Faithful Shepherd

Our lives can at times seem like they are in flux, that everything is upside down and we don’t know what to do. It can even seem like God is being silent. It is in moments like these we must remember that Christ is a good shepherd who is watching over us, “ I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep[a] that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.” (John 10:11-18).  Take notice that the “hired hand abandons the sheep,” this reminds me of so-called ministers that fleece their flocks and disappear when troubles come. But Christ is not those men, He laid His life down for us sheep. 

It is interesting that the symbolism God uses for Himself is Lamb of God, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and we are the Sheep. Lambs and sheep are the same species, so God is saying something there. We are in the Image of God, “The Lord said, let us make man and woman in our image,” (Genesis 1:26-27) and are God’s children through Christ, “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). We are not worms or dogs, but God calls us His sheep and He is the unblemished Lamb and the Shepherd. He is the Lord over the Sheep and yet identifies Himself as the Lamb! This is so important, because the other false and stoic gods are ethereal and distant, but Jesus took on our human flesh and He calls us brother and sister, “Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother,” (Mark 3:35), and “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40). 

We do not have a cold and controlling shepherd. We have a caring and compassionate shepherd who  will even after one of us who strays goes looking for us, “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:12-14) which goes along with what Christ said about never letting us Go, “Jesus answered, “I did tell you,but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life,and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all;no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:25-30). Our Shepherd loves us deeply, and never lets go. Amen.