Sheep and Shepherd

 

On our trip to Israel a few years ago, we were surprised to see a number of Bedouin shepherds still out in the fields doing their thing. They still live in tents and practice their nomadic lifestyle, with permission from the authorities to graze their flocks in rural areas around Bethlehem and Jerusalem. These rugged shepherds know perhaps better than anyone the meaning of the phrase, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

They know what it’s like to leave the village and go out into the open country, where you're all alone and on your own. No police protection, no cell phones, no one to come help in case of thieves, robbers, or an attack by wild animals. Most of us don't live in that kind of world. Even those of us who live out in the country still have neighbors not too far away.   

One of the great experts in the ancient Near East, Dr. Ken Bailey, lived in that kind of world when he was living in Lebanon in the 1970s at the time of the civil war there. There was no electricity, no water, and no telephones. The police had disappeared, the army had fallen apart, and the national guard didn't even exist. The only protection they had were little groups of people that huddled together and tried to protect themselves. The only real protection in a situation like that is, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” When you get right down to it, that's the only real protection we have in this life as well, especially from our enemies of sin, death, and the devil.

One of the great fears we all have is the fear of what the future will bring. Will we be safe? Will we have enough? Will our needs be met? Will we be able to provide for our family? As Christians we believe that God will provide for us. We trust in Him and believe that He will keep His promise to never leave us nor forsake us, to be with us always, to the very end of the age.

Jesus the Good Shepherd says, “Follow me.” If we're going to follow Jesus, we are going to need to hear his voice, and in order to hear his voice, we need to listen to his word.

Bad shepherds in the Middle East use rocks and sticks on their sheep. Good shepherds don’t do that. Good shepherds are out in front of the flock, using a little call or whistle to round up the sheep. Dr. Bailey tells of a Palestinian shepherd he knew of who had 500 sheep with no dog and no assistant. He would just slowly walk in front of the flock, and every minute or so he would give his little call that his sheep knew so well. The good shepherd knows his flock, and the sheep know his voice. 

But sheep do go astray from time to time, and when a sheep is lost, the shepherd goes after the lost sheep. Shepherds will tell you that when a sheep is lost, it becomes afraid and finds a bush to hide under and starts bleating loudly hoping that it will be found. The shepherd knows this, and knows that he has to get there quickly, because wild animals will also hear the bleating sheep, and it's only a matter of time until something bad happens.

 Once the shepherd finds it, it will probably be too scared to move, so he has to pick it up and put it over his shoulders and carry it back to the village. You've probably seen a picture of Jesus carrying a sheep over his shoulder. It’s one of the oldest and most beloved icons from the early church … the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. 

He leads us and feeds us, guides us and leads us. Why does He do it all? For his own namesake. It's who he is. It's what he does. Not because of any inherent goodness in sheep like us, but simply because he is the Good Shepherd, and we are the sheep of his pasture. 

In Israel today, it's still possible to witness a scene that the disciples probably saw 2000 years ago. That is of Bedouin shepherds bringing their flocks home from the various pastures they have grazed during the day. Often those flocks end up at the same watering hole at the end of the day around dusk. When they all gather together, several small flocks suddenly turn into one big one. But the shepherds don't worry about the sheep getting mixed up. When it's time to go home, each one has his own special little call, and when they hear it, the sheep withdraw from the crowd to follow their shepherd home. They know who they belong to. They know their shepherd's voice, and he is the one they will follow.

"I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. I lay down my life for the sheep." - John 10 

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Keep A Song In Your Heart

 

The popular bandleader Lawrence Welk used to end his television show each week with a reminder to “keep a song in your heart.”     

Regularly reading and hearing God’s Word helps us to keep a song in our heart. But it seems like it is harder and harder to do in our culture and world today, with the chaos and clamor of dystopian dissonance ringing in our ears. The Psalms, and especially Psalm 137, can be of great help to us.

