(Luke 2:8-18)
Luke records that Jesus' birth was announced by an angel to shepherds in the fields. This was not how the Jewish people thought their Messiah would come. Even though the religious Jews should have known the prophesies concerning the Messiah and His birth, many believed that he would be born in royal surroundings. Some of the Jews were waiting for a savior to deliver them from Roman rule; others hoped the Messiah would deliver them from physical ailments.

Some surmise that these shepherds may have been the shepherds who supplied the lambs for the temple sacrifices performed for the forgiveness of sin. They were invited to go and greet the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the whole world.
(Life Application Bible, New International Version, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois, and Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1991, 1791.)