On Shepherds and Sheep
I love these passages. They have such power and depth and are really quite profound! Adding one to the next and you have, in my humble opinion, a summary of God's great love for us in Jesus Christ.
- I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...
- I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me...
- The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. --John 10:11,14; Psalm 23:1
And yet...
We have also made them part of the sickly sweet "it's all about me" approach to life with God. We have adopted the whole "pastor" idea from the word for "shepherd" and in the process turned being a Christian into a mindless wandering through green pastures instead of following the Shepherd- God and Jesus working thorugh the Holy Spirit. In church we expect "the pastor" to do everything- to take care of us, to lead us, to be our representative, to be the visible Christian.
Somewhere or another in this process we have gotten lost. We have taken powerful metaphors and made them into doctrines of piety. We have seen them as support for the "pastor" doing all the work while we do nothing. Sheep following along. We pastors have used them to bolster our self-wort and what we are doing.
Jesus' words are more important than that. Walking through the valley of death with God is a deeply comforting image, but you put that together with the Good Shepherd of Jesus and you have more than comfort- you have hope and life and the possibility of living TODAY with God.
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