I am aware that children often want some unusual things. There is the child who will only eat food that is a certain colour, there is the child who wants and prays for a dog and in my case the child who wants a lamb. Now that sounds very nice and you might picture a lovely setting for growing up with fields and lots of green, just like here. In my case I lived on a council housing estate in Cardiff without much green. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t have a lamb, after all we did have a garden !
I was thinking about this as I looked at our readings for today, readings which talk of sheep and shepherds. In our readings we heard what is perhaps the most well known Psalm, Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd. Then in our gospel reading (John 22-30) we heard of Jesus both knowing and being known by His sheep.
We are God’s sheep and we are all people in need of the shepherd who offers us protection and a better life. A shepherd who is good.
Jesus is the good shepherd and He looks after us and in His loving arms we are safe. This never means that all will be well but it does mean that with God life is just somehow that bit easier. Easier in terms of having someone we can turn to who will never let us down even when life is not so good. It doesn’t stop difficult times but we know where we can turn.
There is a lovely story about Psalm 23. It is that once an actor was the guest of honour at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favourite excerpts from different books. An old preacher who happened to be there and he asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor's recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher's voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd."
We know the Psalm so well, and we also know the Shepherd who loves us more than we can begin to imagine. In the gospel reading we heard of Jesus’ sheep knowing Him.
In the reading we also heard of Jesus being questioned at the festival of Dedication. This festival marked the time when the temple was dedicated after being rescued from destruction by a man called Judas Maccabaeus
In perhaps the most typical way ever, at this festival Jesus was questioned. He was asked once again if He was the Messiah. He was asked as to how long He would keep people in suspense. I am not sure whether this was a sarcastic and bullying question. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. The answer Jesus gave was a very clever one that answered them whilst making a very good and obvious point. This is that if they had trusted Jesus and followed Him they would have seen who He was. Jesus cleverly makes the point that if they knew Him, they would be one of His sheep and He would know them. Not only this, but they were promised eternal life. It is the same for us as followers today.
In the reading from Revelation (7:9-17) we heard of a lamb. Not just any Lamb, but the lamb who was sacrificed for us. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice who died and then rose again so that we could have our sins wiped away and be offered eternal life. As we follow we are sheep, and yes, we follow a Good shepherd but we also follow the lamb who was sacrificed for us.
If all this talk is getting confusing, remember it is all a way that was used to help us understand what God has done for us. There are many images and terms for God in the Bible and we can always find the one that makes the most sense to us. This can change over time. The main thing is that we know God became like us so that we could understand Him more. He described Himself as a shepherd. He was sacrificed for us. I do like the point in the reading from Revelation that He wipes away our tears.
Isn’t it good that God came amongst us and helped us understand by saying things such as He is a Good shepherd.
We follow Him and to be honest I would much rather Him do the leading than for me to try to attempt to lead myself. If you knew anything about my sense of direction, you would never want to follow me ! Unless you wanted to get lost.
A young woman who wanted to go to college, was disappointed when she read the question on the application form that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."
There is no shame being a follower of someone or something – and when we follow Jesus we are following someone who it is impossible to lead, and someone who always knows our thoughts and needs even before we do.
Well, I never had a lamb in my back garden. I am pleased to say that I am a follower, and so part of the sheep. Jesus said that He knows His sheep and they know Him. I pray that we will always know and see our Good Shepherd at work and that we will always seek to know Him more as we pray, read our Bibles and learn more about Him, giving thanks for His sacrifice for us. AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment