Good Shepherd Sunday
May 15, 2011
Both Lamb and Shepherd
John 10:11 and Hebrews 13:20-21
Alleluia! Alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Dear friends,
In our daily lives we wear many hats. Spouse, parent, child, sibling, employee, citizen, and so forth. It's not too often when our various callings conflict with each other; mostly they overlap and complement each other. Sure, our vocations all compete for our time and attention, but being both a mom and wife or a brother and a US citizen don't inherently conflict.
But like I said, on rare occasions they do clash. Ask Abraham. He was a dad and a believer, and the one true God asked him to murder his son. Consider the conflict in Abraham's mind as he walked to the killing place. Sometimes God seems like the enemy.
Ask Jesus. He is both the Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd. He is both the Sacrifice that our sin demands and the One who protects us from ourselves. We see the anguish in Jesus' heart as He prays to His Father in heaven:
"Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done." [Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. Being in anguish, He prayed more fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.] (Luke 22:42-44 Holmen Standard Christian Bible)
Jesus takes these two opposites and resolves the tension of His two roles. He tells us that He can't be the Lamb without being the Shepherd or, perhaps better said, He is the Shepherd because He is the Lamb.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)
The Book of Hebrews expresses the same thought:
Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21 Holmen Standard Christian Bible)
In our lives we strive to reflect Christ's selfless love as we deny self. When self says that Christ may have died for some, but not for you, we deny self as we take and drink the blood of Christ, shed for you, the everlasting covenant.
The inner conflict between self and sheep is where we need our Lamb and Shepherd the most. Jesus crushed our slavery to mindless wandering when He laid down His life for the sheep. Sheep have minds of their own, and left to their own wits, they'd always get gobbled up or wander off a cliff or starve. Left to ourselves we get gobbled up by greed, fall into lust, or starve ourselves with lazy distance from God's Sacraments.
So our Shepherd doesn't leave us, even when we want Him to. Sometimes out of compassion He pokes us in the ribs. Sometimes He may even seem like our enemy, when He allows wretched things to happen to us and to those whom we love. But He always knows what He's doing. He can see the future. That's one nice thing about shepherds—they're tall. Their horizon goes far beyond the grassy meadows of sheep sight.
From one sheep to another, our lasting comfort is always our Savior who wear two hats that seem to speak against each other, but with His divine plan brings them together in perfect harmony. Sylvia Dunstan captured the true opposites and perfect harmony of Jesus in her hymn, Christus Paradox. Let us pray it together as we stand before our compassionate Shepherd, our Lamb and Lord, Jesus Christ.
You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd.
You, Lord, are both prince and slave.
You, peacemaker and swordbringer
Of the way you took and gave.
You, the everlasting instant;
You, whom we both scorn and crave.
Amen.
