Shepherds are a big part of the Christmas narrative, but not many of us living in the 21st century have any experience with shepherds, sheep or shepherding. If you traveled to the places where Helping Hands is working – western Bulgaria and northern Greece, you may be able to see all three. In this land of sheep, those biblical analogies to sheep and shepherding take on even more meaning.
One of my Bulgarian shepherd encounters occurred in the mid-1990s. We were on a trip to deliver food, medicine and spiritual materials to some nursing homes and senior centers in southwest Bulgaria. Just south of Sofia we became lost and it wasn’t because, Miro, who was driving, didn’t have a good sense of direction. Who could find remote places when many of the signs in Bulgaria had been stolen to sell for scrap metal? With few places to stop and ask for directions, I suggested pulling over and asking a shepherd tending his small flock about thirty feet from the roadside. We very quickly received detailed directions. To thank the good man, I grabbed a Bulgarian Bible from the box of them for donation.
That Bible might not have been considered a very valuable gift to many people in the world. Some might have thrown it back at me along with a few unkind words. But this good shepherd smiled when I handed him a Bible, handling it with a reverence that hinted at his spiritual life. It was the 1990s and people over the age of fifty were born before the Communists came to power, and they usually had some memory of the Word of God, real churches, and the true story of Christmas. I smiled back at the shepherd, pleased I’d given him something he’d wanted, pleased he valued the Word. As Miro pulled back on the road I glanced back at the shepherd. He had dropped to his knees, was holding his Bible over his head, and looking heavenward, no doubt thanking the true Giver of the Word.
Shepherds have never been considered the most influential or richest or wisest members of society. But that shepherd was quite the wise man. We can say the same thing about the shepherds that heard about Jesus birth from an angel. They too must have had some training in the Word to appreciate those “good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people.”
That Bulgarian shepherd had probably lived for years under communism, unable to go to church on any given Sunday and hear a sermon or attend a Bible class or own a Bible. All those things would have been prohibited. Even after the fall of communism, he was probably too poor to be able to buy a Bible, or if he had enough money to buy one, it’s doubtful he could find a place to buy one. In some ways, he was living in darkness.
The Christmas story shepherds were working in the dark when the angel made the announcement of the Messiah’s coming into the world. If the announcement had been made in the light of day, it wouldn’t have made as big an impression, nor would the multiple of heavenly host that later lit up the sky. Those Jewish shepherds were also living in a situation of political darkness. Judah was under Roman rule. Also, many of the Jewish religious leaders had encumbered the people with additional laws that made their spiritual load heavier, and offered no spiritual light or guidance. Staying up and watching sheep, probably chilled and weary, the shepherds couldn’t have imagined they would be told such good news. Their work, their social status, their present troubles, didn’t matter. They were among the many people that listened, valued and shared the Good News.
I’ll never know what happened to that shepherd, at least not in this life. A lot of our work through Helping Hands is like that. Children are held and fed, are read Bible stories, and rocked to sleep. A lot of the elderly are visited, given or read sermons and devotions, given medicines and food, and are prayed with by one of our nurses. Hundreds log onto our website and read the Words of Faith in Bulgarian or English. Thousands read health articles or brochures with a few words about Jesus and what He’s done for them. Some of the resources might be shared with family members or friends of the original readers.
Even though Bulgaria is no longer communist, few Bulgarians hear the Word. Neither do many Greeks, a population that some consider the most under-evangelized in the world. So, we continue to use many means to deliver that precious Word to shepherds, children, disabled people, the sick, the elderly, and many others. Despite limited funding and illnesses and frustrations, rules that make it harder to deliver the Word and other factors, we are getting the Word out. And we are quite sure that a lot of the shepherds and others hearing the Word are also very wise men and wise women and wise children.
To God be the glory!
Linda Phillips, December, 2017