Reflection of the Week - 24 November 2020

Posted Nov 24, 2020 in Faith

We all know the story Jesus told about the good shepherd who went in search of the one sheep that was lost (Luke 15:3-7). Now, says Ezekiel, just such a search and rescue operation is going on.

If 2020 has taught us anything it is that now more than ever we need to know that the Lord, the Good Shepherd, has not forsaken those who are scattered in the gloom and darkness of exile, but is searching them out. That God will rescue them and bring them home (13-14). That God will make them to lie down in green pastures and will be their caring Shepherd (15-16).

Psalm 100 can serve to remind us who we are. The refrain tells us who God is and who we are.

Jesus spoke that we are sheep and the Lord is our shepherd in Luke 15. It makes a great deal of difference, when you are lost (in the night of despair and depression, or in the reality of a coal mine or the collapse of a building) to know that there is a search operation going on! The Gospel of John tells us that we do have a Good Shepherd who is roaming the world searching for the lost — none other than Jesus Christ (John 10).

Matthew 25:31-46 also tells us something of how we ought to live. Once we’ve been found we are asked to become a part of God’s search operation:

For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was naked and you clothed me,

I was sick and you visited me,

I was in prison and you came to me.

 

Acts of kindness or of neglect turn out to have been acts directed toward the Lord himself.

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