Reflections on Sunday, April 29th, 2012: “What Makes Your Shepherd ‘Good’?”

Dear Friends,

The word “good” is sorely overused. We see “good” movies (and even apply the term to movies that really aren’t that good!), we eat “good” food, we have “good” days as opposed to bad days, we walk into stores looking for “good” deals, we want to do “good” for ourselves and others, and hope to live “good” lives. But what is this word on the level of Jesus and His salvation for us really about? How is Jesus our “good” Shepherd? John 10:14-15 states, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Two verbs stand out here: 1) ginosko (“to know”); and 2) tithemi (“to lay down”). We learn something about why Jesus is our Good Shepherd through these words.

First off Jesus chooses to know us — and know us intimately — even though we are incredible sinners. It is fascinating that we are compared to sheep. Picture a shepherd working in the middle of the day finding a sheep that has wandered off — and gotten itself stuck in a thicket — so that the shepherd has to go to a lot of trouble to save the animal, and then pick it up putting its dirty, stinky wool coat up against his face along the way. The animal is obnoxious: always wandering off while proving its stupidity and demonstrating that it really is a lot stinkier than it is cute!

Jesus knows us. He knows about all of our sins. He knows how messed up we are. And yet, while knowing us so well, He chooses to be there for us as our Good Shepherd.

This is the amazing part of our Lord’s love for us. In many human relationships, it is easy to have great first impressions, but then we get to the point of really knowing someone, and then…the honeymoon is OVER! Not so with our Lord. In a sense, the honeymoon between you and He was over a long time ago, since He has known about your sin for a long, long time; and yet in another sense the honeymoon is NEVER over. He loves you as much today as ever before!

Secondly, our Lord says, “and I lay down my life for the sheep.”  So knowing you as He does, what about it? Since He knows you were overwhelmed by your sin, He didn’t leave you to yourself, but did what was necessary to save you: He laid down His life for you, shedding His blood to cover your sins, and forgiving you all your sin! He did all of that and then when He rose victorious from the grave, He extended His victory over death to you, His sheep!

This is good…knowing you, loving you, forgiving you, dying for you, rising for you, and saving you…God’s goodness is drenched with mercy and salvation!

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

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