During the first year of my priesthood, I was posted in rural congregations, where I had the experience of caroling in villages. This was my first exposure to reality. I visited around 18 villages for Carols irrespective of people being members or not. It was then, that I encountered the cruel life-realities of the shepherds.
The shepherd’s image we see of Christ in calendars, posters, biblical verses, is not the reality. The shepherds are weak, poverty-stricken and maimed. They do not even own the sheep they rear. They only tend them for their masters (landlords) and the dominant caste people.
Their houses are the dirtiest among the dirtiest with lambs and sheep everywhere. On them, the lambs are kept inside a thatched house during the night so that the dogs or thieves do not steal them. The rains worsen the situation. There would be sheep droppings all over the dirtied house and the stench would make anyone puke. It is in these conditions the shepherds live.
Their lives are a struggle they do not merely rear them they have names for their sheep. They call them and some even get fed from the shepherd’s plates or even jump on their lap to sleep. When the time of slaughter comes they give the sheep away with a heavy heart. They mostly do not eat its meat. It is an internal battle for every shepherd, the battle between sustenance and the sheep's innocence. They know that their lives depend on the slaughter of the sheep. Yet, the sheep's innocence, love and memories, pain them with teary eyes while giving the sheep away.
With my limited knowledge about a shepherd’s house I visited them, only to encounter their brutal reality. At first, they asked me not to come in, due to its unclean spaces and the stench. Yet, I entered amidst that stench, I prayed and blessed them, and their sheep. While I was talking, I was thirsty. So, I asked for a glass of water. They did offer me water but requested me saying, “please do not to mind the dirty smell around, Ayyah, because this is how we live.” Wishing them with Christmas greetings their faces expressed immense joy.
It was after this incident that I realized how joyful it would have been for the shepherds in the field that night. They would have been dirty, stinky and weary, but, vigilant safeguarding their sheep from wild animals and thieves. The beauty of the Christmas message is that, the good news brings greater joy to the least recognized, those whom we consider dirty, stinky and illiterates. It is to these dirtiest people the Birth of Emmanuel was first announced.
Often when we eat mutton biryani on Christmas day we do not know how the meat reached our plate. To have your best and cleanest mutton, there are these dirty shepherds with pain and hardships in life. Just as the Lord says to the Pharisees in Luke 11:39, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. Why love mutton and be disgusted with the shepherd?
May we not discriminate or look down on those who live among dirtiest neighborhoods. They are constantly struggling to live life. They strive hard live despite poverty and inequality. We must remember, even the Savior of the world was poor and was born in a dirty manger, wrapped in unclean leftover clothes. This Christmas let us not express disgust at the sight of someone poor and dirty. Remember we are the reason they struggle harder to live their life. Let us make a difference. Do what you think would make them joyful.
Prayer
Our God who created everyone in your own image, help us to respect and treat everyone with honor and dignity. May we not look down on people for their lives and situations. May we be like the host of angels to reach the most unreached, unrecognized, unacknowledged among us. We ask all this in the name of the shepherd who laid down his life, Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen
About the Author: Raj Kumar JohnWesley is the son of a Sexton. He completed his BD from United Theological College, Bangalore. He is currently serving the CSI Madras Diocese as Presbyter. His interests are reading, drama and sports.
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