Tag: good shepherd

Renewal (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Great Crowds Followed Jesus as He Preached the Good News, by Elizabeth Wang (1942-2016)

The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 

Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things….

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 

And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. (New Revised Standard Version)

Recuperation

Christ’s disciples had just returned from their first ministry trip without Jesus. He had sent them in pairs to take authority over unclean spirits, with specific instructions on how to handle themselves. (Mark 6:6-13)

Now they had come together after a successful experience. Jesus immediately recognized that the disciples needed rest in a private retreat so that they could recover and debrief on their mission.

Jesus knew a thing or two about what we now call “self-care.” Christ understood the necessity for awareness of one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state – and to take appropriate steps in caring for oneself in order to maintain a vigorous life and ministry. He often punctuated his life with solitary times away with his heavenly Father. (e.g. Mark 1:35)

So, the disciples followed Jesus to a deserted place where they could be alone. Besides, it had become ever more risky to be out in the open. The religious authorities were looking for ways to snuff out this popular upstart of a movement with Jesus as rabbi.

Redirection

Things don’t always go as planned, even for the Son of God. Interruptions are part of working with people. Yet, Jesus never saw those disruptions as a bad thing. It seems that perhaps he even understood them as part of the plan from his heavenly Father. However Christ thought of them, he was unfazed by them.

With an expanding ministry came a larger and more expansive crowd following Jesus. Like a group of ancient paparazzi, there were people dedicated to tracking down Jesus and watching for him; they were absolutely intent on seeing him.

Whereas a lot of people might be annoyed with this behavior (especially us introverts!) Jesus truly saw them, viewing the crowds as “sheep without a shepherd.” In other words, Christ understood the people’s vulnerability, and he had compassion on them.

Refocus

Christ felt genuine care and concern for the people from the pit of his gut. Jesus knew their very real spiritual predicament, an age-old one that God was familiar with:

I, the Lord God, say you shepherds of Israel are doomed! You take care of yourselves while ignoring my sheep. You drink their milk and use their wool to make your clothes. Then you butcher the best ones for food. But you don’t take care of the flock! You have never protected the weak ones or healed the sick ones or bandaged those that get hurt. You let them wander off and never look for those that get lost. You are cruel and mean to my sheep. They strayed in every direction, and because there was no shepherd to watch them, they were attacked and eaten by wild animals. (Ezekiel 34:2-5, CEV)

Jesus, in the spirit Moses, took up the concern for people:

Moses spoke to the Lord: “Let the Lord, the God of all living things, appoint someone over the community who will go out before them and return before them, someone who will lead them out and bring them back, so that the Lord’s community won’t be like sheep without their shepherd.” (Numbers 27:15-17, CEB)

Because the Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd and takes up the responsibility of caring for the flock, there were sheep (the crowds of people) continually either present around him or pursuing him (hence, the need for continual times of rest and recuperation).

All of this resulted in the impossibility of Jesus strolling into a town, village, or city under the radar.

Restoration

Not only did everyone want to see Jesus, but the people also desired to touch him, or at least the tassels of his garment – anything toget close and experience healing.

What’s so amazing about this account is that every single person who Jesus saw or touched experienced healing – without exception. It wasn’t that a few people, or even some of them, walked away changed. All of them did.

Indeed, Jesus is the divine shepherd, who will gather his sheep from the places where they have been scattered.

Christ went into towns and villages to the public places where the people were. That meant Jesus spent a good deal of time in the marketplaces. Since these were gathering areas where people bought and sold and interacted with each other, there you would also find the weakest, sickest, and most vulnerable people.

The needy were looking for help. And Jesus did for them, well beyond what any of them expected.

The Lord Jesus was also doing more than we might expect, as well. By conducting ministry in the economic center of a town, he was introducing a different (and subversive) economy from the kingdom of God.

Those with goods, resources, and money do not occupy the commercial spaces in God’s kingdom realm. Instead, the ones with the least, inhabit the spaces and places of honor. Indeed, many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. (Mark 10:31)

Christ’s earthly ministry restored people’s bodies, minds, emotions, and spirits – thus bringing a thriving economy into God’s kingdom. All of his work resulted in renewal of people’s lives, and a renewed way of living in this world.

“Healer of Our Every Ill” by Marty Haugen, 1987

Refrain:
Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

You who know our fears and sadness,
grace us with your peace and gladness;
Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts. [Refrain]

In the pain and joy beholding
how your grace is still unfolding,
give us all your vision, God of love. [Refrain]

Give us strength to love each other,
every sister, every brother;
Spirit of all kindness, be our guide. [Refrain]

You who know each thought and feeling,
teach us all your way of healing;
Spirit of compassion, fill each heart. [Refrain]

Amen.

The Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Jesus the Good Shepherd, by Solomon Raj (1921-2019)

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd.

“This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.” (Common English Bible)

This is a beautiful passage of Scripture, as we look at it now, two-thousand years removed from its original context. Yet, at the time, Jesus spoke these words after a smack down conflict with the religious authorities, complete with plans to stone him.

In healing a man born blind, Jesus not only restored his physical sight, but he also gave him clear spiritual vision. In contrast, Christ’s opponents remained in their spiritual darkness, unable to see the light of life. And in their spiritual blindness, they couldn’t lead anybody anywhere without falling into a pit and making things worse.

Jesus is the good shepherd, the caring leader who is aware, and has the sheep’s best interests in mind, and at heart. The religious authorities proved to be bad shepherds who only wanted to fleece the sheep of their wool; such persons steal, harm, and kill. Jesus, however, offers abundant life.

The good shepherd provides altruistic care at a great cost. Whereas the hired hand runs away when the wolves come and threaten the flock, Jesus as the Good Shepherd puts his life on the line to protect the sheep. Three times we are told that Christ lays his life down for the benefit of others.

Bad shepherds have no such concern. And, unfortunately, such leaders have been around ever since the fall of humanity into sin. They cut and run when things get risky and dangerous.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.” (Ezekiel 34:2-6, NIV)

Jesus, in his incarnation, embodies the love and concern of God for the people of this world. Christ takes the initiative to do what needs to be done for the benefit of the at-risk sheep.

Jesus the Good Shepherd, by Francisco Borboa

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land.

There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.” (Ezekiel 34:11-16, NIV)

Since Jesus is the Good Shepherd, he has the unique ability and authority to decide who is in the sheep fold, and who is out. Nobody else gets to make those sorts of decisions. This way, ultimate issues of eternal life and abundant life are handled with perfect justice and righteousness.

It’s okay that this is all a mystery to us. We sheep need only to keep the Shepherd in our line of sight, and let him do his job of caring for us – without whining or complaining. After all, we could easily have a bad shepherd herding us around like a bunch of stupid cows, and treating us with indifference, even meanness.

The Holy Trinity of God – Father, Son, and Spirit – work as One. The Father loves the Son and the Spirit, and also loves those whom the Son and Spirit have touched. The Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and obeys all things from the Father, while listening to the Spirit. And the Spirit loves the Father and the Son, knowing them intimately and always operating in love for the benefit of the sheep’s deliverance from wolves.

In particular, the Son, Jesus, lays down his own life, but takes it up again. He does so because of love. The perfect unity and love of the blessed Holy Trinity spills out in Christ’s care for us.

The laying down and taking up of life on the part of the Good Shepherd is not only an expression of great love and faithfulness toward us sheep, but it is also a deep abiding love and commitment toward the Father from whom all blessings flow.

To put it another way, this motley flock of sheep are purposely drawn into the unity, harmony, and love between the Father and the Son. And when we glimpse and experience such overwhelming love, we choose to remain connected to this incredible loving dance.

Our world is much too characterized by selfish concerns and shortsighted actions. In the loving embrace of the Good Shepherd, we have an opportunity to experience peace and rest, grace and abundance, light and life. To know such love is to never turn back to old self-centered ways of living.

Shepherd of all, by laying down your life for the flock, you reveal your love for all. Lead us from the place of death to the place of abundant life, so that guided by your care for us, we may rightly offer our lives in love for you and our neighbors. Amen.

