The Shepherd and His Sheep

How do we know God loves us? How do we know God is with us? How do we know God is caring for us? How does God love us? How is God with us? How does God care for us?

We can know God loves us, is with us, and is caring for us because God is a good shepherd. God loves us like a shepherd loves his sheep. God is with us like a shepherd is with his sheep. God cares for us like a shepherd cares for their sheep.

In the days of the wilderness wanderings when God was leading his people into the promised land, Moses, a good shepherd of the sheep and of the Israelite people, gave his leadership over to another good shepherd leader, Joshua.

“Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” (Numbers 27:15-17, ESV).

God desired to love his people, to be with his people, and to care for his people, like a good shepherd loves his sheep, like a good shepherd is with his sheep, and like a good shepherd cares for his sheep.

In John’s Gospel account, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30, ESV).

Jesus is the good shepherd of the sheep. Jesus gives everlasting life to his sheep and he knows them when they hear his voice and follow him. When Jesus loves us, is with us, and cares for us as the good shepherd, no one can take us away from his loving, present, and caring hand.

May we experience the love, presence, and care of the good shepherd of the sheep as we hear his voice, know him and are known by him, and as we follow him with our lives and experience his eternal life for us.

A Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Easter: Good Shepherd: “O God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd of your people: Grant that, when we hear his voice, we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

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