Let’s ask the deep philosophical questions. What’s the purpose of our lives? What are we doing here? How do we really have life to the fullest and happiest? How much happiness are we even allowed to pursue? What makes us flourish? How should we handle our lives on a day-to-day basis? Most importantly, in what (or whom) are we going to find those answers? And perhaps most convictingly, whom do we gravitate towards for answers without even realizing it?
This one main thing distinguishes us, the sheep of God, from the rest of the world: we know that this world ultimately has no answers for us, but all good things come from our Heavenly Father. And Jesus is the only way to him; there is no substitute. He is our good, noble, righteous, trustworthy shepherd. The God who governs the movement of galaxies and supernovas loves these little people of his so much that he knows us each by name and does his utmost to keep us safe and thriving. That’s a love that goes farther than anything we can yet understand!
But Jesus warns here that all other so-called caretakers of the sheep act only for personal gain, even if that means the sheep are harmed. So we the sheep should be disenchanted by worldly leaders or promises of worldly utopia, even as they constantly barrage our senses with false hope. No matter how compelling their claims of greatness may be, those false gods have always, and will always, ultimately fail. Jesus really is the only way.
We’re travelling home from Student Life Camp today. This past week, this was one of the passages we studied, and our students learned what it means for Jesus to be their shepherd and for them to follow him. Truly amazing things happened this week; the Spirit was working mightily to draw our students to Christ, and several of them made the incredible decision to follow their good shepherd from now on!
Our good shepherd knows the Father, so if we know the shepherd, we know the Father too. And the Father’s flock has expanded beyond just Israel to include all of us around the world. That means our salvation, our identity, our fulfillment, our joy, and our eternal life come through knowing and loving the Son of God who knows and loves us. Look back at those philosophical questions we asked. Every single one of them has its answer in Christ Jesus, our good shepherd.
