Sheep without a Shepherd

Reading a little study on the compassion of Christ, Mark 6:30-31 pointed to the fact that in the ministry of the Lord, Jesus does not call His servants (the Christian workers in the harvest fields of ministering to others with gospel teaching, preaching, meeting needs and charity) to be superhuman and regularly forsake physical rest. He knows our need for recuperation and calls us to rest when necessary.

Mark 6:34 “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.”

Mark’s account also shows Jesus’ tender care for men and women who were not part of His normal band of followers. Heeding Christ’s call to get away and rest, the disciples try to find a place to recuperate, but the renown and repute of their and Jesus’ ministry makes it impossible. The proclaiming of truth has a tendency to draw those seeking it. Seeing this, Jesus has compassion on the crowd, for the people are “like sheep without a shepherd,” and so he begins to tend the flock of men, women and children by teaching them truth.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Those who have seen sheep in person know that without a shepherd, sheep move about aimlessly, wandering here and there, getting lost, and generally paying little heed to the dangers around them. I remember a friend of mine telling me that they did not like the comparison of those who do not truly know the Lord are like sheep because of their simple minds and poor instincts. Sounds insulting, but the point is that this truly is the spiritual state of many then and today; all of us have been there. Instead of focusing on the metaphor of sheep as negative, we need to focus on the positive of the Lord’s compassion and see that in Jesus’ (the Door and Good Shepherd) actions to teach the people truth and meet their deepest needs. The care they and we need is first and foremost guidance in truth by the Son of God.

John 10:9-11 “I am the door: If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives life for the sheep.”

The great commentator Matthew Henry comments that the people in this passage of Mark have “none to lead and guide them in the right way, none to feed them with good doctrine.”  A basic understanding of the first century Judaism bears that the Jewish Sanhedrin council were not sheltering the people from error or feeding them healthy teachings. Without proper guidance and care, the sheep were malnourished and lost. The only solution was for Jesus to lead the flock and feed them.  

Psalm 23:1-3 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

When Jesus set out to feed His sheep, He taught them. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus fulfills his vocation by instructing us in divine truth. All those who would shepherd His people in the ministry of God’s good works towards those  physically and spiritually must do the same with the solid food of the revelation of God, the truth of Holy Scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ.    

Shepherd Blessings