The Second Shepherd's Play, as your question implies, is a direct reference to the shepherds in the New Testament Gospel Luke, who visit Jesus in Bethlehem after Jesus's birth is announced to them by an angel. The play (ca. 1450–1475), the second in a series of two shepherd plays by a playwright known as the Wakefield Master, is considered a masterpiece of medieval literature, and it is still routinely produced today to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Part of its popularity lies in its combination of slapstick comedy in the first part of the play—a comic version of the Nativity based on a sheep-stealing husband and wife and a second, much shorter, serious version of the Nativity in which the three shepherds, like their Biblical counterparts, visit the newborn Jesus. Despite the play's humor, The Second Shepherd's Play, like all mystery or miracle plays in the Middle Ages, is designed to educate the average person, who was illiterate, in England in Biblical history and, more important, in the way to salvation.

In the first and very funny part of the play, we are introduced to three shepherds—Col, Gib, and Daw—all of whom have serious complaints, typified by Col, who appears to be the oldest:

Lord, but this weather is cold! And I am ill wrapped. I am nearly a dolt, so long have I napped. My legs they fold, my fingers are chapped.

Col's main complaint is against the rich, who oppress country folk "to the point of misery." The second shepherd's complaint centers on the plight of a married man with an abusive wife, not politically correct for our time, but a common refrain in the Middle Ages. The third shepherd, the youngest, complains about the harsh weather. The choice of three shepherds is not random—the playwright, attempting to infuse the play with as much Biblical significance as possible, is most likely using three to remind the viewers of the Trinity—the Bible doesn't specify a particular number of shepherds.

The main section of the first part of the play is taken up with the attempt of another shepherd, Mak, and his wife, Gil, to pass off a sheep they have stolen in the care of the three shepherds as their newborn child, who lies swaddled in a manger. When the shepherds visit to pay their respects, after Daw asks Mak and Gil if he can kiss the newborn, the shepherds discover that this newborn has odd characteristics:

What devil is this? He has a long snout!
1ST SHEPHERD He is marked amiss. Let's not wait about!
2ND SHEPHERD The ill-spun weft always comes foully out. Aye, so! He is like to our sheep.

The first part of the play ends with the shepherds tossing Mak in a blanket, a slapstick and harmless end to the faux-Nativity scene that allows the real Nativity scene to inspire the viewers.

After the shepherds leave Mak and Gil, they follow their Biblical counterparts and fall asleep in the field, to be awakened with a very traditional Biblical nativity announcement:

Rise, gentle shepherds, for now is he born Who shall fetch from the fiend what from Adam was torn. God is made you friend now at this morn, He promises To Bethlehem go see Where he lies so free, A child in a crib poorly, Between two beasts.

Consistent with the didactic purpose of the play—to teach and to inspire—the playwright takes only minor liberties with the Biblical account of the announcement of Jesus's birth.

When the shepherds reach Bethlehem and deliver their gifts to Jesus, we see that the playwright puts in the shepherds' hands gifts that would be consistent with poor country folk: Col gives Jesus some cherries; Gib, a bird; and Daw, a ball—gifts of no great value, especially compared to the gifts of the Magi, but entirely consistent with gifts that those among the viewers could give.

Because the mystery plays are designed to instruct people who have no other direct access to Biblical teaching—other than through sermons—plays like The Second Shepherd's Play are, by their nature, limited in their scope. They do not explore complex religious issues, but they do reinforce visually the principal elements of Christian beliefs—in this case, the all-important birth of Jesus.