The Lord Is My Shepherd (Psalm 23)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Psalm 23, by Cliff Gleason

The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
    He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
    forever. (New Living Translation)

This is one of the best known places in the Bible – even for people who are not religious. And that is for good reason. The psalm is timeless in it’s relating to us in our human condition. It taps into our human need for a compassionate presence, secure protection, and abundant provision. I believe that, most of all, Psalm 23 effectively goes to our inner selves and reminds us of our greatest need: God.

My underlying conviction concerning this wonderful psalm is that the reason we adore it so much is because we humans have an innate primal desire for God. Whether we are consciously religious or not, our deepest longing is for connection with the Divine.

Much of humanity, it seems to me, have repressed this desire. Many people bury this longing underneath multiple layers of other interests and competing desires. Others experience the primal desire for God as a yearning for wholeness, completion, or fulfillment.

Yet, regardless of how particular individuals or groups may frame it, humanity’s basic need is to love and be loved – to move ever closer to the source of love. This inner craving is the essence of the human spirit, and it is captured well in a biblical psalm which pictures a person who settled into the God who is Love.

“Our hearts are forever restless until we rest in God.”

St. Augustine

With Psalm 23, our human longing is spelled out in a mere 50 or so words – we can imagine not only being transported, but also being actually transformed into an enjoyable divine/human relationship, set within an idyllic landscape of settled peace, safety, and strength.

Serenity for our anxious racing thoughts becomes a real hope, for there is a shepherd who protects the human flock and ensures that they have everything they need.

It is understandable that the relationship between God and humans is likened to that of a shepherd and sheep. In reality, sheep need a shepherd. They require someone to look out for them and provide for them. Sheep, in my opinion, are not stupid and clueless; they are skittish animals who only function well if they are non-anxious and at peace.

The presence of a caring shepherd makes all the difference. And, more than that, the shepherd does a myriad of needed things for the sheep that they are not able to do themselves, such as protecting them from wolves, finding adequate pasture to feed upon, and relieving them of the intestinal gas from eating all that grass which would literally kill them without the shepherd’s intervention.

Whereas human shepherds may or may not be faithful in their duties and extend genuine care to the flock, God is always present and loving. Moving to the rich pasture of the New Testament, Jesus is described as the Good Shepherd who will care for and preserve the sheep in every way needed. (John 10:1-21)

Psalm 23, by Cliff Gleason

Indeed, with Jesus as the consummate shepherd, people want for nothing and have everything they need. No wolf can snatch them out of his hand, and the mundane tasks of washing their feet is lovingly done for them. With Jesus, the deep yearning of the inner person becomes satisfied; the soul is restored.

Even the implements of a rod and a staff are used for good, and not for ill. An unfaithful shepherd will likely beat the sheep and berate them, only concerned for fleecing them to sell their wool on the market. But Jesus uses the rod to guide and direct in the way we ought to go, for our benefit and well-being. And the staff – the shepherd’s crook – is benevolently used to rein in the strays who don’t realize how in danger they’re in.

Truly, discipline and encouragement are not mutually exclusive concepts; they instead go together as two forms of loving leadership and care. Only those who take the time and effort to correct another are the ones who really care enough to do so.

In the shepherd’s presence, we can exist with a sense of security, even though there is danger all around us. Our longing for peace, and to be secure within oneself, is not a pipe dream, but a real possibility. To be provided for by God in the face of hard circumstances strengthens faith, awakens hope, and fosters love. It becomes an overflowing feast of the soul.

And this goodness is not fleeting. It can be a continuous present reality. Since God is good, all the time, and there is never a time when God is not good, we are continually and actively pursued and shepherded by goodness and not by harm, all the days of our lives.

The threat of death – and even death itself – cannot thwart the avenues of righteousness from being available to us. We can walk the true path toward inner peace and fulfillment, of genuine connection with God and others, without moral or spiritual harm.

There are good and right paths of life. Those avenues are guarded by a gracious God; they will never be destroyed or damaged. If the psalm is correct, and if my core convictions are right, then there is no longer any reasonable or justified basis for fear.

