Sheep need someone who knows them and can call them by
name. Sheep need someone who will lead
them to food and water. When sheep fall
and are unable to get back up, they need someone who will pick them up and set
them on their feet again. Sheep need someone
to lead them, someone they can follow so as not to get into trouble, and when
there is trouble approaching, they need someone who will protect them. And in the dark of night, when danger is all
about, they need someone who will stay with them and will ward off thieves or
wolves who seek to steal them or kill them.
Learning about sheep made the reality of Jesus being the
Good Shepherd more meaningful for me.
How often we are like sheep and are in need of help or rescue. How often we are like sheep and need someone
to call us by name, someone whose voice brings us a sense of peace and security. And there are times when we, like sheep, fall
and either can’t or won’t get up again.
We need someone stronger than ourselves to lift us up and stay with us
with the promise that all will be well.
Jesus can and will do all of that for each and every one of us.
We need to come to know his voice and to respond to his call
and directions. We need to be humble
enough to follow him and look to him when we sense there may be trouble at
hand. The Good Shepherd will be there for
us, but we need to call out to him and ask for help.
I once heard a story about a little lamb would not stay with
the shepherd. Instead, he always went
off on his own and got into all kinds of trouble. So the shepherd took the lamb and broke one
of his legs, rendering him unable to walk.
Then the shepherd placed the lamb on his shoulders and carried him
everywhere until the leg was healed. As
a result of spending all that time so close to the shepherd, the lamb never
strayed again, but always kept close.
The point of the story is that God may allow some of the
suffering in our lives in order to bring us closer to the Lord than we ever
could have imagined. Scripture tells us
that the Lord is close to the broken-hearted and when we are brought so low
that we have nowhere else to go, God is always there waiting for us. And when we seek comfort and stay close to
him, like the little lamb, we learn that we never want to stray far from the
Lord again.
In the middle of the joyous Easter Season, it is good that
we take the time each year on the fourth Sunday to remember that the
Risen Lord is our shepherd, and when we stay close to him, there is nothing
we shall want.
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