Christ is risen!
Happy
Mother’s Day! It’s been said, and I
think there’s some truth to it, the first voice that a child learns to
recognize is the voice of her mother.
She hears the voice of her mother all the time as she develops in the
womb. After birth, the mother is the one
who often stays home, at least for a time, taking care of the baby. So it makes sense that since it’s the
mother’s voice that rings in the ears of the child the most often, the child
learns to recognize her mother’s voice.
Think
back to when you were a child. Many of
us heard the voice of our mothers as a sign of comfort, care, nurture, and
safety when things weren’t going so well in our lives. But as we grew older the voice that was once
the loving, caring, and nurturing voice was, at times, the voice of correction,
the voice that wouldn’t allow you to have your kind of fun. There were plenty of times when we didn’t
want a mother but a maid who would give her nodding approval to anything we
wanted to do. “Mom, why can’t I see Killer Martians from Outer Space? All the other kids are seeing it.” “Mom, why can’t I play in the street? The road is the smoothest place to play with
my toy cars.” “Mom, why can’t I have a
plate full of Snickers bars for supper?
If you want me to eat all my supper, that would be the best thing to
feed me.” “What do you mean I have to be
home by 9:00? The party doesn’t even end
until 2:00.”
The
voice of our mothers rings out in love; but sometimes love sounds like a voice
telling you that you can’t see a certain movie, that’s saying “absolutely not”
when you want to play in a dangerous place, that insists on you being home at a
certain hour. There were times we would
have like to divorce our families, not claim them anymore. In our immature minds, they were holding us
back from the fun we wanted to have, telling us “no” when we wanted to head off
into the barren pastures.
And
so it is with our Good Shepherd. As much
as we love the idea of having Good Shepherd Jesus, there are times that we’d
rather have a hireling than a Good Shepherd.
There are times we’d rather pray that the Lord is my shepherd I shall
not want… anything other than what my heart desires. He makes me lie down in green pastures, but I
see some better, more desirable pastures over there. He leads me beside still waters, but I know
of better waters where I can fill my belly.
He leads me in paths of righteousness but I’d rather run into the open
fields of the world, doing what I want, sleeping with whom I want, speaking the
way I want, doing worldly things in the worldly meadow, living like the beast I
am. He leads me for His name’s sake, but
I want to make a name for myself, I want others to look to me and covet what
I’ve done. His rod and his staff are
stifling and restrictive. He wants to
lead me through the valley of the shadow of death, but I can find the way on my
own.
So
it is for you. So it is for me. Our beastly hearts don’t want a good
shepherd, but a hireling. We don’t want
to be owned, but have free course to do as we see fit. We don’t want the Good Shepherd leading us to
green pastures, because we think that we know well enough how to recognize the
pastures that are best for us.
Repent. You’re the sheep that has
gone astray; wandered from the path set down by the Good Shepherd. Return to the shepherd of your soul. The pastures that look lush and green to your
sheep eyes are a barren wasteland. The
freedoms that you crave are chains in disguise.
The
Lord is your Good Shepherd and all He wants is you. Yes, you who so often turn your back on the
Good Shepherd. Yes, you who have gone
your own way. Yes, you who have been
more like a wolf than obedient sheep. Yes,
the Good Shepherd wants you to have life and have it abundantly -
eternally.
“But he who enters by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the
gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his
voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes
before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will
flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers,” Jesus says.
There are all kinds
of voices out there calling to you, tempting you, urging you to jump the fence
into another pasture. Sometimes that
voice is your own, convincing ourselves of the fun you’d have somewhere else. But our Good Shepherd calls you each by name,
to follow where He leads. And where He
leads isn’t glamorous or flashy. It
doesn’t look like a place a competent shepherd would lead his sheep, but He
calls you to follow Him up to a hill where the Good Shepherd lays down His life
for His sheep – for you.
He saw the devilish wolf approach, dressed
in sheep’s clothing. He put Himself
between the devil and you, between your sins and you. He’s the gate that separates you from your
wandering ways, from your sinful trying to go it on your own, from your
straying from the Good Shepherd. Your
sins aren’t on you, but on our Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for them,
sheds His blood to pay the price for each and every one of them. He’s the gate that’s been slammed shut, like
the stone that sealed His tomb, forever removing your guilt, your sin, your
shame from you.
He
raised you up from the pit into which you have fallen. He placed you on His shoulders and rejoiced
to carry you home. He washed you in
cleansing waters, bound up that which was broken, and healed all your
wounds. He prepared an altar before you in
the presence of the devilish enemy and anointed your head with oil, and His
chalice continually runs over—over your lips, over your sins, quenching your
thirst.
All
this He does for you. And because He is the
Good Shepherd who laid down His life for you, you’re His good sheep. He gives His life for you and makes your life
His own and His life your own. He became
what you are in order to make you what He is – good – worthy of being called to
the heavenly meadow. Surely goodness and
mercy shall chase after you, shall precede you, shall be on your right and on
your left, above you and below you, all the days of your life, and you shall
dwell in the flock of the Lord forever.
Hear His voice, as the Good Shepherd becomes the
sacrificial lamb. He cries out that it
is finished for you. Your sins are
covered in the blood of the Lamb. He
calls you. He loves you. He died for you. He forgives us wandering sheep again and
again and again. Thanks and eternal
praise be to our crucified and risen Good Shepherd. Amen.
The peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds n Christ Jesus unto
life everlasting. Amen.
