Shepherds
This week is on Jeremiah 23:1-4:
I've been eating a lot of tasty lamb lately, and as a result thinking a lot about sheep and shepherds. Everyone knows the bit in Psalm 23 where it says "the Lord is my shepherd." But what does it really mean to be a shepherd?
In nomadic cultures, the sheep and the guys who herd them have a sort of symbiotic relationship. The shepherds get wool and milk and meat from the flock of sheep, and the sheep get better protection and better food due to the superior intelligence of their human overlords. They also get free medical care, and access to an itinerary that keeps them from having to guess where their next meal and water will come from. If the sheep wander off, the shepherd will find them and put them back on the right path. As a result, the sheep's life is optimized to be better than it would be if the sheep was on his own, because he is valuable to the shepherd.
The shepherd either owns the sheep, or he's been given authority over them by the guy who owns them. If he loses one, it costs him. It's not a 9-5 job, and it's not a free mutton buffet. As a shepherd, you have to know how to tend the sheep, make sure they're eating, make sure they have enough to drink, find out how they're doing, fix their problems, keep track of where they are, anticipate threats and risk your life to respond to them with force. If you get it wrong, you lose, and if the sheep belong to someone else, you are in very big trouble!
With God as our shepherd, we live the very best lives we can live. If we get off course, God will intervene to nudge us back on track. I've heard of cases where people pretty much ran away from the plan God had for them and circumstances arose that led them right back to it. Think about Jonah and the giant fish, for instance. If we're hungry or thirsty or cold, God will provide. If we are sick, he will mend us up. If we're lost or rebellious, he will hunt us down. Think of the safety net that represents in our lives.
As shepherds of others, we have a very big role to fill. We are taking care of God's sheep. If we destroy the lives of the people we pastor, we bring God's wrath on us and must pay the price. If we drive them away from the church, or from God's plan for them, then we are doing evil. In these verses, God is angry at the people he put in charge of the Israelites. They didn't bestow care on his people, and they weren't able to defend them against invasion. As God's shepherds, they had one job and they messed it up.
God is ultimately our shepherd, and when the shepherds he puts over us mess up, he brings in new ones who will do as he asks. God walks onto the scene as a savior and says "These people will be punished for letting you and me down. And I will fix this."
Imagine how that must have sounded to the Israelites in exile, refugees and slaves to savage foreigners. Your needs are not being taken care of, and you're in constant fear to try to provide for yourself and protect yourself, and God shows up and announces that he will fix it all. That you can go back to being a sheep and not have to be both sheep and shepherd. It is true freedom and salvation.
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
I've been eating a lot of tasty lamb lately, and as a result thinking a lot about sheep and shepherds. Everyone knows the bit in Psalm 23 where it says "the Lord is my shepherd." But what does it really mean to be a shepherd?
In nomadic cultures, the sheep and the guys who herd them have a sort of symbiotic relationship. The shepherds get wool and milk and meat from the flock of sheep, and the sheep get better protection and better food due to the superior intelligence of their human overlords. They also get free medical care, and access to an itinerary that keeps them from having to guess where their next meal and water will come from. If the sheep wander off, the shepherd will find them and put them back on the right path. As a result, the sheep's life is optimized to be better than it would be if the sheep was on his own, because he is valuable to the shepherd.
The shepherd either owns the sheep, or he's been given authority over them by the guy who owns them. If he loses one, it costs him. It's not a 9-5 job, and it's not a free mutton buffet. As a shepherd, you have to know how to tend the sheep, make sure they're eating, make sure they have enough to drink, find out how they're doing, fix their problems, keep track of where they are, anticipate threats and risk your life to respond to them with force. If you get it wrong, you lose, and if the sheep belong to someone else, you are in very big trouble!
With God as our shepherd, we live the very best lives we can live. If we get off course, God will intervene to nudge us back on track. I've heard of cases where people pretty much ran away from the plan God had for them and circumstances arose that led them right back to it. Think about Jonah and the giant fish, for instance. If we're hungry or thirsty or cold, God will provide. If we are sick, he will mend us up. If we're lost or rebellious, he will hunt us down. Think of the safety net that represents in our lives.
As shepherds of others, we have a very big role to fill. We are taking care of God's sheep. If we destroy the lives of the people we pastor, we bring God's wrath on us and must pay the price. If we drive them away from the church, or from God's plan for them, then we are doing evil. In these verses, God is angry at the people he put in charge of the Israelites. They didn't bestow care on his people, and they weren't able to defend them against invasion. As God's shepherds, they had one job and they messed it up.
God is ultimately our shepherd, and when the shepherds he puts over us mess up, he brings in new ones who will do as he asks. God walks onto the scene as a savior and says "These people will be punished for letting you and me down. And I will fix this."
Imagine how that must have sounded to the Israelites in exile, refugees and slaves to savage foreigners. Your needs are not being taken care of, and you're in constant fear to try to provide for yourself and protect yourself, and God shows up and announces that he will fix it all. That you can go back to being a sheep and not have to be both sheep and shepherd. It is true freedom and salvation.
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