Who is your shepherd?
King David knew without a doubt that The Lord was his shepherd, as he reminds us in Psalm 23. David, as shepherd-king of the people of Israel, was never meant to fulfill that role alone; he was meant always to act in the company of God: I fear no evil, for you are at my side, he sings. However, the prophet Jeremiah castigates the kings who followed in the line of David for having failed to continue to shepherd the people of Israel: Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord. God then promises the people shepherds who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble. God’s desire is to bring the people back to covenant, that they might be united in their fidelity to God.
Unity in God is the ultimate goal, one that Jesus comes to achieve for all mankind. When, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus invites his apostles to come away by themselves to a deserted place and rest a while, he is working to meet their needs in the moment. Yet when the vast crowd arrives, Jesus immediately shifts gears, aware that the needs of the whole take precedence over the needs of the individuals in his immediate care. His heart is moved with pity for the people who come to meet him, for he sees that they are like sheep without a shepherd. They look to Jesus for direction, so he begins to teach them many things. His first commitment as shepherd is to do God’s work. As Paul tells the Ephesians, Christ came and preached peace both to those who were far off and peace to those who were near. Jews and Gentiles alike have access to covenant through the cross, and access to the Lord, their shepherd.
Like the psalmist, we can look forward to dwelling in the house of the Lord so long as we recognize our dependence on the Lord, our shepherd, and walk faithfully in his presence, allowing him to walk in ours, guided in right paths by his judgment. When the Lord is indeed our shepherd, there is nothing we shall want.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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