A good care-taking Shepherd is protecting the flock, and providing the sheep with everything they need. We can live a morally strong, ethically sound, and eminently happy life, without being constantly afraid.

Blessed and Good Shepherd of all, by laying down your life for the flock, you reveal your love for all. Lead us from the place of death to the place of abundant life, so that guided by your care for us, we may rightly offer our lives in love for you and our neighbors. Amen.

Advent Is Coming (Zechariah 13:1-9)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Coptic Church icon of Jesus the Good Shepherd

“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.

“On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive. Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.’ If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who is close to me!”
    declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,
    and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
    “two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
    yet one-third will be left in it.
This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
    and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” (New International Version)

There’s likely a reason why so many Bible-readers have barely considered, or just never read, the minor prophets of the Old Testament: It’s difficult reading, on several levels.

Yet, the twelve books of the minor prophets, along with the four books of the major prophets, account for a lot of material within Holy Scripture. If we are to understand the whole of the Bible, as well as know God better, we need to contend with what the prophets have to say.

Impurity and cleansing, grace and judgment, idolatry and stabbing, prophets and visions, sheep and shepherds, faith and apostasy, are all part of what seems, on the surface, to be a confusing hodge-podge of verbiage from the prophet Zechariah. Yet, we can still observe the things God cares about.

The Lord promised to rid the land of idols (false gods), (false) prophets, and the spirit of impurity (false righteousness). If God takes out the false prophets, then the people can say good riddance to a false message of leading others toward idolatry and impurity.

The spirit and the message behind false prophets, unholy leaders, and unrighteous teachers, has to do with propagating lies and suppressing truth, so that they can deceive people and manipulate others for their own benefit – leading groups of people away from reality, and into commitments that go nowhere.

This insidious stuff is meant to be taken quite seriously – because it leads to a breakdown in community, a proliferation of injustice, and oppressive spiritual bondage. That’s why we have a rather dramatic picture of parents stabbing a child – not because God likes violence – but to demonstrate that false prophets and their message will damage and destroy a nation, if indulged.

Orthodox icon of Jesus the Good Shepherd

We must always keep in mind and remember that injustice and unrighteousness must always be nipped in the bud (Deuteronomy 13:6-11). Sin, that is, those things which deceive and make false promises that result in a downward spiral toward death, is to be confronted. In the New Testament, Jesus put the matter this way:

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30, NIV)

Christ was not advocating a physical maiming of oneself, but rather for us to separate ourself from sin by whatever means necessary. In other words, Jesus was saying that sin isn’t something to be managed, but instead something to eradicate altogether.

Truth matters. Truth brings reality and beauty to light. Falsehood is terrible. To promote that which is false, and perhaps even worse, tolerate it, gives hate and injustice a platform from which to crawl out of the darkness and make the world blind. It would take an awful lot to undo error’s presence.

This is why the shepherd, or maybe, from the Christian perspective, the Christ, is stricken. The Good Shepherd, the one who is truth incarnate, would have to suffer. The injustice and unrighteousness is so foul and degrading that only the pure can undo the impure. And it is all set in motion, not by the forces of darkness, but by God.

God strikes the shepherd, and the sheep scatter. He is not struck because he deserves it – far from it – but because he assumes responsibility for the wrongdoing of others. Father God is the parent who stabs a spear in the side of God the Son.

The ultimate good shepherd of the sheep will die as a heinous offender; and God is the executioner.

In Christ, God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

2 Corinthians 5:21, MSG

This same great shepherd of the sheep, who became the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, is coming again. And he will bring the refining and purifying fire of divine judgment upon the earth.

In this upcoming Advent season, we remember not only that Jesus has come to save the world. We also are reminded that there is yet a second Advent, in which Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:7-8, NKJV)

Blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, preserve us from our own madness. Direct us away from dealing destruction to others; help us to steer clear of paths which lead to the ruin of ourselves and our world.

Protect us. Enable us to hear you. Beloved Jesus, show us your precious face in all others – you in us, and we in each other, from all places. Amen.