I have just returned from my flock. And I haven't even been to church but to a field. This flock isn’t the flock of God that Peter encourages his ‘co-elders’ to shepherd (1 Peter 5:1), the flock of God that Jesus mandated him to care for (John 21:15-17). No, this is a flock of real live woolly sheep, the ones upon whom that overarching biblical metaphor was based upon and, I believe, gives us a picture to help us understand what it really means to look after Jesus’ sheep.
The only time that Jesus describes himself in a human role is as a shepherd. Others call him ‘rabbi’, ‘master’ and ‘Lord’. But he self defines as a shepherd. And when we shepherd His flock we do so as his undershepherds. The best way to do that in a way that honours Him and is best for His sheep is to do it His way. And He has throughout scripture, but in particular in the 23rd Psalm, given us a wonderful ‘blueprint’ to both experience as sheep and then to outwork as shepherds.
A good shepherd will give the sheep all that they need. They will lack nothing. They will be safe and satisfied. And it is only then that they lie down. I have recently moved the flock onto a new fresh, verdant pasture. With such a parched summer here in North Norfolk, England, the field where they were had become dry with little or no new grass appearing. The sheep had to be constantly on the move looking for new shoots coming through. And whilst they were safe from carnivorous predators in that environment it was becoming the type of context for parasites - worm and fly - and was no longer ‘safe’.
I cannot lead someone to somewhere I am not. But when I have been led to green pasture by keeping close to, and following, the Good Shepherd, then I am much more likely to be able to lead the flock of God that He has given me care of for this season to find a safe and satisfying place, even the ‘rest’ that the writer to the Hebrews mentions in chapter 4.
Now, in their new field, next to a slow running stream (sheep won’t drink from fast running water) they are settled and calm. Which makes it so much easier to get hold of them and check them over for all the things that can harm them. They will let me get close so that I can care for them one by one, as a good shepherd does. When those in our congregations are satisfied by what they are being fed from God’s Word, and secure in their environment, then intimate ‘heart’ work becomes much more possible and the full life that the Good Shepherd came to bring (John 10:10) can grow within them.
And when they live this way, safe in Jesus, loved by Him and led by Him in the right ways, then it is the Good Shepherd whose reputation is enhanced and Jesus gets all the glory.