THE GOD-MAN, HIS MISSION
How does one condense the earthly life of this God-man into a few short sentences? The Apostle John commented…
John 21:25 NIV
[25] “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
Months ago, one verse of Scripture caught my attention that seems to epitomise the nature and work of the God-man.
Mark 6:34 NIV
[34] “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”
Jesus’ compassion sprang from His observation…”sheep without a shepherd!” Oh, the people had shepherds, but what sort of shepherds?
God’s shepherds in Israel’s history earned His stinging rebuke.
Ezekiel 34:2-5 NIV
[2] “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? [3] You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. [4] You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. [5] So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.”
The people’s shepherds, in Jesus’ day, were no different… “hirelings”, Jesus called them. His rebuke was even more personal and damning. In a tirade of accusation, He exposed their hearts.
Matthew 23:13, 15-16, 23, 25, 27, 29, 33 NIV
[13] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to…
[15] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. [16] “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’…
[23] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former…
[25] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence…
[27] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean…
[29] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous…
[33] “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”
Hypocrites! Snakes! Brood of vipers! What a fiery rebuke for those who were meant to lead God’s people!
If there was one thing Jesus hated above everything else, it was hypocrisy. Play-acting! Pretending to be who they were not and, through their hypocrisy, using their power over people for their own ends. Power! It was all about power…and lies, the means by which they exerted their power. They loved to tell people what to do and watch them try do it without lifting a finger to help them, and condemning them when they failed. They loved to enforce “the law”, according to their own interpretations and additions, without mercy.
This hypocritical “power” left God’s people confused and afraid, a sure recipe for His arch enemy to sow havoc in the flock. Without the comforting presence of a true shepherd, they would scatter when the wolf attacked.
The Bible often charaterises God’s people as “sheep”. They are His sheep…
Psalms 100:3 NIV
[3] “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”
Like a tender shepherd, the Lord cares for, protects, and provides for His sheep. In Psalm 23, David recognised His role and gladly committed himself to the divine Shepherd’s promise to do him no harm but only good throughout his life and beyond.
Sheep, without a shepherd, have the unfortunate ability to harm themselves and one another. Sheep roam. Sheep follow. Sheep follow those who roam. The outcome is disaster. Without the guidance of a shepherd, who knows where they will land? One thing is sure…they will go astray!
Isaiah 53:6 NIV
[6] “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way…”
Centuries before, the Lord had promised that He Himself would be the shepherd of His sheep.
Ezekiel 34:15-16 NIV
[15] ” ‘I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. [16] ‘I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.'”
So, authorised by the Father, Jesus came from heaven, God and man in one person, to be the Shepherd of God’s flock. He would be to the people what the hirelings could never be… compassionate… even laying down His life for the sheep.
John 10:11 NIV
[11] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
What was it that set Jesus apart from all other shepherds? Israel’s shepherds were hypocrites, posing as true shepherds, but sucking as much as they could from the people. Their role as religious leaders gave them licence to exert power over the people by forcing rules on them that they themselves did not follow.
Jesus came into this scene with one all-powerful weapon and tool…truth. Against the backdrop of His people’s suffering at the hands of their hypocritical, lying shepherds, Jesus wielded the sword of truth. Not only does He use truth, He Himself is the truth! Will we ever get the impact of what He said to His disciples?
John 14:6 NIV
[6] “Jesus answered, “I am the way and THE TRUTH and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus is not only the messenger…He is the message. Nothing on earth comes together, nothing makes sense outside of Him. He is the Word, clothed in hums being and only through the Word can we know the truth about God, ourselves, and the world we live in… why things happen the way they happen, why we are here, where we are going, and everything in between. Every time Jesus opened His mouth, or did anything, He was declaring and being the truth, using the Word of God to neutralise the poison of lies and set people on a path to security and freedom.
John 12:47-49 NIV
[47] “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
[48] “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. [49] For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”
Since God is true, and His Word is truth (John 17:17), and since Jesus is the Word and spoke only what the Father said, He always is and only mirrors truth.
Before we examine the thought that, to show His compassion for shepherdless sheep, Jesus taught them “many things”, and what those many things were, we must examine how what Jesus taught them would meet their most pressing need.
To be continued…