Lucas 2:17

And when they saw it, they made known the saying which was spoken to them about the child.

Childers thought that the shepherds might have "received additional information about the child from Mary and Joseph";[20] but the use of the singular "saying" would seem to restrict what these men preached to the words of the angel to them. As Barnes said:

Having seen the child for themselves, they now had evidence that would satisfy others; and accordingly they became the first preachers of the gospel, and went and proclaimed to others that the Messiah had come.[21]

[20] Ibid.

[21] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1954), p. 20.