Brown's Daily Word 4-28-10

Good morning,
This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. The Gospel reading for last Sunday was taken from John 10, and the Psalm was Psalm 23. One of our friends, Barbara, who grew up in a farm, tells that whenever she sees a herd of Holstein cows grazing on a hillside, her heart becomes jubilant. Whenever I have traveled to the Holy Land, I have seen a large flock sheep on a hill side shepherded in the same way that King David shepherded sheep on Judaen hills.
Two men in a large classroom were called on to recite the Twenty-third Psalm. One was an orator trained in speech technique and drama. He repeated the psalm in a powerful way. When he finished, the audience cheered and asked for an encore that they might hear his wonderful voice again. Then the other man repeated the same words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...", but when he finished, no sound came from the class. Instead, people sat in a mood of deep devotion and prayer.Then, the first man stood to his feet. “I have a confession to make,” he said. “The difference between what you have just heard from my friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know the Psalm, but my friend knows the Shepherd.” John used many images in his Gospel, but my favorite is that of Jesus as a shepherd. Like a shepherd, Jesus is concerned with the welfare and the care of His sheep. The shepherd loves his sheep. Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. As a shepherd He is a servant, a caretaker, a watchmen, and a provider. Not only did John refer to Him as a shepherd, but He called himself a shepherd. It really stands out in my mind that we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.We depend on God, for everything or, at least, we should. We know that just as a shepherd watches over his sheep, so God watches over his children. Two caretakers are mentioned in John's account, the Good Shepherd, and the hired hand. The hired hand had no connection with the sheep and no relationship with the sheep. He thought of himself first and the sheep last. If a sheep was attacked by a wolf, or lost, it was of little concern to him. On the other hand, there was also the good shepherd, who Himself owned the sheep, and had a special relationship with them. When Jesus laid down His life for His sheep He saved us from the destroying "wolves" of sin and death. In the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth told the story of a college professor who had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories on 200 young boys. The students were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote, "He hasn’t got a chance." Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across this earlier study. He had his students do follow up on the same 200 boys who were now men. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply began, with feeling, "There was a teacher." The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. "It’s really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys." Their success was based on the love of a teacher. Our success as followers of Jesus is based on the love of a shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for us. He loved us enough that our sinfulness became his burden. He loved us enough that his perfect rightness became ours. He loved us enough to suffer on the cross for us, to save us from eternal death. He will keep us safe in the sheepfold if we are smart enough sheep that we follow the Good Shepherd.
In Jesus our Lord.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HndQZlmJPpc