A Meditation on the Good Shepherd

2025-02-05 A Meditation on the Good Shepherd

“3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:3-14 ESV)

The implosion scheduled, when what currents in the air, what excitement and assemblies active, alert, inspired, do feel the energies of Calling, Calling unto the strife, Calling unto the war, Calling unto the line drawn in the sand: all these are stark like the uniform of the soldier, at the ready, saluting a no-time-to-delay Edge, Verve, precious Belonging so warm yet no time to dawdle. The barroom. The party atmosphere. The dance. The home front huddled around the radio.

And the implosion: that any and every war, spiritual war all the more so, is hectic and most unfavorable, most frantic and nervous: will we, after all, emerge with principles Won, with land Claimed, Reclaimed, with a sense patiently to say, “I served Christ in this generation”. Whether we live or die. Whether we feel earthly parents’ approval or disapproval: my mission, hidden in plain sight, the polite conversation hiding simply laughter at our truth claims or habits or routines: these are, after all, Holy. These are, after all, Monitored most lovingly, yet who is there but God who can see All Things? We are those svelte and curated unto Presentable but not Believed Upon lifestyle writ large. We are fabric of a gruff and mucky Lifestyle that God as the Good Shepherd, lovingly carries us through.

No precocious sheep, too holy and self-composed, to need a shepherd. No precocious sheep, too put-together and “adorable”, to need a Saving Grace. No precocious sheep, too knowledgeable and mock-sympathetic, to need their own coat cleaned.

The implosion, when that air is still frantic and hurried, the winds of the times, the slightly more Realpolitik the facial expression, more Confronted with his or her—the soldier’s—mortality. We, monitored, and assessed, know Rules most lovingly installed, to hamper the tendency to sin, to domineering, to man’s desire to rule over his or her fellow man. We know a spycraft rooted in that Great Handler, Christ, who had a secret society to induct all He called plainly and earnestly into: be healed! Be cleansed! See the simplicity, the Christianity, of His aggression towards life’s quandaries! See the prayer life! See the temper raised at times! See the secret hidden in plain sight: that God is with us, for us, like us, around us, in us, and through us! And what He instills in our hearts, is that Experience… we can read the passage a dozen times and have a dozen knee-jerk reactions, but do we hear in “the Good Shepherd lays His life down for the sheep”, do we hear that sense of self-worth when indeed One does lay down His or Her life for us? How that makes us feel?

So it is a secret hidden in plain sight, right there in the Scriptures of Gospel writ. John 10. And then to appeal to the better angels of the soldier, is that willingness to mimic Him, the ultimate sacrifice He made… and that countless soldiers have made, each one Informed, Inspired, Blessed and Blessing, the moment of silence and the vivid mental reenactment, of that sacrifice.

Only we doubt. We get into the spirit of things when the first precious gestures towards war are made, when things are still bright and lovely, only to fall away when the soundwave hits us, the implosion is heard, the times get a bit meager and frantic.

Unfrantic, we have that Cool and Calm earned by plenteous experience marching through zones where lives are on the line, that we are indeed “Crazy” to march, a Catch-22 of boldness and of that soldier who operates better under stress, under threat, under impassibility, then he or she does in the peaceful easy times. Cool, collected, and all this in that strange Assembly, of fellow Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ: O sisters, brothers, forgive what I just said if it erred, only know I am seeking a Spiritual sense of war, a Testimony, a Gratitude for what genius of socializing is on display. And so our war is in these Early Fronts, skirmishes, increased chatter over the airwaves. That Christ will be crucified anew, if once we’ve lost the secret-society induction recollected and started to abuse the flock. Being but hired hands, it may be, or being error-prone would-be shepherds who don’t know the sheep. Who don’t know this kind of sheep from that kind. Who have strange fantasies of how a demonstration of strength would be the ticket to overcome sin. Rather, consider Him who died away from the people, away from the city, in patient prayer that two thousand years later we would still be marveling at the incision made. That individuals would hear His demure approach, and have arise a willing desire to join His ranks. To take with them only the bare bones of life, and together to Follow. A great shepherd. A lover of the sheep. A strangely respectful and demuring Observer, submitted to the party, submitted to the interlocutor, nervous with the nervous, bold with the bold, but in all things “hidden in plain sight” the deep sense He inducts into us, of being with a friend and with a trustworthy partner. Let each of us be this.

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