The Care of a Shepherd⤒🔗

Since the early days of the church, pastoral care always accompanied the preaching of the Word. The term pastoral care is taken from a Latin word referring to the work of a shepherd. The English word "pasture" still shows remnants of this origin.

At various times in the Old Testament we encounter the image of the shepherd. In Numbers 27:17 Moses prays for a man who will "go out" and "go in" before the people, who will "lead them out" and "bring them in." Without such a person the people of Israel would be as sheep that have no shepherd. That is exactly the work of a shepherd: to lead the sheep out and bring them into the sheepfold; to accompany and protect them, walk ahead of them, watch over them, and defend them at every point between their going out and going in. Moses had been such a shepherd for the people.

1 Kings 22:17 refers to "sheep which have no shepherd." When king Ahab plans to recapture Ramoth-gilead from the Syrians, the prophet Micaiah shares a vision of Israel scattered like sheep without a shepherd. Zechariah 10:2 makes reference of Israel's lack of a true shepherd as they were being afflicted by false shepherds. In Ezekiel 34:5 we read the prophetic indictment of Israel's rulers who were like shepherds who do not care for the weak, the sick, the crippled, the straying and lost sheep. As a result of their neglect, the sheep are scattered. Israel was at its worst when it lacked a shepherd. To be without a shepherd is to be truly wretched.

David: Example of a Shepherd←⤒🔗

We know that David used the image of the shepherd to speak of God's care for him. David, who was a shepherd, king and poet, could hardly have selected a more tender and caring image to express God's care over his life. What David felt and did for his sheep, the LORD showed to David in a divine way. It is no wonder that Psalm 23 has been of great comfort to many throughout the ages. Only one who had been a shepherd could use such beautiful language so experientially.

David confessed to Saul that he was a shepherd. He did not seem to indicate that this was significant. Yet, not only was the well-being of the flock dependent on him, the very existence of the flock depended on his care. In David's eyes, the threat of Goliath against God's people was similar to that of an enemy against the flock. In his battle with Goliath David showed himself to be a shepherd of the people (1 Sam. 17:31-47).

The Shepherd Image←⤒🔗

There are other places in Scripture that use the metaphor of a shepherd. The poet of Psalm 77 also refers to God's pastoral care as he describes the work of Moses at the exodus from Egypt. Ezekiel 34 is a very low point in the usage of the image of the shepherd. Just read the following gripping description of the degeneration of Israel's shepherds:

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.

The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

And they were scattered, because there is no shep­herd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them (vv. 1-6).

The judgment upon these shepherds makes use of the same metaphor:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore; I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them (vs. 10).

At this low point, the Lord speaks of the promise of another shepherd, the good and true shepherd, who will be the LORD Himself!

For thus saith they Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, Will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

As a shepherd seeker out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and wills deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

And I will bring them out from the people, and gath­er them from the countries. and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment (vv.11-16).

The Messiah as Shepherd←⤒🔗

The Lord shows his pastoral care by appointing His servant David as Shepherd (vv. 23, 24). This is the promise of the Messianic Shepherd. We are more used to thinking of the Messiah as Prophet, Priest and King. Yet, we may call Him Shepherd also. In Ezekiel 37:24, Jeremiah 23:4, and Isaiah 4:11 the Messiah is pictured as Shepherd.

This prophecy has been completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He called himself the good Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep (Jn. 10:11). From John 10:15 we know that the relationship of Jesus to His sheep can be traced back to the knowledge that the Son has of the Father. We see here the union of the LORD as Shepherd with the shepherd from David's house confirmed in a special way.

The LORD shows himself as the Shepherd of His people by sending His Son as the Good Shepherd! Jesus is moved with compassion for the multitudes because He sees them faint and scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. By contrast, the Pharisees cursed the multitude that does not know the law (Jn. 7:48, 49). The decisive difference is that Jesus has a heart for the sheep. That is precisely what the Pharisees lacked. For this reason Jesus turns to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24). This is how the prophecy of the Old Testament is fulfilled in Him.

