Jesus The Good Sheperd Promises to Seek the Lost and Bind Up the Broken
In St. Matthew’s Gospel Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Jesus also told us that He is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophecies, such as this one from Ezekiel Chapter 34: verses 11-16 ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”
Our good Shepherd does not run from danger, but pays the price. Jesus told His disciples He was sorrowful to the point of death. In His human nature He knew he was going to suffer and die on the cross. He cried out earnestly to His Father in heaven: Saying: “Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from Me; (in other words, if there is no other way to bring salvation to the world), nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
Jesus truly displayed great courage. I think that John Wayne best described courage when he said: Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. Jesus displayed great courage because He is the Good Shepherd. He is not a hireling, but the Owner of the sheep. He would not run, as His duty lay with the flock. He could not deny the need of the flock. He could not first seek to care for Himself. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. So, Jesus died on the cross, in our place, He died for His sheep. We read in the book of Hebrews that under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)
So, if He is the Shepherd, we must be the sheep. Sheep are, in fact, among the least intelligent of animals. They will wander from safety into danger without any thought. They will go where they cannot get back from, without assistance, repeatedly. They are helpless in the face of genuine danger, and do not understand the dangers that confront them, and even when they do, it is often too late for them to flee or do anything about it to protect themselves. That is what makes sheep the perfect image for God’s people and the Shepherd the perfect image for God Himself. Even when we know we have gone astray, we are often all too unwilling to turn around, unwilling to do the things that we know would bless and benefit us. The devil, the world, and our own sins can threaten and destroy us, if we are unwilling to give up whatever it is that draws our hearts and attention from a holy life of faith.
Whatever it is that keeps us from His Word, whatever it is that makes us too busy to pray or too important to put others first. Anything that causes us to forget to trust God, or causes us to despair of God’s love, good will, and forgiveness, threatens us. Jesus is the Son of God, God of God, and Very God of Very God, who came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man. That means He became one of us, taking on human nature, flesh and blood, and was born fully human, while still truly and fully God as well, and lived without sin.
Jesus spent the last years of His life teaching His disciples and doing things which should have identified Him as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, the Savior intended by God for our rescue from our sins. Then Jesus died, the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep.” He died on a cross, as we just celebrated on Good Friday. His death was ours. We had earned it and we deserved it, and He did not, but He died for us and in our place. Because of His great love and his self-giving sacrifice, we are forgiven. Our sins are not held against us. We are no longer considered guilty, and deserving punishment and death, but holy and righteous because of our faith in the death burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus paid the price this for all, and God has promised that all who trust His promises, and expect what He has promised will receive and possess those promises, forgiveness, love, blessings, along with life everlasting, though His Son, Jesus Christ.
In the days of Jesus, shepherds led their sheep; they did not drive them like cattle. In fact, you cannot drive sheep as one might drive a herd of cows. You have to lead them. Shepherds of old would meet and their flocks would mingle, but when it came time to part, the shepherds would simply walk away and call out, and their sheep would each hear his shepherd’s voice and follow their shepherd because he was their shepherd, whom they knew and trusted. Jesus’ sheep hear his voice, He told us so!
Those who do not hear and follow Him, are simply, and sadly not His sheep. There are other shepherds out there. They speak different words and lead in different directions. Each has his own agenda, and do not care for the sheep, except as a means to their own needs. They do not love the sheep because they do not own them, and they cannot save them, because the kind of saving the sheep need is beyond anyone but Jesus. When life’s dangers confront the sheep, those false shepherds, those hirelings, run away and abandon the sheep to their destruction.
But Jesus is the Good Shepherd and that means we are safe. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He will protect and keep us in all things. He will guide and bless us. He will not desert us in our hour of need, because He is not merely a hired hand.
We need have no fear of life or death. He is our Shepherd. He has loved us to death, and into everlasting life. The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
The Most Rev. Dr. Rick Aaron Reid, Presiding Bishop Traditional Anglican Church of America Rector, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Newton, North Carolina 28658