I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd. [John 10:14-16 (NLT)]
In Ezekiel 34, the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel—not the caretakers of sheep but the prophets, priests, and leaders who were supposed to protect their people in the same way a shepherd does his sheep. He accused them of not searching for lost sheep and abandoning their flock to be attacked by wild animals.
Surely the people were familiar with Ezekiel’s words when they heard Jesus tell the parable we know as “The Lost Sheep” or “The Good Shepherd.” Told both in Luke 15 and Matthew 18, the shepherd leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness so he can search for a lost one. Although its point is to illustrate God’s overwhelming concern for saving His people and to explain Jesus’s conduct in associating with sinners, the shepherd’s behavior in abandoning ninety-nine sheep seems irresponsible. Who’s going to keep them from going astray, drowning in a pond of water (that wet wool is heavy), or being devoured by hungry wolves? Won’t the shepherd return with the one stray sheep only to find a dozen or more missing or dead? That’s hardly cause for celebration! Did that shepherd abandon his flock like the shepherds in Ezekiel’s prophecy?
If this was a true story, before heading off into the wilderness, the good shepherd would have entrusted his flock to another shepherd. Biblical scholars, however, remind us that Jesus’s parables weren’t meant to portray real-life situations any more than were Aesop’s fables. We know a tortoise won’t challenge a hare to a race, geese don’t lay golden eggs, and a fox can’t talk to a crow. Yet, in spite of their inconsistencies, both Jesus’s and Aesop’s stories make their points.
Nevertheless, Jesus always seemed to be very concise in His choice of words and I wonder if he deliberately omitted a second shepherd or caretaker for a reason. Perhaps there is only one shepherd because there is only one God. He is not about to share us with another god so the shepherd won’t entrust the care of his beloved flock to anyone else. God is omnipresent, unlimited by time or space, and can be in all places at the same time. When the good shepherd rashly goes into the wilderness for the one lost sheep, he hasn’t abandoned the other ninety-nine. Ever-present, while he’s off saving the stray, he also is there tending the rest of the flock.
The Pharisees never questioned Jesus about those abandoned sheep. Like their predecessors, they’d abandoned their flock and failed to seek the lost; Jesus’s parable made it clear that a new shepherd was in town. Perhaps the parable also helped prepare the disciples for a time when they would feel abandoned. Jesus soon would be leaving them but, like the good shepherd, He would return. His disciples, like the sheep left behind, would remain safe in His care. I’m no longer troubled by those abandoned sheep because I know God will never desert us. Indeed, the Lord is our shepherd and we will not be afraid. Whether or not we are aware of His presence, He is close beside us.
Mark, Matthew, and Luke all tell the story of Jesus calming the sea. He and the disciples had started to sail the five miles across the Sea of Galilee when a fierce storm struck. Tired from a day of preaching, Jesus remained asleep in the stern while the storm raged. As the waves broke and the boat began to fill with water, the disciples were sure they would perish. After they woke Jesus by shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” He rebuked the wind and the storm ended.
Our family business recently had their annual summer picnic. As part of the festivities, the employees participated in several team-building activities. Various entertaining games, relay races, and obstacle courses required the team members to collaborate and cooperate in order to complete each task and the afternoon ended with an all-out water balloon battle. Although my husband enjoyed the barbecue, at 75, he no longer participates in the games. He stood on the sidelines with those employees who, because of physical limitations, could only observe the day’s antics. Safe from the water balloons, they each were provided with a tee-shirt identifying them as an “Innocent Bystander.”
Earlier this week, the news broke that church leaders in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses have protected more than 300 “predator priests.” More concerned with protecting the church and abusers than helping the more than 1,000 victims or preventing further abuse, they failed to report allegations, discouraged victims from reporting abusers, conducted their own biased and faulty inquiries, pressured law enforcement to delay or close investigations, and spun their own versions of the events. Earlier this summer, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis agreed to a $210 million settlement to 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse there. It’s not just the Roman Catholic Church that has failed in this arena. It was just revealed that Willow Creek, a non-denominational Protestant mega-church, paid $3.25 million to settle two lawsuits over sex abuse by a church volunteer. No amount of money, however, can remove the trauma of abuse.
So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things through whom we live. [1 Corinthians 8:4-6 (NIV)] 
Recently, a pastor shared a troubling experience while at the annual conference for his denomination. Along with other ordained ministers, he was to vote as to whether or not candidates for the ministry would be ordained. While usually a gratifying experience as this ministerial board accepts people into their vocation, on occasion the vote can be heartbreaking. If a candidate receives a negative recommendation from his supervisor, he or she is permitted to offer a defense before the vote is taken. At the last conference, such an instance occurred and, sadly, one individual did not receive an affirmative vote for ordination.
Devotions of the Heart 