Sunday, November 21, 2010

Good Shepherd

John 10:14-16
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: and them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

The Good Shepherd is another one of the names for Jesus Christ.  I love to think about listening and following the voice of the Good Shepherd.  We talked about shepherds in Sunday School - in Ezekiel chapter 34 the Lord is speaking about the shepherds of Israel.  Besides following the Good Shepherd, we each have to be shepherds as well, to help those around us and gather lost sheep.  In the lesson today, the teacher made a chart that showed the difference between shepherds and sheep herders (she would be glad to know I took notes...).  It looked something like this: 

                                                        shepherds                                            sheep herders             

walk with sheep                                     leads                                                   behind (drives)          

relationship with sheep                   knows by name, loves                    may or may not know - just a job

response to danger                      will give his life for protection           will flee or run in self preservation


It's interesting to think about how Jesus is the Good Shepherd - he leads us, knows us, loves us, and gave his life for us.  Ezekiel 34:11-16 talks about some of the things he does - he searches for, delivers, gathers, feeds, strengthens, binds up what is broken.  We have to do the same thing for those around us, to be shepherds and not sheep herders. 

3 comments:

Debora said...

Funny...I think Ron had that same lesson :) (of course I was in the nursery) Another great scripture- thanks.

The Purtle's said...

always insightful! Thanks for sharing...

WhiteEyebrows said...

I feel like a sheep herder a lot more than a shepherd most days...