I Am the Good Shepherd
Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd”
Even before we hear anything else, we get a strong sense of what this means. Jesus is our great, loving, and gentle guide, he is the one who takes care of us, walks beside us, protects us, and is ever looking out for us. We should hold onto this idea as it is something that is accessible and good, but it goes even deeper than that. Jesus is the good shepherd, because he is the very best protector, guide, and owner, we could ever have and we are like sheep who need a shepherd.
I want to start by imagining what a shepherd’s life looked like in Jesus’ day. Most shepherds didn’t own any land so they wandered with their sheep, leading them from field to field, from stream to river to lake, sleeping in caves, valleys, forests, meadows, anywhere they could lay their heads. What this meant is that together the sheep and the shepherd traveled a lot and they would find themselves in a lot of different situations. Sometimes they would find themselves trapped in the middle of a storm, sometimes as they traveled they knew the wilderness in between didn’t have much food, water, or protection. The sheep and the shepherd would endure a lot together, but the good shepherds knew the good spots. They knew where there was food, water and shelter, so even though they may go through a hard time, the shepherd would know that in a short time, they would find themselves in a bounteous land.
As a shepherd, you can imagine that King David had this on his mind when he wrote the 23rd Psalm. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.” Here we get that image of God as a shepherd who is always trying to lead us to places of bounty and peace. Places where we can rest and move in safety and sustenance.
“He restoreth my soul or life, he leads me on the right paths for his name’s sake”. Interesting. He restored my life, speaks to this reality that my life was threatened, it was draining, it was lacking, yet through God’s guidance we find restoration. I think we can all think about moments in our life where we have felt this and experienced it - God our great shepherd wants to restore our life and that comes through following him. In terms of sheep and a shepherd, we can think about this in many ways, but one way is that we can imagine this like all the sheep that go too far astray. Whenever a flock travels from place to place or stops in a location, individual sheep will wander. They might leave the protection and warmth of the flock. They might leave the place of bounty. No matter what they leave the protection and guidance of the shepherd and so they put their life at risk and their life becomes a little less. Like that shepherd that left the 99 to seek out the 1. Jesus is the good shepherd who wants to restore us. He leads us back on the right path; the path that leads to a right relationship with God, with our shepherd. Why does he care so much? For his name, because he wants his name to be linked with love, because he identifies so much with the flock that their wellbeing is his wellbeing, because he has given his name as a shepherd to us his sheep and he is known through us.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”. We can and should think about this as passing through death, or near death and how God leads us to the other side. As a shepherd and sheep, this should also remind us of those in-between times for the flock. To get from one place to a new place of bounty, the flock would have to travel through the barren wilderness, valleys full of dangerous creatures, areas known for thieves and robbers, and places known for dangerous terrain and weather. They would go through places overshadowed by death, where death could be at every turn. If we reflect this on our own lives with God, this can give us a helpful understanding of our hard and scary times. Sometimes to get from one place to a greater place of bounty, God has to lead us through a time, place, or situation that seems surrounded by danger and death. God doesn’t lead us through these for nothing. He is our good shepherd and so he knows where he is taking us. Because he is our good shepherd who puts his life on the line for us, we can also know that in these trying times, we don’t have to fear any evil. “I will fear no evil because you are with me”
Next, we hear that our good shepherd’s rod and staff comfort me. In some sense, we can understand this and I think in others at least I resist it. I like the idea of the shepherd’s staff protecting us from dangers, and I like the idea of the shepherd’s staff gently guiding us, but I don’t like the idea of experiencing punishment or even any kind of pain from the shepherd. I think many in our modern generation struggle with God’s judgment, but we have to realize that when God judges he judges rightly and for our good. If a sheep is consistently going astray, the shepherd shows the sheep a consequence with the rod so that something worse doesn’t befall the sheep. When a flock is walking on a cliff edge, the shepherd has to be a little more intense about keeping the sheep in line. The punishment or pain might suck, but it is far better than the alternative, our good shepherd knows that as we should as well. When we know why God uses the rod, we can actually see even pain or punishment from God as a form of love - because he is protecting us and showing us the way. So, we can join with David and say, even your rod and your staff comfort me because I know you have saved me from something worse.
Now all of a sudden we see that God our good shepherd lifts us up to become more than simple shepherds. Instead, of being animals of the ground, through following Him, we are invited to join Him at His table, with a greater bounty than we ever deserved. He anoints us, blesses us, gives us purpose, and makes us like him, priests, prophets, and kings to become like our great shepherd. Here, even as we are lifted up, given bounty and dwelling with God, we can still be surrounded by enemies. As David mentioned when facing off against Goliath, we can imagine the bears and lions, or wolves and coyotes of Canada hunting the sheep. We can imagine the people in this world trying to use, manipulate, and hurt us. God sits us down in comfort, even while we are surrounded by such dangers. We know that we do not need to be taken, overthrown or even bothered by such things, because we will dwell with the Lord forever and surely if we are his sheep, his anointed and chosen people, surely his goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life.
Psalm 23 is so meaningful to so many because it is a great vision of what it means for God in Jesus to be our good shepherd and what it means to be one of his flock. When Jesus tells us that He is our good shepherd it is speaking into all of this and more. He is not just a shepherd who endures these things and cares for the flock, He is the good shepherd who does everything, even lays down his life for the flock. He is the only one who does this because we belong to him, we are his, like a child, or a precious object, we are his and so he holds onto us dearly.
Lastly, I want to look at what it means to be one of Jesus’ flock. I think one of the most obvious things is that it means following Him. If we are one of those sheep that go astray, we are to call out to the Lord and be willing to follow or to be carried by him back into the fold. Following our good shepherd means following him through everything, knowing that wherever he leads is where we need to be at that moment. It might be a stream for a drink, a meadow, or a scary place of death as he leads us to something greater, but we must trust him enough to follow him, knowing that even in these times He is leading and protecting us.
Being a part of Jesus’ flock also means recognizing his voice. As flocks roamed, they would sometimes meet other flocks and shepherds, maybe at a well, a creek, or even a meadow. The sheep would intermingle, but then a shepherd would leave and call out to his sheep. If there can be such a difference between shepherds, it becomes essential that we know Jesus’ voice and follow it. He is the truly good shepherd we need. So, we all need to spend time listening to Jesus so we can know his voice.
Being a part of Jesus’ flock means belonging to him. This is a hard part. This tells us what following Jesus truly means. It means giving up our lives over to him, his control, his will, his way. We don’t like giving up control and with Jesus our good shepherd who sees so much farther than us and knows such more, it can be especially hard, because we don’t know where he is leading us or what he will do with our lives. Except we do know and we can see, because Jesus is the same good shepherd who has led us and others a million times to places of rest and bounty. He will do it again with us, even if it isn’t obvious how. We just need to follow and stay close and belong to Him and this great flock of other followers.
Jesus is our only true and good shepherd. He is the one who lays down his life to guide, protect and lift up his flock. We need to trust Him as our good shepherd enough to give our lives over to him and follow him. We need to know that even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t have to fear any evil, because the Lord is with us. We need to trust that even his rod and staff are there to love and comfort us. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He lays me down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leads me in right pathways for his name’s sake”. AMEN
