A Terrifying Tale of Shepherds and Angels

Luke 2:8-18

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”^d

15When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

17And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

Did I ever tell you about my great great uncle Ami (AHH mee)? His name was Hoshuthulami but that was too hard to say, so we always called him Uncle Ami. He lived in Israel in the time of the Caesars, in particular Caesar Augustus, who was the man who decided to make everybody in the whole world pay taxes.

Ami was a little boy, not much bigger than a fire hydrant, except they didn’t have fire hydrants in those days. He lived with his parents and his brothers and sisters, and he was the youngest of the family. Because the family was very poor, everyone had work to do. His sisters helped their mother with cooking and cleaning and gardening, but the older girls worked for rich people in town, and his brothers all worked in the fields for other farmers and sheep herders.

Ami himself was too young to do very much but he hated staying at home with his sisters and carrying water from the well to the house and helping to make soup. So he begged his mother to let him go work for her brother Issacharish who kept sheep out in a field nearby. Because he kept begging day after day she finally said, “Okay, fine, you can go to my brother Issacharish! But remember he is a hard man and does not permit any idleness! You will have to work hard for him!”

Ami was delighted, and at the same time a little afraid. His mother made sure he had a long cloak to sleep under, for the nights were cold, and sent him off. He knew the way from their little house to Uncle Issacharish’s field, and was on his way. He was nervous but very excited at the same time.

His uncle recognized him when he came to the field and soon proved Ami’s mother to be right: He was a hard, gruff man who did not smile or be friendly, even though he recognized Ami immediately. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Are you trying to get out of working by running around in the country-side?”

Ami was frightened, but managed to say, “No, Uncle Issacharish. My mother sent me to help you watch the sheep. See, I even brought my own cloak.”

Issacharish scowled and looked him over. “All right, then, at least you won’t freeze tonight. But let’s see if you can do any work that’s worth anything.” He pointed across the green hillside toward the little flock of sheep where three other men were watching over them. “Go over there and help out. Make sure the sheep don’t go wandering off past that little creek. If they do,” he frowned furiously at Ami, “we will lose them and it will be your fault!”

Ami swallowed hard and said, “Okay, Uncle Issacharish. I will go and watch them.”

And that’s what Ami did. The other shepherds watched him approach and ignored him. Watching the sheep was a little boring except when one of them, grazing on grass, tried to wander away down a little ravine the creek ran into. Ami had to run after it and climb down the rocky and muddy channel. When he reached the little lamb, he realized the lamb could not climb back up on its own, and Ami had to carry him.

The lamb bleated and tried to get away and was afraid to be picked up; Ami had to fight a little with it. “Do not be afraid, little lamb!” he coaxed. Eventually he got it back up to the rest of the flock, only to see that two others had wandered off in a different direction toward another rocky ravine. He no sooner deposited the first lamb than he had to run after the others. He heard the grown-up shepherds laughing and saw them pointing at him.

He worked this way all afternoon. When evening came at last, one of the shepherds made a little campfire to warm their supper; Ami joined the little circle of men and collapsed, exhausted. Watching sheep was much harder than he had thought.

Issacharish was himself walking in a big circle around the little flock of sheep, counting them and making sure they were bedded down for the night. One of the shepherds, named Rafi, who was sitting near the fire looked at Ami with a smile. “Don’t worry,” he said, “this is your first day. The work is hard but it gets easier.”

“How does it get easier?” Ami asked. “I don’t think the sheep like me. When I try to rescue them they just try to get away.”

“They don’t know you yet,” said Rafi. “Once they get used to you it gets a lot easier.”

“They still try to get lost, of course,” said another shepherd with a twinkle in his eye, “but at least they won’t fight you when you go after them. Also,” he added, “you should name them. After a while they will recognize your voice.”

