God As The Good Shepherd | Bible Lesson on God’s Care
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles
Most of us remember the famous parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7). Jesus is telling his hearers that God is the good Shepherd who cares for each and every sheep in His fold.
In the Hebrew Scriptures the image of God as the good shepherd appears frequently. He is the Good Shepherd over His sheep …. who are His people Israel. Both the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak of God as a Shepherd (Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34:12); and of course, the famous psalm of David (Psalm 23). The nation as a whole comes under the care and watch of God the Shepherd. He is leading them, guiding them and caring for them.
Jesus takes the shepherd image one step further. The sheep now become sinners, who have lost their way to God. He takes the Shepherd on a mission. Although there is only one lost sheep (the sinner), this very sheep is precious and needs to return to the flock.
Although we often think of God as being this Shepherd; in the context of Luke, Jesus is placing the responsibility of shepherding upon the spiritual leaders of the people. Jesus told his followers that the scribes and Pharisees “sit in the seat of Moses” (Matthew 23:2). In other words, these religious leaders are the spiritual shepherds of the people. However, they had forsaken their commitment and devised their own rules of obedience.
Note Luke 15:1-7:
“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them, saying: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
Would any one of them have the left the 99 sheep in order to search for the lost one? No, not one of them would have done such a thing.
But God would.
God As The Good Shepherd
God is the good Shepherd. And unlike these human shepherds, He would do the unthinkable. He would leave the 99 sheep and search for the one lost sheep. When the lost sheep is found, God the shepherd returns and rejoices over him. This represents a reconciled sinner. God now has a party … He invites his friends and neighbors to rejoice over this poor scrawny runaway that is now returned to the flock.
The challenge presented by the parable is this. Will we rejoice with God and the angels over one returned and repentant sinner? Or will we be more as the Pharisees who see themselves among the 99 that need no repentance? After all, we haven’t strayed from the flock and we have always obeyed! We don’t eat with the “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:10-11), We have kept ourselves “religiously” pure.
Well, not quite.
Examine yourself. Where do you and I need to seek forgiveness?
God, the Good Shepherd will always be there searching for us and rejoicing when we return to Him (Luke 15:4-7,17-24).
—Barbara Hyland, guest writer