{"id":5065,"date":"2020-10-04T07:31:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T11:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=5065"},"modified":"2020-09-30T17:43:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T21:43:47","slug":"shepherds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=5065","title":{"rendered":"Shepherds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12-30-15-104-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1424\" width=\"347\" height=\"463\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12-30-15-104-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12-30-15-104-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 347px) 100vw, 347px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal:  Where are the shepherds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me:  I have a story about the shepherds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal:  I am ready to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is from the book  The Greatest Life of All Jesus by Charles Swindoll<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Shepherds were the social outcasts of their day, a necessary yet ostracized caste without whom the temple could not function.  While they tended the animal required for ritual sacrifice, the conscientious Jew&#8211;ever concerned with purity&#8211;spurned shepherds as too unclean to stand among other worshipers.  Imagine the reception a dirty migrant worker would receive at the door of a sophisticated country club, and you will understand where the shepherd ranked in Hebrew society.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>While the rich and powerful in Jerusalem formed factions, alternately resisting and sweet-talking Romans, blissfully unaware of the momentous event taking place in the countryside, angels appeared to the people most likely to understand what was happening.  Imagine how the outcast shepherds felt when they heard their king&#8217;s palace was a stable and His cradle was a feeding trough.  At last, they had a king who shared their low station, who would care about the things that mattered to them.  Perhaps this king would value His subjects more than conquests and the acquisition of more and more wealth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keep yourself humble and low.  Remember that is how Jesus remained.  That is how you love and serve others.  A place of pride makes it all about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mark 2:43<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prodigal: Where are the shepherds? Me: I have a story about the shepherds. Prodigal: I am ready to listen. This is from the book The Greatest Life of All Jesus by Charles Swindoll Shepherds were the social outcasts of their day, a necessary yet ostracized caste without whom the temple could not function. While they &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=5065\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shepherds - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a quick devotion with words from Chuck Swindoll. He talks about the role of the shepherds at Jesus birth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=5065\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shepherds - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a quick devotion with words from Chuck Swindoll. He talks about the role of the shepherds at Jesus birth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=5065\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-04T11:31:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12-30-15-104-768x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"headline\":\"Shepherds\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-04T11:31:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065\"},\"wordCount\":252,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/12-30-15-104-768x1024.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065\",\"name\":\"Shepherds - The Prodigal Pig\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=5065#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/12-30-15-104-768x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-04T11:31:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"description\":\"This is a quick devotion with words from Chuck Swindoll. 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