Why is the Good Shepherd good? Why does He lay down His life for the sheep? That doesn’t really seem like a great idea. They are just sheep, after all. They hardly seem worth the life of the Shepherd. But this is precisely what makes Him the Good Shepherd – He cares for the sheep. He cares about the well-being of each of them. They are precious to Him and He knows and calls each of them by name. He knows you. And not only is your Shepherd willing to lay down His life. He has. He has ridden out in humility and hurled Himself into the jaws of the wolf of death because that was the only way to save you. He didn’t do market research or weigh the value of your life against His own. No cost was too high to pay so that you might remain with Him in His flock forever. Do any of us deserve such a sacrifice? Most certainly not. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray.” We have wandered away from our Shepherd thinking we could find greener pastures and more peaceful waters. We have allowed the wolves to deceive us and lead us out away from our Shepherd’s protection. A cost benefit analysis would definitely dictate that we be abandoned to our own folly. But the Good Shepherd loves us, regardless of what the world thinks that we are “worth”. And so He has laid down His life for us and rescued us from our folly. Thus let us gather together around this Good and Merciful Shepherd who leads us to the quiet waters and green pastures of the Gospel to feed and nourish us so that in Him, we might be one flock, one Shepherd for all of eternity.
Pastor Ulmer