This becomes evident also in that He gathers the flock (Matt. 12:30). Against the background of Ezekiel 34:12 and 13 and Isaiah 40:11, this gathering may be called a pre-eminently Messianic work.

Part of the work of the Messianic Shepherd is also the work of judging, as we read in Ezekiel 34:17. Jesus teaches that He will also pronounce judgment (Matthew 25:31-33). It is the task of the King to judge and pronounce judgment. The messianic Shepherd is also King; and conversely, the messianic King is also Shepherd. Revelation 2:27, 12:5 and 19:15 are to be under­stood against the background of Psalm 2:9.

It would be worthwhile to examine Jesus' pastoral work in more detail to discover various distinctive aspects. Instead of doing so, however, we will examine how the Lord Jesus makes use of men as shepherds in His service.

The Example of Peter←⤒🔗

Christ commanded Peter to "feed my sheep" (Jn. 21:16, 17; cf. v.15 "lambs"). The context is that of Peter's rehabilitation some call it. We would prefer to say that at the sea of Tiberias the risen Jesus restores Peter to his office. When he had confirmed with an oath his threefold denial that he knew Jesus, he had forfeited his honour. He had sworn that there was no relationship between Jesus and him and that there never had been a relationship (cf. Mk. 14:66-72, especially verse 71). When, afterwards, Peter went out and wept bitterly (Mt. 26:75), his heartfelt sorrow must have included the sorrow for having forfeited the right to be called an apostle.

Because Peter had thrice denied any connections to Jesus, Jesus re-commissions him in a threefold manner. He uses the language of shepherding, slightly modifying the formulations. The first command reads "Feed my lambs" (v. 15); the second is literally, "Tend to my sheep" (v. 16); the third is "Feed my sheep" (v. 17). Jesus starts with the lambs and varies the care for the sheep by referring to both tending or guarding, and feeding. These two expressions describe the comprehensive nature of the work of the shepherd. Feeding expresses the pastoral task in regard to the sheep. The shepherd must see to it that the sheep find their way to water and pastures. Guarding the flock expresses the task of protecting the flock against all sorts of threats from the outside.

Peter surely had these words in mind when he wrote: "For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (1 Pet. 2:25). Peter himself had been like a sheep going astray when he experienced the care of the Shepherd and Protector. By this renewed conversion, Jesus, by His resurrection power, quickened him again to newness of life. Jesus appeared to Peter personally in the area near Jerusalem before He restored him to his office later in Galilee.

When the men on the road to Emmaus returned to Jerusalem and reported their experience to the apostles and those with them, they heard the certainty of the resurrection message from the apostles: "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon" (Lk. 24:34). Notice that Jesus addresses him with the name Simon, Peter's old name, which Jesus also uses later in Galilee (Jn. 21:15). Peter may continue as shepherd in the service of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the Great Shepherd←⤒🔗

Hebrews 13:20 says of Jesus: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant..." The reference is to the ministerial office of shepherd, which Jesus Himself exemplifies preeminently as the great Shepherd. The great Shepherd Himself became the vicarious Sheep for the slaughter. He received life from God to be Shepherd again in the supreme sense of the word — a Shepherd above every one of His servants. Everyone who is given the task of shepherding can perform that task only after the Great Shepherd has visited him and he has returned from his path of wandering to the Shepherd and Guardian of souls. It is not possible to shepherd the flock without personally having become a living sheep of the flock. Consequently, the shepherd is aware what motivates the sheep and what lives in them.

Shepherding the Flock←⤒🔗

We encounter the term "shepherd of the flock" also in other passages in the New Testament. Peter refers to himself as "a fellow-elder" and "a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed" (1 Pet. 5:1-2). Restored to office, Peter was a witness to the "sufferings of Christ" and a "partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." Jesus did not do a partial work in Peter's life. Therefore Peter speaks from experience when he exhorts his fellow-elders to shepherd the flock. He writes about this in a letter to Christians who are "strangers ... scattered" in Asia Minor (1 Pet. 1:1). We do well to read his First Epistle in light of Peter's own life experience.