Ami would have talked more but he wolfed down the supper they gave him – he had never been so hungry – and before he knew it he was asleep, wrapped up in the warm cloak his mother had given him. In no time at all it was morning; the sun was coming up over the hill, the sheep were bleating, and Issacharish was nudging him with a sandal roughly. “Up and get working!” he said. “You cannot sleep the whole day away!”

Ami rubbed his eyes and rolled out of the cloak. The morning was clear and cold. He threw the cloak over his shoulders and immediately took his position with the flock, then saw with a deep sigh that the same little lamb was trying to escape down the same muddy ravine as yesterday. He ran after it.

And that was how Ami became a shepherd boy… day after day the same routine, watching the sheep, stopping for a moment during the day for a bite to eat – at least Issacharish fed him regularly – having supper with the men and then sleeping.

The little lamb who had wandered off that first day proved to be the one who most often needed rescuing. Ami named him Runner, because he was always running off. Ami soon realized it was a game with Runner, the little lamb hiding from him down in the ravine, bleating so that Ami would come after him, then trying to shy away when Ami moved to pick him up.

Ami caught the spirit of the game. “Do not be afraid!” he would say. “I come to bring you good news! I have found you, and the flock is just up there by the creek!” and he would laugh, and Runner would bleat happily and let Ami pick him up, lifting the little lamb up onto his shoulders for the ride back to the flock.

After about a week Ami had to begin taking his turn during the midnight hours on watch, just like the other men. The nights were usually quiet and Ami loved lying back and watching the innumerable stars in their slow rotation while the sheep slept. He would think about Runner: “Do not be afraid!” he would think. “I come to bring you good news! What you are looking for is just up there on the hill!” and he would smile in the darkness.

And suddenly one night it all changed, and unimaginable terror struck the little pasture.

Ami was studying the stars again, marveling at how many there were, thousands maybe, or perhaps thousands of thousands, when he became aware of an unusual noise. It had been there for several minutes before he took notice of it. It was a low, clashing sound, as of many voices speaking at once, a long ways away. It very slowly began to grow louder. Ami saw Rafi sit up and look toward the surrounding hilltops; he had heard it, too.

And then Ami became aware of a lightening of the sky over the eastern hills. It was as though dawn was coming, but sunrise was still hours and hours off. As the sky grew brighter the voices became louder and more distinct; they were saying words, all in unison, but Ami could not make out the words.

A deep fear seized Ami and he began to shake. He cried out, but his voice became drowned out in the steady growing, loud, invasive cacophony of shouting voices. The other shepherds were up, looking to the east with terrified faces.

The light in the east suddenly became a pinpoint of brilliant light, piercing over the top of the hill, bathing their little valley in stark white light. The little pinpoint seemed to bob up and down as it grew suddenly larger and closer. The voices grew louder; the shepherds were shouting, Issacharish was screaming; the sheep were bleating furiously. The light came near and Ami saw that it was man!

And yet not a man! The being was twice the size of any normal man, a towering figure, and the light seemed to come from inside him. He was gleaming, brighter than a hundred suns, but Ami could make out that he was clothed in some sort of metal, polished and shining. A helmet encased his enormous head, a brilliant breastplate covered his chest, his arms and legs wore interlocking pieces of brilliant shining silver. His boots tromped loudly on the turf, yet it seemed he moved as though not even touching the ground.

Ami was on his face in the grass, his cloak covering him completely. Runner was bleating, terrified, next to him, and Ami reached out and pulled the little lamb to his side under the cloak. Runner was trembling, and Ami could feel the beat of his heart, pounding furiously.

The noise of the unison voices was deafening and the incredibly bright light was all around him. He had never considered being this afraid of anything. There was an empty hollowness in his stomach; he heard someone screaming frantically and realized it was his own voice. He was crying. Runner shook uncontrollably, cradled in the crook of Ami’s arm at his side. He could not tell if an earthquake shook the ground, or if it was his own terrified trembling.

