THE GOOD SHEPHERD

How much do you know about shepherding?  I’m guessing about as much as I know, which isn’t much.  That’s why I found a book I purchased many years ago so enlightening.  While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks, written by Dr. Timothy Laniak, tells of his experiences living with and interviewing modern Bedoin shepherds. The book is intended for pastors who want to be good shepherds of the flocks under their care.  


In addition to wonderful photographs, I’m intrigued by what goes into shepherding.  Dr. Laniak describes what it takes to care for, protect, and guide sheep. Dr. Laniak discovered that sheep know they belong to a shepherd.  He names them, knows them and counts them every day. He says: 


Naming is a powerful, tangible expression of the shepherd’s intimate bond that begins at birth and grows through an animal’s tenure with a flock.


He gives this description of the shepherd’s knowledge of his sheep from watching one of his Bedoin shepherd friends:


The mothers, which number 51 were kept back from the lambs by Falah and Salim, while Nasir began to call them by name, and as each was allowed to come up, Nasir slipped the noose off the young one’s neck and give it to the mother.  He knew every mother and every lamb.  


An astonishing thing was that he called up each ewe and picked out her lamb in complete darkness. . .All through the process of loosing the lambs, calling up the mothers and handing the baby to suckle, he was calling out name after name amidst the din of mothers’ “baaing” and lambs crying for their food.  


To me it was pandemonium; to Nasir and Falah, everyday procedure. . . he could recognize each mother and each baby by the feel with his eyes shut.  All were black, but by feeling heads and backs he knew by touch which was which.  


Amazing, isn’t it?  What intimacy of knowledge each shepherd had of his sheep.  But there is something even more amazing than a shepherd’s love for his sheep, and that is the love of Jesus for His sheep.


Yesterday, in our 21 days of prayer initiative from our church, we read the tenth chapter of John’s gospel.  In it, Jesus calls Himself the “Good Shepherd”.  He says:


I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. . . He goes before them; and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.  


I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep and am known by My own.  


And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.


I love the picture of the Bedoin shepherds calling their sheep by name, and each one responding by pushing through the crowd of sheep to come forward.  To me, all sheep in a flock look the same, and yet the shepherd has a name for each one.  He knows them so intimately that even in the dark he can identify one and match her with her lamb.  


That is how well Jesus knows us – intimately, by name, in a loving relationship, like a Father with His children – or a shepherd with his sheep.  He calls them “My own” and they know Him so that when He calls, they recognize the sound of His voice and respond.  


Occasionally, a shepherd might find himself defending his sheep from a predator.  Jesus’ sheep are unsnatchable – for both Father and Son, who are ONE – keep them safe and secure.  


Sheep aren’t particularly smart, so the shepherd can’t allow them to wander by themselves.  They’ve been known to walk off cliffs if left to their own devices!  Jesus guides His own, as it says in Psalm 23:2; 3b

To green pastures and beside still waters and leading them in paths of righteousness

There is such comfort, peace and assurance in this description of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  Even in these days of coronavirus insecurity, you can know His peace when you belong to Jesus.


He is the Good Shepherd who gave His life for His sheep.  His life in exchange for yours.  His righteousness in exchange for your sin and its penalty of death.  His life in abundance now, and eternal life with Him forever as a result.  


Who wouldn’t want that?  Want it?  Tell Jesus and watch what He does in your life!  

I’m praying for you.