The Other Way ‘Round: A Sheep Herder’s Tale

Christmas Eve, 2016

Let’s get a few things straight right up front. First off, I was not a shepherd. Shepherds take care of sheep. Stupid, smelly animals. No, despite what it might read in your bulletin, I was no shepherd. I wrangled large animals: donkeys and camels.

I worked for royalty. You’ve probably heard the song about them, “We Three Kings.”

Well, that’s another thing to get straight: there were more than three of them. Oh, and they weren’t kings. In fact, they weren’t all men, so if they were royalty some of them would have been queens.

It was a whole big group. After all, you didn’t just hop in the Prius for cross-country trip. Oh, it would have been a hybrid, all right. After all, they were the wise men … and women. No, in those days you had to travel in a caravan – and not a Dodge minivan. After all, there were no freeways, no rest stops, no Motel 6s – just lots of long expanses of empty wilderness with wild animals and highwaymen. And I don’t mean Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. I mean bandits who would rob you and leave you for dead along the side of the way. So you travelled in groups because there’s safety in numbers.

I know because I was with them. My name is Rueben, and I took care of the animals on that long trek.

We started out down in southern Egypt, more than 500 miles from Jerusalem. Think about that for a minute – it’s a long trek. We must have been on the trail for a least a month.

Let me tell you, a month on the trail with a bunch of animals is hard, dirty, smelly work. A month on the trail makes folks grumpy, too.

You think that trip to grandma’s house with kids in the back seat asking, “are we there yet?” is long? You don’t know long trips.

The whole way, everywhere we stopped, strangers would come to our camp and ask who we were and where we were going. The wise ones would answer mysteriously, “we are going to see the king; following yonder star.”

Seriously, we trekked for 30 days following a star, which means that we started before sunrise so we could see where the dang star was and head in the right direction. It was pretty messed up.

Still, people we met got excited by us. Maybe it was the wonderful purple outfits – robes and jeweled headscarves – that the leaders wore. Maybe it was all the talk of kings. I think it was the strong, beautiful animals that I cared for, but you could be excused for thinking that it was people longing for a savior.

After all, times were tough, and the political situation was challenging, to say the least. I don’t know if that sounds familiar to you.

Whatever it was, word spread and got out ahead of us so that crowds welcomed us always wanting word about this new king. The word got to Jerusalem before we did, and maybe that’s what caused the problems … and saved the day.

You see, on the outskirts of the city we were stopped by messengers from King Herod who insisted that we visit him. Right then. Before going another step. Did I mention that the messenger led a heavily armed contingent of legionnaires?

We decided a visit to Herod would be wise and prudent.

Now everything that I know about that visit I learned from listening to two people who were in the room where it happened – one of the men and one of the women.

I heard that man say to the women, “people want their leaders to save the day, but they don’t get a say in what they trade away. They dream of a brand new start, but they dream in the dark for the most part.”

The woman replied, “but this time the light is going to shine in the darkness; did you see the look in Herod’s eyes when we told him that?”

“Yeah,” said the man. “His words were about respect, but there was murder in those eyes. He wants to kill the child; but why?”

She replied, “kings don’t like competition, and kings don’t like resistance. Kings don’t want their people saved; they want them broken and longing for something only the king can give. But this One we are going to see – he will be a different kind of leader. If what we read in the stars and the words of the prophets is true, he will set the people free. Nothing frightens the Herods of the world more than free people.”

“So,” the wise man said, “what do we do now? Should we stand up to Herod? Should we organize an assault on his castle?”

“No,” said the woman. “We go see this child and we warn his mother. And then we proclaim the year of liberation! Sometimes the best resistance is the long way around. Sometimes the best resistance comes in the form of a vision of something new – a new kind of messiah leading a new kind of community.”

So we travelled on to Bethlehem and we found them, in a stable. We brought them gifts, and we left them with a warning.

You’re here tonight because his mother and father listened to a message brought by wise men and women. Now, please don’t forget that those wise ones got there because of me, a lowly wrangler.

But more than that, remember that message: the powerful do not like resistance and they often do not wish to hear the truth. Still, the story of that child … the story of the child reminds me that the truth will set us free but only when we dare to speak the truth to power.

When that happens, well, power usually pushes back, and, well, that’s what resistance looks like. I know, because I was in the room when it began. Well, not so much a room, but I was in the stable where it happened. That’s my story. I give it to you tonight with the hope that you will go out and speak that same truth – about love, justice, human liberation, hope for all people and peace among all nations – speak that truth, speak it in love, and speak it to power. And may the blessings of that child be with you always.