I am a shepherd, and I am not part of the company of men. When I go to the marketplace, I know people look away from my stained feet and rough sandals. The smell of the sheep is always on me, and my hands are cracked like dry leather. I live in the outside, beyond the world of men, beyond the concerns of society watching my sheep and placing myself between them and danger. Our greatest king was a shepherd boy once.
Caring for the Flock
There are too many nights when the wind passes right through my bones and I long to creep into one of the little houses in the village and sleep in the warmth there. But my flock gather close to me, warming me with their bodies and my hands pass through their wool. When they cry out, I am there, when they fall, I lift them up and I lead them on each day to the grounds where grass grows and down to the water’s edge.
I take my rest lying in the entrance of the sheepfold so no one, man or beast, can touch them without my knowing and defending them. I defend them from the wolf and robber, from hunger and thirst. I gently lead the ewes that are in lamb to the resting place, I watch over their lambing and I bring the young lambs to their mother’s sides.
Under the Night Sky
My roof, the night sky, is wide. While other men shelter in their houses, I watch the stars in their courses and observe the lights of heaven in their dancing, and once, when I was very young, I saw the whole night sky lit up with singing beings and they sang ‘Glory, Glory, Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth’
The Good Shepherd
I mused for years on the meaning of that night, sitting beside the flock. The shepherds saw a wonderful sight that night and I wondered why it was, of all men, shepherds who heard the message of angels. Today though, those words are singing in my heart. Today I saw Him: the hope of Israel. And he said,
‘I am the Good Shepherd :
the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.
… I know my own
and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father;
and I lay down my life for my sheep.
‘The Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me;
I lay it down of my own free will,
and as it is in my power to lay it down,
so, it is in my power to take it up again.
and this is the command I have been given by my Father.’
Our great king was a shepherd and here, at last, is our Shepherd who knows each one of us and calls us by name. He will place his own body between us and mortal danger; he will live for us and die for us. He is the Beloved Son of the Father who loves us as His Father loves him.
Glory to God in the highest and glory to Jesus, the Son.
