The Good Shepherd is also The Lamb of God. I’ve never before thought about what a poignant combination those titles convey.
“Our Savior reaches out to the one and the ninety and nine – often at the same time.”
How can we ever not love someone who willingly paid for us a price we have no hope of paying for ourselves.
The Good Shepherd calls for us in His voice and by His name.
At this Easter season, we celebrate the Good Shepherd, who is also the Lamb of God. Of all His divine titles, no others are more tender or telling. We learn much from our Savior’s references to Himself as the Good Shepherd and from prophetic testimonies of Him as the Lamb of God. These roles and symbols are powerfully complementary—who better to succor each precious lamb than the Good Shepherd, and who better to be our Good Shepherd than the Lamb of God?
As our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ calls us in His voice and His name. He seeks and gathers us. He teaches us how to minister in love. Let us consider these three themes, beginning with Him calling us in His voice and His name.
First, our Good Shepherd “calleth his own sheep by name. … They know his voice.” And “in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ.” As we seek with real intent to follow Jesus Christ, inspiration comes to do good, to love God, and to serve Him. As we study, ponder, and pray; as we regularly renew sacramental and temple covenants; and as we invite all to come to His gospel and ordinances, we are hearkening to His voice.
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Second, our Good Shepherd seeks and gathers us into His one fold. He asks, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?”
Our Savior reaches out to the one and to the ninety-and-nine, often at the same time. As we minister, we acknowledge the ninety-and-nine who are steadfast and immovable, even while we yearn after the one who has strayed. Our Lord seeks and delivers us “out of all places,” “from the four quarters of the earth.” He gathers us by holy covenant and His atoning blood.
It isn’t unheard of that the one and the ninty and nine need the same ministering, just got different reasons.
Third, as the “Shepherd of Israel,” Jesus Christ exemplifies how shepherds in Israel minister in love. When our Lord asks if we love Him, as He did with Simon Peter, our Savior implores: “Feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep. … Feed my sheep.” The Lord promises that when His shepherds feed His lambs and sheep, those in His fold “shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking.”
Our Good Shepherd cautions that shepherds in Israel must not slumber, nor scatter or cause the sheep to go astray, nor look our own way for our own gain. God’s shepherds are to strengthen, heal, bind up that which is broken, bring again that which was driven away, seek that which was lost.
This is the very thing Laura doesn’t believe. She sees this as a failed promise and she is angry about it.
A dear friend shared how she gained her precious testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She grew up believing sin always brought great punishment, borne by us alone. She pleaded to God to understand the possibility of divine forgiveness. She prayed to understand and know how Jesus Christ can forgive those who repent, how mercy can satisfy justice.
One day her prayer was answered in a spiritually transforming experience. A desperate young man came running out of a grocery store carrying two bags of stolen food. He ran into a busy street, chased by the store manager, who caught him and began yelling and fighting. Instead of feeling judgment for the frightened young man as a thief, my friend was unexpectedly filled with great compassion for him. Without fear or concern for her own safety, she walked straight up to the two quarreling men. She found herself saying, “I will pay for the food. Please let him go. Please let me pay for the food.”
Prompted by the Holy Ghost and filled with a love she had never felt before, my friend said, “All I wanted to do was to help and save the young man.” My friend said she began to understand Jesus Christ and His Atonement—how and why with pure and perfect love Jesus Christ would willingly sacrifice to be her Savior and Redeemer, and why she wanted Him to be.
Too few people truly understand that kind of compassion.
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