Jesus, Our Shepherd

Jesus, Our Shepherd

By Michael W. Campbell

The car I was driving screeched to a halt, and I barely stopped in time. As I looked over the hood, I could see a sheep bleating up at me, and the innocent look on its face told me that it did not know how close it came to be minced lamb. My car was suddenly surrounded by hundreds of sheep as the small two-lane highway through the countryside swarmed with a herd making its way down the hills of Colorado. A few minutes later, a modern shepherd, in the form of a cowboy riding horseback, galloped up to the side of my car. “Howdy,” he shouted. We chatted for a few minutes while I expressed to him my relief that I had not taken out one of his sheep. He said that had I hit one it would have been all right. They lose them every now and then, so losing an occasional sheep wasn’t a big deal.

The incident reminded me of the words of Jesus in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” What a contrast to the cowboy shepherd I met on the highway.

Jesus created each and every one of us as unique and special, and it is because He created us that He also laid down His life so that we can all have eternal life. This is a good shepherd who notices when one of His sheep goes missing. Perhaps this is why the Gospels also contain the story of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:3-7). It is here that we learn from the parable that the good shepherd, when even just one sheep is lost, goes in search of that one lost sheep. That good shepherd searches until the lost is found.

In our brokenness, we are all like one of those sheep. In our sinful human condition, we are selfish, unable to save ourselves. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Rom. 3:23).

Paul the Apostle reminds us that even though we would like to boast of our own goodness, we always fall short when we try to do it by ourselves. In fact, Paul reminds us that we are not saved “by works, so that no one can boast,” (Ephesians 2:9).

The beautiful thing is that Jesus is good enough because He is both our Creator and Savior, and therefore knows us better than we even know ourselves. If we trust Him, He knocks on the door of our hearts, asking to come in.

As a child, I put together a puzzle that I framed of Jesus as the good shepherd. That picture gave me hope because I imagined Jesus holding me in His arms. Jesus is the good shepherd who most of all wants each one of us with Him forever.