For telling the good news of the resurrection in Jesus’ name, Peter and John were arrested by the lions and wolves from the builders, Israel’s priesthood. Jesus had sent the disciples out into the fray empowered with the spirit of G_d, but still they remained sheep to the predators; “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Like sheep, the disciples had no defense other than the protection of the shepherd. Jesus had given them not only the command to go and spread the Gospel, but to heal and forgive sins. The elders were demanding from the disciples the source of power and authority for the healing.

Surely, these builders of the old mentality were also concerned with the five thousand conversions now challenging their practices. Now empowered by the Spirit, nothing that the authorities would threaten could cause Jesus’ followers to fear this world. “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.” Jesus provides everything needed and more, for Peter and John fully believed “my cup is running over.” They knew that the Good Shepherd guards the flock and defends it: “I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

The good shepherd is one of our oldest images of Christ, often a youth bearing a once lost, but found lamb, an ideal picture of rugged, fearless youth leaving the ninety-nine, secure in the fold, to rescue the one which was feared lost. Those who huddled together in a room behind locked doors in the early days of the resurrection, now joyfully entered a willful journey into the dangers of the world. Yet, they remained confident, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me; All the days of my life” These men and many others were confident that they are saved by a shepherd, who “prepares a table even in the presence of enemies.” They continued to heal, to spread the good news knowing that, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which, we must be saved.”

The task of the disciples is not a relic of the past, healing is not a relic of the past. The Good Shepherd is constantly on watch for the sheep that is lost. The Holy Spirit, that filled Peter, is there for us amid the lions and wolves present today, and is fully capable of making us into a living testimony. We also can shoulder the lost lamb and return it to the fold by the love we show to one another, just as he commanded us to do. While we may be far worse than we ever imagined, yet through the Good Shepherd we are far more loved than we could ever dream. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Pax,
jbt