Paul exhorts the elders of the church in Ephesus to take heed to the flock (Acts 20:28). The office of overseer (episkopos) is closely related to shepherding. After all, they are overseers of the church of God, which is to be fed. Here too, pastoral care is delineated in two ways: first, to tend to the internal needs of the flock; second, to guard against all sorts of threats from without. There must be great vigilance against the false teaching of ferocious wolves (v. 29). The church must reject heresy and carefully guard against it. Yet, the work of the shepherds is not only negative. Feeding the flock is the most important thing, for the flock's wellbeing is at stake. This is not possible without resisting the enemies of the flock. The shepherds must continually be on their guard.

Conclusions←⤒🔗

What can we say about the relationship of pastoral work to preaching?

1. The ministerial context of preaching is shepherding←↰⤒🔗

Christ's preaching was pastoral preaching. Jesus called Himself the good Shepherd. In Him the promise of the messianic Shepherd in the Old Testament has been fulfilled. His shepherding was not a totally different task from His preaching or teaching ministry. His central task of shepherding consisted of various aspects. Part of the Lord Jesus' work, as Shepherd, is His particular attention for the individual — for the lost sheep. He goes after it, searches for it and brings it back (Lk. 15:3-7). He binds its wounds and feeds it. He pronounces judgment by separating between goats and sheep. He does so in a very personal and direct way.

We ought not to sacrifice an individual for the sake of the flock, nor the flock for the sake of one sheep. After all, a sheep belongs to the flock. The Shepherd is shepherd over the whole flock. A shepherd who only needs to care for one sheep has no flock and cannot do his work as shepherd. When the shepherd of the parable leaves the flock to go after the lost sheep, he does not leave the flock without a shep­herd's care, exposed to danger and death. Christ's concern for the one lost sheep is part of His work for the whole flock! Shepherding, therefore, implies attention for the individual sheep of the flock in a very personal and direct way without lessening the attention for the other sheep of the flock.

2. Everything a pastor does has a pastoral aspect←↰⤒🔗

There are degrees of personal attention and conversation that vary according to the setting in which the pastor does his work. Yet, both preaching and visiting are pastoral. They aim to shepherd the sheep with the help of the Word. Pastoral care aims at the well being of the congregation of God and Christ. Both Father and Son own the congregation. Acts 20:28 puts it beautifully: "to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." The Father gave the Son and owns the flock. The Son has willingly shed His blood so that the Father may rightfully own the flock. The flock belongs to the Father through Him. The flock is His for the Father.

3. The work of the pastor also reaches outside of the congregation←↰⤒🔗

John 10:16 says that there are "other sheep, which are not of this fold." Christ must also bring those, and they will hear His voice. In that way it will become onefold and one shepherd.

Jesus concerns Himself also with persons who are outside the congregation. He does this in order that they will come to belong to His flock by His pastoral work. This happens through hearing His voice. Thus they become one flock under one shepherd.

Not everyone belongs to the flock. Belonging to the flock depends on the relationship with the Shepherd. That relationship is determined by the word the Shepherd speaks to the sheep and their response. This response includes knowing, which manifests itself by following. Anyone, who does not follow, denies the Shepherd. Think of Peter who did follow Jesus on His way to suffering, but refused to suffer with Him ("I know him not," cf. Lk. 22:57). It is as if he said, "There has not been any relationship with Him at all; I just happened to be there, but not as a follower of the Master." Peter's mouth spoke words that are very different than his physical presence indicated.

4. The pastor's chief aim is that the sheep follow the great Shepherd←⤒🔗

This should become especially evident when a sheep leaves the fold. The shepherd seeks to prevent this by feeding, tending, and leading the sheep. A shepherd serves for the well being of the flock by feeding it beside the green pastures. When a sheep begins to wander, the shepherd is moved with compassion to go after the sheep and gives himself wholly to this task in order that the sheep may be brought back to the flock. It is precisely because he is moved with compassion that pastoral care is lovingly exerted for the lost, the sick and the bruised sheep.