Shepherds, though now romanticized in Nativity scenes, were at the bottom of society. These were not landowners but hired hands who watched over the sheep by night; sleeping, if they did, on the cold hard ground. That these simple shepherds and not the high and mighty were the first to know the greatest news of all was entirely in keeping with Mary’s prophetic song:

He has shown the strength of his arm,

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

And has lifted up the lowly.