I didn't grow up as part of the christian faith, and one of my earliest memories of church was being at a youth event where everyone was singing a camp song, "I Just Want to Be a Sheep." Voices rang loud around me as teens used hand motions and were "baaaah-ing" on cue. I just remember standing there as a 13-year-old girl thinking this is so strange...I do not understand what is happening. Sheep? What?
I didn't understand the motif of the sheep and the shepherd in scripture. Author's use motif—a recurring image or idea— throughout a story to develop their theme. And the Hebrew scriptures repeatedly use the shepherd motif to describe the relationship between God and His people. In Genesis Jacob declares, "God has been my shepherd all my life long to this day" (48:15) then the Psalmist writes, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack" (23:1). In the Hebrew Bible, it is clear that God is meant to be our shepherd, and yet, throughout history, God has relied on human shepherds to help him guide and care for His people. Ambassadors for the one, true shepherd. Yet over and over again, humans have demonstrated that they aren't fit for this role.
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God speaks a devastating indictment against the shepherds of Israel. He says to these shepherds:
3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 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.
5 So...My sheep were scattered...My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
These human shepherds have failed. As humans do, they've put their interests, their power, and their prosperity above the weak, sick, injured, and lost.
Let's not rush past this. They put their own interests, comfort, and prosperity above the weak, sick, injured, and lost. Sounds familiar.
But God doesn't leave us with a simple indictment of these shepherds, He makes us a promise:
"As I live, declares the Lord...I will rescue my sheep...I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out...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. I will feed them in justice.
What an amazing promise from God. He will not let the selfishness, pride, thirst for power, exploitation of the vulnerable last forever. Instead, the Creator Himself will leave Heaven, spend His life seeking and healing and strengthening, until it costs Him His very life. He will feed His sheep with justice.
Centuries after Ezekiel recorded these words, Jesus stands before the people and declares, “I am the good shepherd.” His words pull the people back to Ezekiel's prophecy. He declares, to the people and shepherd alike, I am here. Justice has arrived. Your abuse of power will no longer prevail over my people. What the shepherds have taken, Jesus will give. The Good Shepherd does not sacrifice the sheep to prosper Himself; He sacrifices Himself to save the sheep.
This is the heart of God.
Two shepherds, representing two kingdoms. One characterized by self-preservation, a lust for power, the desire to control, dominate, and coerce. The other, defined by self-sacrifice, service, love, and humility.
Jesus' declaration in John 10 makes me think of the words of Joshua, "choose this day whom you will serve" (24:15).
In what areas of our lives are we choosing to control? To hold power? To build our own prosperity? To coerce? Where am I neglecting the sick and vulnerable?
Where is God calling me to sacrifice? To serve and love? To lay down my pride and pick up humility? What kingdom am I serving?
It is a call to action, and a promise. A call to follow our Good Shepherd and be like Him on this earth, and it is a bold promise from God: He will not abandon His sheep.
John writes in Revelation “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”(7:17).
Human leaders often fail us. They wound us and leave us feeling forgotten. And we often fail others.
But when Jesus declares that He is the good Shepherd, it is a promise that we are not forgotten simply because someone failed to see us. We are not abandoned simply because someone failed to care for us.
We belong to the One who sees every scattered sheep and ternds every wound.
This is how valuable you are in the sight of God.
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