Shepherds in Bethlehem

After a one-night layover in New York...

 ...and a long flight to Istanbul and then Tel Aviv, Alli and I find ourselves… in the town of Bethlehem.

It’s no longer a “little town,” but rather a city of 120,000 people.

We are staying in the Sancta Maria Hotel, evoking the story from the Gospel of Luke about the holy family in search of a place to stay that night more than 2000 years ago.

It’s fitting that—like the story of Jesus’ birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke—we should begin our journey in Bethlehem. Before arriving to our hotel, our first stop was the Shepherd’s Field in the nearby town of Beit Sahour where many believe the Angel of the Lord (Luke 2:9) appeared to the Shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night. Today Beit Sahour is 99% Christian (of native, Arab descent). 

As we descended the hill from the entrance to the field at dusk, down below we were surprised to see that even today, Palestinian shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks.

Bethlehem is in the West Bank, one of the two Palestinian Territories (the Gaza Strip being the other), this one under control of the Palestinian Authority. To get here, our group’s bus passed through a check point on the way out of Tel Aviv and another one on the way into Bethlehem. For a long stretch we drove alongside the barrier fence (aka “separation fence,” “separation wall” or “apartheid wall,” depending on who you talk to).

On the way, we passed several Israeli settlements, which were built—in violation of the Oslo Peace Accords—on confiscated Palestinian lands.

Right now, it’s nearly 7PM and the call to prayer from the mosque at the top of the hill is echoing over the valley, and the sound of bleating sheep and children playing can be heard from our 3^rd story room. We can’t help but wonder what the Good News would be for those Palestinian shepherds we saw tonight—whether they be Muslim or Christian.