Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30

In the Bible, the image of the shepherd is used to refer to leaders- Often to kings, and also to God. So when Jesus says, 

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11);

 and 

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (Jn 10:27)

 he is leaning on that cultural understanding of what “shepherd” is referring to. He is claiming to be at least a king, which is what it means to be the Messiah.

The image of the shepherd has become a much loved way for Christians to refer to Jesus. We see this right in Peter’s first letter- 

“For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”; “And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away” (1 Pet 2:25; 5:4).

 … We also see this happening in our reading from Revelation, where we read, 

“the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life” (Rev 7:17).

So, when Christians looked back through Scripture, like Psalm 23, and read “The Lord is my shepherd” it was natural for them to read that as referring to Jesus. This was not just a kind of literary reality, but it was their spiritual experience of their relationship with Jesus.

Psalm 23 begins, famously,

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

This is a kind of thesis statement for the whole Psalm. The needs of the sheep are taken care of. They “want” for nothing.

There an insightful bit in the Harry Potter series where Harry discovers the magical Mirror of Erised. When Harry looks into it, being an orphan, he sees his parents with him. When his friend Ron looks into it, he sees himself as a great athlete and as head boy. … Harry couldn’t figure out what was going on with the mirror until the very wise wizard, Dumbledore, gives him a hint. He says that the happiest person in the world would look into the mirror and see themselves just as they are. … The mirror shows the deep desires of the person’s soul. … The insight is that the happiest person is content with their life as it is. They aren’t plagued by regrets, nor are they craving something to happen to them in the future. They are able to live in the moment content with the life they have.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, wrote about Holy Indifference in his Spiritual Exercises (Spiritual Exercises 23). He taught that Holy Indifference meant to not be overly attached. This was important because when we resist God’s will for us, it is often because we are overly attached. Think of the rich young ruler who walked away from Jesus because Jesus asked him to give away all he had to the poor and follow him. His attachment to his wealth got in the way of following Jesus. Holy Indifference doesn’t mean emptying the bank account. It means holding it all with an open hand. This isn’t about complete detachment and living in a cave somewhere. It means being detached enough from things, experiences, or people, to either hold them or leave them, depending on how they help you serve God. Holy Indifference means that you are content to serve God in wealth or in poverty. Whatever situation you find yourself in, you are content that God would not have placed you in that circumstance if it wasn’t the right place for you to serve God. … This means that we strive to be content in singleness or in marriage; as parents or without children; in wealth or in poverty; in health and physical comfort, or in discomfort and disease. …

In a spiritual sense, this is to be without “want”. We know that our Good Shepherd watches over us, so how could our Shepherd not provide us with our needs? … Ignatius teaches us to assume we have been taken care of- that everything we ultimately need is before us. But we have to recognize that our ultimate need is not to be comfortable. Our ultimate need is to love and serve God, and in doing that, to be shaped more and more into the image of Christ. … So, we assume that whatever discomfort we face has been allowed so that we can learn to love God, to serve God, and become more like Christ. … This can be very hard to hear, and even harder to live. I know I’m saying it as if it is an easy thing. I know it is not, but I believe it is also where the saints have taught us to strive for.

This Psalm is an antidote to fear, if we really believe what it is saying. If our Shepherd really is looking after us, we don’t have to be afraid. This is something we hear repeated over and over in the Bible.

God says to Abraham, 

“Do not be afraid, … I am your shield” (Gen 15:1).

 To Isaac God says, 

“I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you …” (Gen 26:24).

 Moses says to the people, 

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Deut 20:1).

 And again, 

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deut 31:8).

 The prophet Isaiah says, 

“do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand”;

 “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you”; 

“Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you” (Is 41:10, 13; 43:5).

 … This is a constant refrain in the Bible- ‘Do not be afraid, God is with you.’

It is important to notice that this doesn’t mean the people of God never faced hardship. They had reason to be afraid. They were told to not be afraid because they were facing circumstances that naturally make human beings afraid. … So, when God tells us to not be afraid, it doesn’t mean we won’t face challenging circumstances. It is almost certain that we will face challenges that will tempt us to be afraid. … In our Psalm we read about walking through the darkest valley, or the valley of the shadow of death, and then we read about being in the presence of our enemies. The presence of our Shepherd doesn’t mean we won’t face enemies, and won’t face those dark valleys. We will face difficulty, but When we know our Shepherd is with us, these don’t have to be terrifying experiences. We read, 

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff-- they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (23:4-5). …

We are given these passages to read shortly after Easter because at Easter Christ conquered Sin and Death. In an ultimate sense, what do we have to be afraid of? … In know it sounds like I’m minimizing people’s pain, and I’m sorry if you feel that way. But, if this is really true, that Christ has conquered Sin and Death, that means that we can say with Paul in Romans 8- 

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18);

 and 

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28);

 “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom 8:31); 

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom 8:35); 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:37-39).

There are a lot of voices that want to profit from us being afraid. Our fear grabs our attention- it makes us pay attention to the news, and it can motivate us to buy things that promise us safety and security to protect us from the things that make us afraid. This is constantly preached at us in our culture. ... To counter this we need to divert those voices from having access to our souls and instead preach Psalm 23's message to our souls, constantly, until we really believe it.  

What if we really truly don’t have to live in fear? What if you really don’t have to fear death, because your Shepherd will guide you through that dark valley? What if you really don’t have to fear enemies, because even if they killed you, you would be with your shepherd? What if you really didn’t have to fear any man or woman or creature? What if we really don’t have to fear any circumstance that life might throw at us because God can use it to some ultimate good? … What if our Shepherd really is with us, guiding us, supplying us with all we need to love and serve God so that we can grow more into the image of Christ? … Dare we believe that this is true? … May God help us believe this not just in our heads, but in our hearts as well. AMEN