DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

A Shepherd, Lamb, Wretches and Sheep

Can we really relate to the picture of being a sheep who is cared for by a shepherd? How many shepherds have you ever met or even observed? For me: none. Yet Christians will make the 23^rd Psalm their favorite Bible passage about life and death, just as many also make the hymn Amazing Grace their favorite at funerals. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want….” “Amazing Grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me!”

What’s a wretch? St. Paul called himself a wretched man because he couldn’t stop himself from sinning when he wanted to please God (Rom 7:24). A wretch is a miserable person who is profoundly unhappy. Can you relate to that? Jesus said to weak Christians in Laodocea (a city in Turkey), “You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful…” He had just condemned their lukewarm, Christian living and said, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”(Rev 3:16) Jesus can say that about you and me. A wretch is a despicable or vile person. A wretch is a sinner.

That’s why it IS amazing that Jesus “saved a wretch like me!” Grace means God’s love and compassion that we have neither earned nor deserved. And how did Jesus save us? First he was like the sacrificial lamb of the Israelites’ Passover whose blood saved God’s people from death. "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Jesus’ death was payment for our sins and washed them away from us. “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1John 1:7)

Next, Jesus is our Good Shepherd who “maketh me to lie down in green pastures and leadeth me beside the still waters.” When you sing Amazing Grace, substitute “Jesus” for the word “grace”, and you will know why you feel comfort from this hymn and from Psalm 23. “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘Tis Grace/Jesus has brought me safe thus far, and Grace/Jesus will lead me home.”

Home is heaven. Thus writes John in Revelation 7 about your Christian loved ones who have died: “They will never be hungry or thirsty ever again. The sun will never beat upon them, nor will any scorching heat, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

I may not know much about shepherds or sheep. I know Jesus is my Shepherd who found me, a lost sheep and saved a wretch like me, by being the Lamb of God whose blood washed my sins away. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." (Psalm 23:6)

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