heads, alcoholics and more. Others might include members of certain political parties, races, or people of a different ethnic origin. They’re people whose lives rub us the wrong way. They’re just like the Herdmans, and we would prefer to have nothing to do with them.
There’s only one problem with that. Herdmans matter to God. And if they matter to God, they have to matter to us. That’s right. Cigar smoking, stringy haired, socially unfit Herdmans matter to God. And we need to get on board with it. Here’s why.
Herdmans are people. Now before you respond with a big “duh,” let’s be honest. Don’t we have a tendency to dismiss the Herdmans of the world as being sort of sub-human and therefore unworthy of our attention? Sure we do. We give them names like towel heads, losers, drugies, queers, and trailer trash. We do that so we don’t have to think of them anymore. By our attitude, we don’t consider them as being real people with the same feelings and needs that we have. They’re just, well you know, Herdmans.
When Jesus was born, it was no different. To the sophisticated Jews of the day, Herdmans were everywhere. Samaritans were Herdmans. Romans were Herdmans. Gentiles in general were Herdmans. Even shepherds were Herdmans. They may be Jewish Herdmans, but they were Herdmans nevertheless.
Even Jesus was suspect. Being from Nazareth of Galilee made him practically a Herdman as well as the rest of the bumpkins from his part of the country. So as far as the typical, elitist Jew of the day was concerned, living in 1st century Palestine was like living in Herdmanville.
That’s what makes the announcement from the angels so amazing. It would have been expected that such an announcement would have come to the Pharisees or to the High Priest or to someone else from the upper crust of the Jewish religious system. And if not given to them, then perhaps a more general announcement would have been made to everyone whether they were the favored ones or not. But to come to the shepherds in the middle of the night and say, “unto you is born a savior,” was unthinkable.
But that’s exactly what happened. And there’s a reason. Herdmans, shepherds, and those like them matter to God. Why? Because they’re people. They’re people who were created in His image who are so valuable to Him that He would send His very own son to become one of them in order to reach them.
Imagine it. God took upon himself the form of a Herdman in order to reach Herdmans. Ungodlike? Hardly. Only a real God would or could do something like that.
That says something to me. It reminds me that I have more Herdman in me than I’d like to admit at times. We all do. It’s why we lash out at others. It’s why we do crazy things that blow up our own lives. Indeed, all we like Herdmans have gone astray. So I don’t have any business acting all high and mighty when I’m around them. Somehow I’ve got to find a way to climb over my pride and my sense of superiority and make sure I include them. For in reality I’m one of them.
Do you have any Herdmans in your life? If so, they matter to God, and they better start mattering to you. For God and Herdmans are a package deal. You can’t have one with the other. And if you feel like a full blown Herdman, there’s good news. You may not feel like you fit in with the religious crowd. You may not know all the lingo nor understand much of what church is all about. In fact, you may feel like you’ve got a lot more in common with Gladys Herdman than Mother Teresa. If so, know this. You matter to God. You really do. And if you can open your heart to that truth, it can make a real difference in your life.
It’s one of the best Christmas lessons ever.