Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Before he was a king, David was a
shepherd boy. The youngest of the brothers, the task fell to him when his
brothers went off to their own homes. But he took his job as shepherd just as
serious as the brothers who went to fight in Saul’s army against the Philistines.
When asked, David told about how he defended the flocks against lions and bears
that roamed the Judean hillsides, protecting the helpless sheep against
predators with his staff, his sling, and his bare hands if necessary. They were
the family sheep – known by name, cared for by hand. They were entrusted to
him, and it was his job to protect them, no matter the cost – even up to and
including his own life.
We think of sheep and shepherds
with romantic gentility. We think of lush green grass, rolling hills, babbling
streams, gently bleating, soft fuzzy sheep, and the noble, muscular, vigilant
shepherd. If you have that kind of picture in your mind right now, this is
described as a pastorale scene.
When Jesus speaks of Himself as
the Good Shepherd, the people nearby would have thought of King David and
remembered his 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd.” An interesting
thing happens in the 23rd Psalm; did you catch it? David, the
shepherd-king becomes the sheep who is willing to humbly sit at the foot of the
one who is His Shepherd, God Almighty. So, when Jesus speaks of Himself as the
Good Shepherd, He is identifying Himself as the One whom David worshipped.
“I am the Good Shepherd.” Jesus
wants you to see Him as Messiah. “I am” front-loads His statement, connecting
Jesus with Yahweh of the burning bush: “I am who I am… Tell them ‘I am’ has
sent you.” It was a theophany to Moses, a revelation to ancient Israel, and to
the people standing around Jesus it was an eye opener. It’s as if Jesus is
saying, “The God whom you have worshipped in the Law and the Prophets – that is
me, and here I am, standing among you as God’s shepherd.”
And, it places Jesus firmly in
stark contrast to shepherds who are not good. By the time of the prophets, just
a few generations after King David, the religious leaders of the people were so
corrupt, so against the very word of God that the Lord Himself calls them
“stupid shepherds.” The priests, Levites, and others were called by God to be
His faithful servants, proclaiming His Word in fullness, living faithfully, and
demonstrating mercy and compassion to the least. Instead, they were leading the
people into damnation. “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep
of my pasture,” the Lord said through Jeremiah (23:1). “You have scattered my
flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I
will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord” (v. 2-3). Likewise,
Ezekiel thunders against the shepherds of Israel. “The weak you have not
strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up,
the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with
force and harshness you have ruled them,” (34:4). So, God promised He Himself
would seek out His sheep. “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep…declares
the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I
will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the
strong I will destroy” (v. 15-16).
God fulfills His promises to be Israel’s
shepherd. Not a hireling, but one who knows and loves His people, His sheep, as
His own. “I know my sheep and my sheep know me,” Jesus said. Our western idea
of raising animals, for the most part, is a far cry from the ancient world in
both distance and in time. Here in Texas, we think of the cowboy sitting
astride his horse, looking over his herd of livestock. Change the picture.
Think of a shepherd who walks among his sheep, just a few dozen of them, down
on their level, treating them more like family pets than mere animals. He walks
up to each one, speaking its name, rubbing his hands through their wool,
feeling for stickers or bugs, for wounds or sores. If he finds something out of
place, he removes it. If there is a wound he treats it.
In the 23rd Psalm, you
know the phrase, “He anoints my head with oil.” In the Old Testament, priests
and kings were anointed with oil. It was a marking of their being chosen, set
apart, for holy service among God’s people. This is different. Philip Keller,
in his book, A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm, describes what this
means for us westerners. There is a particular fly in the middle east that
loves to lay its eggs in open sores. Those eggs become worms which dig into the
flesh, literally driving the sheep crazy. They’ll do anything to stop the
terrible discomfort of the worms. The shepherd takes the oil and pours it over
the sheep’s head and body, sealing off the wounds so that the flies cannot lay
their eggs. To calm the sheep, the shepherd grabs the sheep, gently, by the
ears and gets down on their level, speaking face-to-face with the sheep. The
sheep hears the voice, sees the face, and knows the shepherd’s care.
Earlier, I said that a scene of
green grass, lush hills, and a babbling creek is called a pastorale scene. Now,
change the picture. Picture a hillside, but one that is stark, rocky, and
terrifying. There are no softly baaing sheep; rather, screams of pain and agony
matched by laughter and mocking. Instead of a stream of water, there are rivulets
of blood dripping from the head, hands, and feet of a shepherd who is slowly
and painfully dying. This is a different kind of pastorale scene. Jesus is
God’s Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He’s a suffering shepherd. The
sheep are His own; He is not a hireling, so He surrenders His own life at the
cross for them. He is the dying and rising shepherd.
This is what makes the picture so
wonderful – not the hard-working shepherd, but the life-laying-down shepherd.
He lays down His life for His beloved whom He knows by name – His name. He dies
to rescue, to redeem, to save the Church. When night fell on Good Friday, and
when He breathed His last, He is buried in the valley of the shadow of death.
Think of the grave as the doorway. He’s a dying shepherd, laying down his life
for the sheep in the doorway of death, but He is also the rising shepherd who
takes it up again, rising in the morning of the resurrection to lead His sheep
into the new pastures of new life. In His resurrection, the Shepherd anoints us
with His blood, shed for our forgiveness to rescue us from death. Covered in
Christ’s righteousness, our guilt, which would otherwise drive us to despair,
is soothed. Satan’s power is destroyed.
Now, finish the pastorale scene: our
Good Shepherd is the living, resurrected shepherd. We are the people of His
pasture, the sheep of His hand. We follow the voice of the Good Shepherd. To
strengthen us in our following, the Shepherd prepares a table before us and
feeds us with His own body to eat, living Bread which comes from heaven, and
His own blood, wine from heaven that gives joy and life. His voice is heard
through the voice of His under-shepherds, His pastors, whom He calls to both
follow Him and to guide His people. `The sheep - you, His people - need to
listen carefully to ensure what you hear coming from the voice of the
under-shepherd is the words of the Good Shepherd.
Life under Good Shepherd Jesus
isn’t necessarily easy, or happy, or free of pain and trouble. We have no
special immunity from disease, doubt, depression. We have no monopoly on
miracles. We all must walk through that dark valley of shadow of death, with
its steep, threatening cliffs surrounding us. There are no exceptions. But you
needn’t fear any evil. Good Shepherd Jesus has gone ahead of you, and He is
with you.
There are two things you can be
sure of. Goodness and mercy will follow you like a couple of sheep dogs all the
days of your life. There will never be a day that goes by, whether good or bad,
when goodness and mercy won’t be yapping at your heels, reminding you that you
are forgiven, you are died for, you are a sheep in the flock of the Good
Shepherd.
And of this you can be certain,
as certain as crucified Jesus is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all
eternity: Baptized in Him, trusting Him, you will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.
The Lord Jesus is your shepherd,
you lack nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment