The Lord Is My Shepherd

Every Wednesday night this winter, the fellows have had the pleasure of joining Tammi and Eric Marohn for family dinner at their house, followed by a group Bible study on the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus in the book of John. The meals we share are delicious, the atmosphere of the Marohns’ house is warm and inviting, and our conversations are both lighthearted and deeply thoughtful. One recent Wednesday night, however, stood out in particular--the night we explored what it meant that Jesus is our Good Shepherd.

Many of us are familiar with the passage in Psalm 23 that begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” . But what does it actually mean that Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd?

Before we dove into the gospel of John to answer this question, JD and Madison gave us some much-needed context. Right before He made this statement, Jesus had healed a man who was blind from birth on the Sabbath. The Pharisees questioned the man and his parents and then cast the man out of the temple, saying that Jesus was not from God because he had performed a miracle on the Sabbath.. However, Jesus found the man outside the temple and used a parable to reveal His character to the Pharisees.

Jesus begins His illustration by saying that He knows His sheep, and that they listen to His voice. We learned recently that sheep have good peripheral vision, but that they can barely see anything in front of their faces, so they depend on the shepherd’s voice to lead them. They don’t know where they are going, but they trust the shepherd to protect them and keep them safe. 

How often I have felt like a nervous little sheep, unsure of where my life is headed! But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows us each by name, and as we grow in faith, we slowly become familiar with His still, small voice. Learning to listen to God is a process, but as JD put it, our confidence is not in our ability to listen, but in His ability to lead.

Jesus adds that He, as the Shepherd, lays down his life for his sheep. He tells the Pharisees that there must be one flock, and that he will give Himself up to bring lost sheep into the fold. As we reflect on His sacrifice this Lent, we are reminded that despite our sin, Jesus’s immense grace allows us all to know Him personally. He does not scorn us or cast us out, like the Pharisees did to the blind man, but seeks us out and invites us all into His flock, -including the poor, powerless, lost, and lonely.

As Christians, there will be times when we stumble, but Jesus promises that, like a shepherd carrying a lost lamb, He will always be there to guide us safely back into His presence. JD reminded us that we also have the chance to simply stay with Him as we walk through green pastures and even as we climb steep mountains. We can trust that He will always be there with us, leading us into abundant life.

I know I want to stick by a Shepherd like this!

In peace,
Calley