Who do you shepherd?
The writers of Scripture describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd. You may have seen a picture of Jesus carrying a sheep over his shoulders or with a large staff. Sometimes these all too familiar pictures soften the message.
John 9-10 shares a conversation Jesus has with his disciples and Pharisees. Jesus heals a man born blind which opens the discussion from the Pharisees about how this man became blind in the first place. Rather than celebrating the moment, they open the door to a theological debate. They saw the issue, not a person.
This dialogue becomes the backdrop to Jesus’ illustration of the Good Shepherd. All throughout the Old and New Testament, we can see the various examples of “shepherds” who loved people and others that use people. John 10 unequivocally displays the model Good Shepherd of Jesus — who ultimately lays down his life for others.
Eugene Peterson in As Kingfishers Catch Fire talks about Jesus being our model of a Good Shepherd and John 10. Listen to this challenge he offers us in the closing chapter:
“And what I am imagining right now is that everyone here this morning — every teacher, every engineer, every doctor, every homemaker, every policeman, every tradesman — will leave here claiming Jesus, the Good Shepherd, as the model of how we are going to live our lives as good shepherds who become interested in the people around us as persons, not problems, not projects, not puzzles. Persons we will look to serve, to lay down our lives for…”
pg. 338 As Kingfishers Catch Fire
Each one of us shepherds someone. If Jesus is our model, then what does that mean for our relationships today? Let me ask you again — Who do you shepherd?
Photo by joseph d’mello