The context of Psalm 137 is the Babylonian Exile. After many years of idolatry and rebellion, God sent the prophets to call Israel back to the word and ways of the Lord. But Israel still strayed and disobeyed, and so Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, Zion was left in ruin and rubble, and the people were taken into exile to Babylon. 

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps. Then our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded from us songs of joy. ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?”

They were far from home, living in a foreign country, strangers in a strange land. Everything had changed. The future was dim for them. They had all but given up hope. The last thing on their mind was singing a song of joy.

There they were in Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers, longing for home, remembering Zion, hanging their harps on the poplar trees, without a song in their heart.

Or so it would seem. For though Psalm 137 is indeed about not having a song to sing, it still remains a song nonetheless. It is a song without a song - a vivid reminder of how important it is to ‘keep a song in your heart’. The psalm goes on ...

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”

The promise and presence of the Lord God himself is what brought joy to his people at the temple in Jerusalem. And now, though all of that seems so far away, the psalmist still remembers and will not forget the Lord, even in the midst of pain and suffering and loss.

When Jesus came to his temple in Jerusalem, he was rejected by his own. On the cross, he was forsaken, abandoned, and alone. He was as far away from home as you can get. He was exiled from his Father for a time so we would never have to be. Even in the midst of our sin and separation. Even in the midst of our failure and our fear. Even when we don’t have a song to sing, Jesus comes to put a song in our heart. 

God may at times seem distant and appear remote and far off. But we know that, while weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning. We can have the comfort and assurance in knowing that he is still here, in his Word, in the Sacraments, and with his people, the church. The God of the Bible still keeps his promises. He is the One who gives us a song to sing.

Keep a song in your heart!

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The Real World

 

In 1992, MTV came out with The Real World, the first reality show of the modern era. The tagline was “the true story of seven strangers picked to live in a house, and what happens when they stop being polite, and start getting real.”  I remember watching it once and thinking - this can’t be real. It’s all fake - it’s all made up.

Well, it was a success nonetheless, and we have been drowning in a deluge of reality shows ever since. From Survivor to the Amazing Race to the Bachelor to Love Island, these shows have essentially taken over the television and entertainment industry. And it’s not just Hollywood that has been dealing in the fake and phony in recent years. Fake news, fraudulent claims, and conspiracy theories abound today in all types of media, with social media and artificial intelligence leading the way.

People are left wondering, “What is true? What is real? Is there anything truly genuine and authentic?” It’s why we find ourselves in a meaning crisis in the West, defined and described by the likes of Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, Douglas Murray, and Tom Holland. People are left wondering where to turn when cultural and societal structures break down around them.  

Our country used to have a common story. It was basically Superman’s motto - Truth, Justice, and the American Way. But our culture doesn’t believe in absolute truth anymore. There’s no overarching narrative. That’s the result of postmodernism, where you have your truth, I have my truth, they have their truth, and somehow everything will work out in the end. But as the old “contradict” bumper sticker pointed out so well, all religions may be false, but they can’t all be true. In the end of this scenario, you're left with nothing. Nothing to believe in, no absolute truth, no sure and certain hope. 

The good news is that there is another story. The story of a God who loved this world he created so much that he came down himself to redeem it. A God who promises to someday set things straight and make things right, to make everything sad come untrue. To bring about what he originally intended for his creation - something good, true, and beautiful.   

In the meantime God gives his church a story that helps make sense of life. It gives meaning, purpose, and significance to all. It builds faith, grants forgiveness, & spreads peace, hope, and joy.

For God’s people, the ultimate reality is knowing Christ and making Him known. It is reading and hearing God’s Word. It is prayer and meditation. It is confession and absolution. It is the reception of God’s good gifts through the Means of Grace, the Word and Sacraments. It is eating and drinking Christ’s body and blood in and with the bread and wine in Holy Communion. It is gathering in worship and fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the conversation and consolation of fellow believers. It is, in the words of the Apostles Creed, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 

Welcome to the real world. 

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