TASTE AND SEE part 1
Like Sheep without a Shepherd
What are sheep like without a shepherd? (Mark 6:34) This is an important question because when Jesus sees the crowds like this, His heart is moved with pity for them. The people are hungry and thirsty, and weary; they haven’t had time to eat and they’ve been rushing to find Jesus. So, let’s note what gets Jesus’s attention: hunger and thirst, and weariness. They’re also searching for something which they hope they can find in Jesus.
Since I’m not an expert about what sheep without a shepherd are like, let me throw out a few possibilities which come from Jeremiah 23. First, they are scattered – when the shepherd is with them, they stay together, but when he isn’t, they begin to scatter because nothing holds them together. Second, they face fear, because the shepherd is their protector, especially from predators like wolves or lions. Third, they are hungry, because they have not found good pasture. Finally, they are diminishing, because the conditions for their flourishing are not in place.
How does Jesus respond to the crowd, who are like the sheep that are scattered and afraid, hungry and weak? The first thing he does is to teach them (Mark 6:34). Jesus is the Word of God, the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14). When Jesus teaches, He feeds us with Himself. How could we be different when we receive Jesus’s teaching?
Maybe we’re a bit like the sheep without a shepherd, because we may be scattered or afraid, hungry and weakening. So many things in life can drag us down, leaving us vulnerable to despair and sin. The Enemy looks for us in this weakened state, in order to draw us away from God.
So, you need to know that when you are down, feeling like the sheep without a shepherd, God does not judge you, rather, He looks on you with compassion – literally, this means that he feels your pain. All of us Christians who are in a time of well-being are called to have the same heart for the weak, and, to offer them what we can of the love and truth that God has shared with us.