A SHEPHERD BOY’S JOURNEY

 

INTRODUCTION

(The meditation that follows is purely an imaginary creation of my own making. When it was delivered several years ago at a Christmas Eve Service, some found it helpful. Having  the desire to be helpful still, I include  it now  in the present forum. You will have to engage your imagination. I believe it captures the spirit and the purpose of the mission for which God sent Jesus into the world.

May you and all in your household have a most Blessed Christmas.

There are three scenes. The first at a Bethlehem Inn; the Second: A Shepherd’s cottage near to the Judean hills; the Third: takes place in the Bethlehem stable, where the Baby Jesus is born.)

“The shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Luke 2: 15. ( I Suggest you read verses 1 – 20)

“Listen! Did you hear that? I could have sworn I heard another knock at the door! Keep it down; keep it down, you rabble-rouser! One would have to use a Roman mallet to get attention over this din!  No use for anyone else to come knocking on my door this night. My inn is full as is every other spot in Bethlehem! There is just no more room; not even if it was King Herod himself who came looking. Well! I might consider it if the king came seeking! I might sleep out of my bed just for one night to have the honor of him under my roof. But that is not likely to happen, is it? There will be no king around here this night!

Listen, there it is again! Someone with urgent business according to how they ‘re knocking on the door! Hold on there! Don’t break the bloomin’ door down! Got no room for you anyway. Might as well be patient! Keep the noise down, will you? I am going to see who it is at the door.

Well, that didn’t take long. Like I said, It is someone looking for lodgings for the night! I feel sorry for them; a young man, and his lady who is about to give birth. I told him as I told you, I might sleep out of my bed if King Herod was the one asking me, but since he was far from being a king; I could not offer him and his lady anything. He said he had tried everywhere. And that this might be the night, whatever that meant! I told him there was a stable out back where the stable boy lives year-round with the cattle. I suppose last chance he’d put them up for the night.

The second scene is set in Nazareth earlier on the same day. Here another thread of the same story is about to be woven. (We are silent, unseen observers in the humble cottage of Benjamin, a shepherd, and his wife, Naomi.) Benjamin is making ready to return to his shepherd’s responsibilities on the Judean hills. He has had a two-day reprieve from his tedious work of caring for the numerous flocks of Bartholomew, his master. Naomi is so very concerned about Benjamin, the love of her life. She looks at him now, and pity rushes into her glance! Her eyes grow misty at the thought of his being out there on the hills without the company he had at one time looked forward to having. Naomi felt that way ever since the family crisis, about which Benjamin rarely broke his silence.

It is believed by some, that one’s destiny in life is somehow pre-determined. The old folk use to say that if a boy became a fisherman like his father or grandfather, then it was because even before his birth the sea had laid claim to him, throwing a little salt spray into his soul! Benjamin had been chosen to be a shepherd! His whole life has the focus of owning his own herd. One day he would share ownership and, responsibility with his son. That goal was about to be a reality; when a dreaded situation came to pass! He couldn’t pay the Roman taxes, and he watched his dream fade into a heart-wrenching disappointment. He was forced to sell everything, and eke out a bare subsistence in service to someone else. That someone is Bartholomew. There are twelve of them in all in the service of Bartholomew.

Naomi moves towards him for their last embrace. She seems almost reluctant to break in upon his solemn reverie. Naomi knows well what is on his mind! She lays her head on his breast, and after a moment sobs, “ O Benjamin, this is his birthday. He will be twenty years old today! O Mark, where are you? Benjamin’s chin quivers. His eyes fill with tears, and without another word, he leaves the house.

Mark is an only child! It was he that made Benjamin’s life worth living. All of Benjamin’s plans had centered on Mark. When the farm failed, with it went all prospects for the future. Mark had taken his few belongings and left home. Rumour has it that Mark has strayed far from the standards he had known, but no one knew for sure. For whatever reason, Benjamin and Naomi hear no word from him in three years; and hopes are beginning to fade that the family would ever be reunited!

The heavens are brilliant with a million stars dancing as though commanded to contrast the dullness in Benjamin’s mental sky. When he reaches the grazing herd, the moon has dressed the whole hillside in a garment of glorious light. And then, just as Benjamin and his co-workers finish their rounds, the night bursts open with fantastic wonder. It is as though the curtain of the night rises, and with their naked eyes, they all stand face to face with the unfolding of the most beautiful pageant of the universe! One star appears as the director of this incredible symphony, and brings the shepherds in to fulfill their part in the most spectacular event that this world has ever experienced! And Benjamin thought to himself, “ I sure need something that will be great enough to take my mind away from the agony of my days.”
Benjamin was one of four shepherds chosen to engage in the wonders of the night. Under the watchful surveillance of the star, they shiver their way through the frosty night; cold on the outside but warm with the inner thought that the Great Creator of the universe was holding them in His arms. “ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger.”

Only the dim lights from heaven’s windows brighten the interior of the stable. Suddenly there is another light. Benjamin takes notice of it as it begins to move from a corner of the stable. The light is a torch in the hands of someone who slowly moves towards the manger where the baby is lying. Benjamin watches in wonder as it draws nearer! There is something familiar in the gait of the light bearer, who kneels in adoring awe before the baby. And then Benjamin sees the most beautiful sight of his entire life!! The figure kneeling at the manger is Mark! Without speaking a word to the others, Benjamin hastens to the worshipper and kneels down beside him, and whispers to him through his tears, “Happy birthday, Mark.” And the other shepherds said afterward they were sure they saw the baby smile!

Prayer To Follow This Meditation

O God, Creator of all that is mysterious, we are genuinely fascinated by all that takes us beyond the limits of human understanding. We pray for humility so that in this age of technology we may not conclude that humankind will yet resolve all that is mysterious. We have an obsession with the many tiny gadgets that seek to revoke the world’s mysteries.The flick of a switch can take us to a site picturing starving children in Ecuador, or a refugee camp in Afghanistan. It is easy enough to boast of our ability to circle the earth and explore the outer regions of space. But “man’s inhumanity to man!” is still an unsolved mystery. O God ,forgive  humankind’s obsession with  conquering outer space, before we conquer the  enigmas of human behavior.

Father, this is the hour for the world to hear Your Message from Heaven: ” Let us go to Bethlehem, and see those things that have come to pass.” But how will the world hear unless the voices of those who have already heard it, amplify it above the world’s distracting verbiage?

Father, here we are, identifying entirely with the helplessness of the Baby, at whose cradle bed we kneel. How would such a one, so weak, and helpless ever rise to the enormous complexities that life would rain down upon Him? It is the power of Your love that remains His driving force, and Jesus’ Faith that You would always remain with Him. This  is the secret of His victory! Let Your love that created this event so long ago, reveal itself within our hearts this night.
And all for Your Love’s sake. Amen.

Hymn:                               Silent Night – Josh Groban

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. Here and throughout the text of this meditation, the quotations from the Holy Bible are from the New International Translation, Unless otherwise noted in the text.
2. Hymn:     Silent Night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rbyYrLsUPWI&feature=youtu.be
3. Photo: The Arches National Park, Utah, USA
taken November 2017. We have titled this photo  “The Light From Beyond”  The photo has not been enhanced in any  way .