THE GOOD SHEPHERD
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Luke 10:2-3 ESV
ThE Good Shepherd
One of the titles held by Jesus in Scripture is the Good Shepherd. I remember learning that title from a children’s picture Bible when I was a little boy. It had a very light-skinned American Jesus in a red trimmed white robe sitting on a rock holding a little lamb. That became what I expected from Shepherd Jesus. He would hold me safe as he provided everything that I needed. From there, I grew into an adult and that picture stayed with me, shaping my expectation of what Jesus does for me. Later, I became a pastor and it permeated my theology.
That picture Bible’s image of Jesus might contain some truth, but it is not remotely the whole story. Imagine if Luke 10:3 or Matthew 10:16 were the basis for the Shepherd Jesus page in the picture Bible. A very weathered and sun-darkened Jesus with a worn robe, not holding the little lamb, but sending the lamb toward the dark wilderness with glowing eyes in the distance. That doesn’t sound like a “good” shepherd. Frankly, that sounds like a terrible shepherd. I don’t have the connections nor the resources to conduct this poll, but dollars to doughnuts, I’m confident that 10 out of 10 shepherds would say that a good shepherd never sends his sheep out to the wolves. So, my question, is Jesus really even a good shepherd?
Jesus is a different shepherd. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”[1] A shepherd who leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the open country will not have ninety-nine sheep when he returns. It almost seems like the ninety-nine are expendable. If he’s not the owner of the flock, he will most definitely be beaten by the flock owner and other shepherds. The leaving of the ninety-nine sheep was also not in my picture Bible. The picture was of a lamb hanging from the side of a cliff, caught in a weirdly placed baren tree, with Shepherd Jesus reaching down to rescue him. I guess I can see how the picture of the terrified ninety-nine sheep being chased down by wolves while the shepherd was saving the one sheep didn’t make it through the editing process. So, what’s my point?
THE DEADLY HARVEST
From an early age, we’ve been subtly (or not-so-subtly) influenced to expect that Jesus as our Shepherd will keep us in a safe place with other believers like us. When we get lost, He will quickly make things better. Shepherd Jesus is all about our safety and our comfort. And as much as I hate the prosperity gospel (which is no gospel at all), growing up in the Evangelical church in America, I am fairly convinced that God’s desire for me is to enjoy a green pasture under the watchful eye of the good shepherd with only fleeting moments of tension that need to be eliminated as quickly as possible. That’s not actually a Biblically accurate understanding of Shepherd Jesus.
There are two things that have hit me hard lately. The first thing is that part of the harvest Jesus speaks of in both Luke and Matthew includes wolves. Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful and immediately follows that up that he is sending us out as lambs among wolves. When I’ve thought of soul harvest, the image that comes to mind is people hungry and crying out for Jesus to save them. I do not think of people who stand in opposition to my witness of Jesus and definitely don’t think of people bent on persecution of Jesus’ followers. But the wolves are part of the harvest.
OUR FIRST LOVE
There are two ways to end the persecution of Christians. The first way is to simply stop testifying about Jesus whether in the open or in secret. Most persecution would stop. The other way to end the persecution of Christians is to love the wolves all the way to the cross. According to the behavior of Shepherd Jesus, it seems that the first way is not an option. In Revelation, when Jesus is speaking to the church in Ephesus, he accuses them of abandoning their first love.[2] According to the context, this is not an abandonment of their love of Jesus but their love of the lost, their witness to the people in Ephesus. They weren’t unfaithful to their theology; they were unfaithful to their task. As the day of Jesus’ return draws closer, we need to be radically about our covenantal task. When our political culture begins to actually persecute the American church, and it will happen, will our impulse be to bring our persecutors to the Lord, or will it be to get back control at any cost?
The second thing that hit me lately is that Jesus leaves the ninety-nine because he deeply loves those who are lost, both the vulnerable and the aggressors. Shepherd Jesus can “leave” the sheep to pursue the one because the sheep are already secure even if they get torn apart by wolves. And Jesus is okay with the wolves mixing with the sheep because that’s the only way that the wolves will hear the message of Jesus. In fact, Jesus already sent the ninety-nine sheep out to the wolves. As He said, “I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”[3]
If the sheep stay in the safety of the corral or away from wolf country, they aren’t serving the Shepherd! Our lives in this age, as the people of God, are expendable because we are secured by the blood of the Lamb. He gave his life for us, and he sends us out to give our lives for others.
If I really am living out the Maranatha Cry, then I will be more influenced by the not so pleasant pictures of Shepherd Jesus who asks his sheep to join him in his sufferings for the sake of the Gospel reaching every generation in every geographic location on earth. Jesus didn’t draw me to Himself to live in comfort and ease, he sacrificed for me and saved me so that I could confidently go and imitate him.
Matthew has been pastoring in one form or another from the Midwest to Central California for 20 years. He and his wife are in the parenting adult children season of life. Over the last few years, Matthew has been awakened by the Maranatha Cry and now carries with him a deep conviction to ready the church for the return of Jesus, calling the church to intimacy with Jesus and obedience by making disciples.
