The Shepherd Knows
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5003 Jesus’ Example of Rest
Edwin R. Roberts of Princeton Seminary once sat under a pastor who concluded his announcements, “I am not going to take a vacation this summer; the devil never does!”
Roberts went home and re-read the Gospels to see what Jesus’ attitude is. He found that of His three years’ active ministry, there were mentioned 10 periods of retirement! This was in addition to the nightly rest and the sabbath rest.
Whose example are we following? the Devil’s?
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Quietly He speaks to me.
Gently He leads me.
Lovingly the Shepherd carries me.
He carries me hidden safely in His bosom
I feel His love inside when other times, my friend, I couldn't.
He knows just what's best for me;
The Good Shepherd knows, He knows
Just what I need. - V. Michael McKay, “The Good Shepherd”
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
In the Bible the word “law” can have a wide range of meaning, referring to commandments, to a particular genre of literature (legal codes), or simply to the Torah, or first five books of the Bible. Jewish tradition divides the Bible into Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). But the Hebrew word torah connotes “instruction or teaching” in a broader sense than would be implied by “legislation.”
Bernard S. Jackson and Paul J. Achtemeier, “Law,” ed. Mark Allan Powell, The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (New York: HarperCollins, 2011), 540.
We don’t know how long the Apostles were gone from Jesus in . It was long enough for them to develop a reputation for being able to do what Jesus was doing. The Jews were not simply seeking Jesus, now they were seeking the 12 as well.
And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.
it’s “them” now -
it isn’t just “Him” anymore!
It isn’t only Jesus anymore, now it’s “them!” The Apostles have gained a reputation because of what took place. You can see more evidence of this later in , when they failed to cast out a demon. This is the first time that they have been given “authority over unclean spirits” (), and on their return, they “reported to Him all things, how much [ὅσα] they did and how much [ὅσα] they taught” (). Mark does not report this, but Luke does (), that afterwards, Jesus sends out 72 with the same authority and similar instructions. I suspect that their joyful return was similar to the return of the 12, for they likewise led with what they had done rather than what they had taught.
I think that is a normal human trait, especially among men. When we meet other people, we men tend to introduce ourselves by saying what we do, rather than what we think. When we report to our loved ones about our day, it tends to be in terms of what we did rather than how we felt. So, I’m not being critical, but the Gospel writers were “keeping it real.” I like that they do that, rather than sugar coating the lives of the disciples in such a way that we would not be able to identify with them at all.
Jesus’ response is so gracious; He doesn’t correct them; He did later with the return of the 72 (). Instead, He simply directs them to take some time to “decompress” - to rest and refresh (). They might not have realized it, but He knew what they needed right then.
The crowds, however, wanted more time with these empowered people. In fact, they followed on foot - in fact, “they ran… and got there ahead of them” (). As I look on this scene, I honestly pray that God would work in our ministry in such a way that people would get excited enough to run to where we are going to be. I pray that, when summer comes, the Gary neighborhoods get excited about the Summer Youth Enrichment Program that we partner with the Gary Cultural and Historical Society, and with our Vacation Bible School. I pray that your community gets excited when they hear that you are launching this year’s Vacation Bible School, or your summer outreach campaign, or your mission projects for the summer. Most of all, I pray that we get excited and filled with compassion, rather than see it as just another round in our never-ending efforts to draw more people in the pews, more butts in the seats, and more dollars in collection plates.
Excitement is good; it can energize a ministry. Compassion is better. Excitement sometimes focuses on you and what you are doing. Compassion focuses on him and her - the person whom you are serving. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, because He saw their actions as resulting from their need ().
People will do things because of their need, that might not make sense to you, or even to them. They will attach themselves to you and draw upon you, because they have a need that you can meet. They might not even like you, but they need you. Herod didn’t like John the Baptist, but he needed his ministry. The mayor might not like Pastor [Buckman], but, come election time, he needs Pastor’s support. Your kids might not like you, but they need you to get them some goodies.
