The Shepherd’s Candle - December 19, 2018 - Advent Midweek 3 - Text: Luke 2:8-11

8And 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 (Luke 2:8-11).
 

So, two weeks ago and last week we have been reminded of God’s promise to send a Savior to be born in Bethlehem through the lighting of the first and second candles on the Advent Wreath. Today we move on to the third candle, the rose colored candle. Yes, it looks pink, but it is rose colored. The rose-color signifies joy and reminds us of the joy of the shepherds who were the first to hear the good news of the birth of the Savior of the world. And not only were they the first to hear the good news they were the first to come and see the new born King.
 

So, what is it about these shepherds? Although shepherds took care of sheep which was a source of milk, meat and wool, shepherds were not the most favorite people as they spent most of their time in the fields keeping watch over their flocks meaning they were probably not the nicest smelling group of people. The work of the shepherd was a work of service. They were not out in the fields being served but serving by tending the flock of sheep.
 

The work of the shepherd was that of caring. They took care of the sheep. They would lead the sheep out into the green pasture so they might eat. They would lead the sheep by the still waters so they could drink. They would lead them back in at night into a safe place so they might sleep and then next day they would do it all over again.
 

The work of the shepherd was at times a dangerous job. There were no fences or boundaries. The places that the shepherd would lead the sheep may have been places where there were wild animals, even animals that were carnivorous and would like nothing better than a nice juice sheep dinner. So the shepherd would have to guard and protect the sheep even placing his life in danger to keep them safe.
 

The work of the shepherd was a life giving job. The shepherd did not have a nine to five job and then come home, get a shower, take it easy and wait to go into the office again the next day. No, the shepherd’s job was a 24/7/365 job, a twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year job. The job of shepherding was a life.
 

King David speaks of the Shepherd in what is a favorite Psalm of many people, Psalm twenty-three as in the Lord is my Shepherd. The Gospel writer John quotes Jesus speaking of Himself as the Good Shepherd. Just as the work of the shepherd was to serve, care for, watch over and protect the sheep, so Jesus is our Good Shepherd, He is the Lord who serves us, watches over us, cares for and guards and protects us.
 

Jesus, the Good Shepherd watches over us as His sheep. We need not have any fear in this world as we know that Jesus is always with us, always watching over us, always guarding and protecting us. Jesus is the Lord, my Shepherd. As God, Jesus is omniscient, all knowing, omnipotent, all powerful, and omnipresent, at all times everywhere present. Indeed, we can rest assured, even in difficult times and difficult situations, Jesus is with us.
 

As our Good Shepherd Jesus cares for us, feeds us and protects us. We are born into this world with nothing and we will take nothing with us when we leave this world. All that we have while we are in this world is on loan to us from God, thus all that we have may be attributed to Jesus caring for us. God gives us life, gifts, talents and abilities. He gives us work, jobs, perhaps a career wherein He gives us the abilities to take care of ourselves, so that we have clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, and all that we need to support this body and life.
 

And the greatest gift Jesus gives as our Good Shepherd is that He lays down His life for us. The very reason Jesus was born as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as John the Baptists points to Him and says, is so that we might have forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

In his prophecy Isaiah speaks of Jesus as the Suffering Servant. Indeed, Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Although He was born of the royal line of King David, He did not come to take over and rule on this earth as an earthly king. He came and He served, caring for people, preaching the good news of salvation, feeding thousands, healing, casting out demons and even raising some from the dead.
 

The greatest service of Jesus is that He served by obeying all God’s Laws perfectly. God’s demand from the beginning was our perfection. Because we failed, Jesus came to be perfect for us, in our place as our substitute. And He was. He was perfect. He obeyed all God’s laws and command perfectly.
 

Jesus served by fulfilling all God’s prophecies perfectly. As we heard in the first week of Advent about the Prophecy Candle, the first candle, all the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus. Certainly the odds of any one person fulfilling some of the prophecies would be tremendous, but Jesus fulfilled them all showing Himself to be the one promised from Genesis.
 

Jesus served by being our substitute. The price for sin is death, physical and eternal spiritual death. Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place, took our sins, and paid the price for our sins as our substitute, as a human.
 

This week we have lighted the third candle, the Shepherd’s Candle. The Shepherd’s Candle reminds us that Jesus came, lowly, humbly, as one of us to live for us. All the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament did nothing to gain or earn forgiveness because the price for human sin was human death. All the Old Testament sacrifices merely pointed to the one ultimate human sacrifice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
 

The Shepherd’s Candle reminds us that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Jesus cares for us. Jesus watches over us. Jesus guards and protects us. Jesus lays down His life for us defeating all sin, death and the power of the devil.
 

The Shepherd’s Candle reminds us that we are over half way to Christmas. We have lighted three of the four candles, yet we do not jump the gun so to speak, we do not start celebrating yet. We continue to prepare our hearts and minds. We continue to be reminded that Jesus is the reason for the season. We continue to be reminded that it was for us that Jesus was born.
 

Finally the Shepherd’s Candle continues the history of our Advent preparation before our Christmas celebration. We do not need to get ahead of ourselves, after all, we will be celebrating for twelve days, from Christmas morning until Epiphany. And I hope and pray we do celebrate for the full twelve days. It will make your friends and neighbors wonder about you.
 

This third candle reminds us that God does not always do what we think He should do nor act in the way we think He should act. He is not God who came to over thrown the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom, as a matter of fact that was never His plan nor is it His plan as some might think, to return to earth and set up and earthly kingdom before some final judgement. We are living in the end times and when Jesus returns it will be for judgement. This third candle reminds us that Jesus is our Good Shepherd who took our judgement for us and paid the price for our sins so that we have forgiveness and with forgiveness, life and salvation. So, a quick review, today we are reminded that God announced to the Shepherds that in Bethlehem He fulfilled His promise to send a Savior, Christ the Lord, the Good Shepherd. And with the shepherds we bear witness of the Savior and we rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.