When the angel spoke – for angel it was, undeniably – it was a massive thunder in the tiny valley. Yet for all that, the strong voice was strangely soothing, and even… something completely unexpected. Joyful? Happy? Excited?

The words were completely unexpected. “Do not be afraid!” It seemed to fill the whole earth with echoing sound. The unseen voices in the background rose and fell in unison, seeming to emphasize his words. “I come to bring you good news!”

Ami’s eyes flew open wide under the cloak. What had the angel said? With courage he did not know he had, Ami lifted an edge of the cloak and peeked out.

The huge being was no more than 20 feet away, towering into the night sky, bathed in a radiant, beaming white light. He stood upright, head high, with hands on hips, a huge gleaming sword resting in a sheath at his belt. The other shepherds were prostrate on the ground, most covering their heads with their hands. The flock of sheep bleated in terror.

His voiced thundered again. “This day, in the City of David, a savior has been born, who is Christ the Lord!” At this there was a sudden crescendo in the background voices; they chanted with a tremendous volume, in unison, “Christ the Lord! Christ the Lord! Christ the Lord!”

“This will be a sign to you!” continued the angel. “You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger!” The hills echoed with his words, and suddenly the heavens were ripped open.

Angels materialized in the night sky as though shredding the darkness itself. They were all similarly attired as the angel before the shepherds, but they were not as large because they appeared to be farther away. They were standing – in midair! Their feet were firmly planted – on nothing! And there were thousands of them. Thousands of thousands, filling the sky from one horizon to the other. As Ami looked to them, he could see they were not just standing shoulder to shoulder, but there were many ranks of angels behind the front rows, as far back as he could see in the night sky. Ten thousands of ten thousands!

And their voices were deafening. They were speaking in unison: “Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace! Good will to men!” This was repeated over and over, and the angel who had first spoken seemed to lift his head and survey them. Oddly, it seemed there was a smile on his brilliant face. In a few moments, he raised his arms suddenly, and with a final, triumphal, “Glory to God in the highest!” the myriad of angels vanished.

They winked out one at a time, disappearing into the dark night sky. The echo of their final words died away and Ami realized that where the angel had stood before him there was only a wisp of gray smoke or steam, which quickly wafted away on the night breeze.

Runner was still beside him, and Ami slowly pushed the cloak back and rose. He met the other shepherds in the clearing where the sheep had begun to quiet down.

You know the rest of the story from here, how the shepherds agreed to go into Bethlehem – for that was the City of David the angel had spoken of – and find the Christ child. Issacharish, incredibly, was grinning stupidly from ear to ear, urging them to hurry and follow him to town. He pulled up the lower hem of his robe and cloak, tucked it in around his waist, and began running flat out toward the path to town. The other men followed just as quickly.

With a glance at Runner, Ami said, “Don’t be afraid! I’ll be back by sunrise!” and he took off after the others, listening to the little lamb bleat. “At least, I hope so,” he said to himself as he ran, but it seemed to him Runner had been saying, “Go and worship Him for me, too!”

So after a time that night, Issacharish and his shepherds, including Ami, found the Christ child. He was just as the angel had said, wrapped up in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It was a small stable, which was actually the front part of a cave in a hillside with scattered houses before it. Interestingly, there was a single, very bright, low star Ami had never noticed before, that seemed to stand right over that place. There the shepherds saw the family, Joseph and Mary, and saw the animals who normally inhabited the stable, bedded down just outside.

Afterward, the next day, they left the sheep and went into the town telling everyone who would listen what they had seen. In spite of the noise and the brilliant light they had seen only a mile from town, no one they spoke to had noticed anything in the night sky. Most did not believe them. But some did.

And that is the story of my Uncle Ami. I would tell you about the next time he saw the Christ – that is, Jesus – many years later, and the absolutely miraculous thing he saw the Son of God do to a man, but that would be a story for another time.

Thanks for joining The Alligator Blog for Monday, December 23, 2024. Share the episode, and enjoy your Christmas Day.