Jesus didn’t minister to the people because they liked Him, He did it because He was sent to meet their need. Whether it was something temporal, like food or healing, or whether it was something eternal - deliverance from the kingdom of darkness and transferral into the Kingdom of God - Jesus did what He was able to do in His vocation of Messiah.
When the Lord equips you through the Word, He wants you to do what you can, not what you can’t. The Lord doesn’t chasten you for what you can’t do, but for what you don’t do and try to justify. Once there is a readiness on your part for God to use you in ministry - in service to your neighbor for Christ’s sake - then the Holy Spirit will direct you by the Word, as it is written:
Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
God will both empower your work, and forgive your coming short of His glory, because that is His promise to you. He will adjust your vision when you acknowledge that you don’t see your way forward.
And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
It’s sad, isn’t it, when ministry becomes reduced to number crunching and coin counting. It’s painful when the Mission of God begins to feel more like a burden - a heavy load that we carry - than an oracle - a message given by someone with a divine commission. That can happen to us when we forget that our ministry is to be Christ-centered and Spirit-empowered, rather than institution-centered and resource-empowered. When we make ministry decisions by first checking the checking account rather than praying for the leading of the Lord, we need the Lord to “make us to lie down” ().
entered and resource-empowered. When we make ministry decisions by first checking the checking account rather than praying for the leading of the Lord, we need the Lord to “make us to lie down” ().
entered and resource-empowered. When we make ministry decisions by first checking the checking account rather than praying for the leading of the Lord, we need the Lord to “make us to lie down” ().
Jesus corrects their vision, taking their eyes away from the money bags that Judas was holding, and directing it to what they placed in to His hands:
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
They had food to spare, and the money bags were still intact! More importantly, they gained the experience of seeing what is possible when we trust the Lord to fulfill His promise, to shepherd us. When the Lord is in control rather than your fear or your ego, He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (). The Lord of the Church is able to take His Church and do things that the world cannot even comprehend when we are willing to walk in accordance with our Confession of the Faith, trusting that God is willing and able to fulfill His Word, regardless of what we bring to the table, or what our past experiences have been:
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .” ()
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
If you find that difficult to believe, just look at what Jesus did with your sins! You couldn’t get out from under the guilty stains, but at the cross,
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
llection plates.
The devil thought that he had you bound, but Jesus set you free. The devil had you “riding dirty,” but Jesus made you clean inside.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
If saving you from your sins was all that Christ did, that would be wonderful. It is good that I can “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” without fear. The Good Shepherd didn’t stop there, though.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
He will hide you in the shelter of His arms. He will set you up in front of your foes, and there is nothing that they can do about it. He is building His Church, and the devil can’t stop Him. He is saving souls, and the devil can’t block it. He is raising up a generation of people who will trust in Him, who will pray to Him, who will hear Him, who will receive His gifts in Word and Sacrament, no matter what the world, the flesh, the devil, the haters and naysayers, or anybody else wants to say.
Jesus has been fulfilling His vocation as Messiah for over 2000 years, He has been the Good Shepherd from the foundation of the world. If you don’t know, now you know.
If you don’t know that He forgives all your sins -
Now you know!
If you don’t know that He heals all your diseases
Now you know!
If you don’t know that He satisfies you with good things -
Now you know!
If you don’t know that Jesus knows all about your troubles -
Now you know!
Jesus didn’t quit suffering until He could say “It is finished.”
Jesus didn’t quit suffering until He could say “It is finished.”
He won’t quit saving until He says, “It is finished.”
He won’t quit forgiving until He says, “It is finished.”
He won’t quit ruling until He says, “It is finished.”
So I won’t quit, and you won’t quit, and the Church won’t quit, because Jesus won’t quit - because He is the good shepherd, and the Good Shepherd knows!
So let the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, AMEN.