The Good Shepherd

¹¹"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."  John 10:11

¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep."  John 10:14-15

I had a wonderful grandma.  She was a simple woman.  She was a farmers wife.  She was one of the best cooks I have ever known.  She knew how to make creamed peas and potatoes and pot roasts and pies that were out of this world. She made her own jellies and jams.  She took care of the farm cats and occasional dog with the most delicious table scraps any animal has ever known.  

At her funeral her pastor mentioned the faith she had been given in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Her pastor spoke about how she best understood her Savior as the Good Shepherd.  She had lived on a farm her whole life and the Shepherd analogy spoke to her better than any other.  She had helped my grandpa take care of animals on the farm. She knew a lot about how animals behave and what needed to be done to take care of them.  She knew that she needed to be taken care of by the Lord in many of the same ways the domesticated farm animals had to be taken care of by the farmer and farmer's wife.  

A lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears go into taking care of farm animals.  In a lot of ways the farmer gives of his life in order to take care of the animals.  He can't go on a vacation unless he can find someone else to take care of the animals.  He gets sick and injured doing the hard work of taking care of animals.  He can even lose his life doing the difficult and dangerous work that is 'farm work.'

I was singing a hymn tonight that led me to meditate on Jesus as our Good Shepherd.  The hymn is, O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken.  The fourth verse begins, "What punishment so strange is suffered yonder! The Shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander."  We do love to wander, even to our own peril.  But Jesus knew this better than any farmer or shepherd ever knew it.  He knew that our wandering would lead to our eternal death, and so He died our death for us in order to take our just dues upon Himself.   He was perfect, yet He went through the cross and the tomb so that He would overcome death for us.  He rose from the grave on the third day so that, in Him, we His sheep may have victory over death.  He graciously does all of this for us and grants us eternal life through faith in Him given in baptism, the Lord's Supper, His Gospel preached and forgiveness given.  What a Shepherd.  Praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!