Merry Christmas! I just looked over our notes on last week’s focal text and I see that I did not even mention that those reflection were for study just before Christmas Day. My excuse is that I was writing this in August 2024 and it’s 90 degrees today. Nevertheless, these verses about Jesus are indeed the fulfillment of the Christmas story.

Of course, the nativity scene often shows the shepherds who slipped into Bethlehem to see the Messiah the angels had described (Luke 2:8-20). What an irony! Shepherds who come to see the Good Shepherd! Shepherds who left their flock to visit the Shepherd who never leaves His flock!

The Old Testament word that is translated shepherd (râꜤâh) means “to tend to” or “companion.”  The New Testament word that is translated shepherd (pŏŏimēn) is sometimes rendered “pastor.” What clear and great ways of describing Jesus as our shepherd!  

Ezekiel 34:1-6 describes a different kind of shepherd, one who has put self first, one who has ignored the needy, one who did not look for the lost sheep. What a contrast with the Good Shepherd!  

Revelation 7:9-17 depicts a vision of God’s ultimate victory. The Lamb whose blood has been shed will be the Shepherd who guides those who gather to the water of life. Jesus, the Shepherd, is for the living and the dead!

Ezekiel 34:11-16 talks about God as a shepherd. The text says God will search for His sheep (v. 11) and rescue them (v. 12). God’s sheep will then live in good ways (v. 14). Do you remember Wesleyan theological language? What Ezekiel has just described is what our theology labels prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace.  No wonder we celebrate the birth of Jesus as the birth of the Good Shepherd!