In the gospels Jesus once referred to himself as a shepherd. He also siad that his disciples are those who hear voice follow him. I was not exactly sure what that meant until I visited the Holy Land.
As our tour bus was making its way through the Palestinian desert, we experienced mechanical problems and had to pull off to the side of the road. We all departed from the bus to get some fresh air and enjoy the scenery. In the distance, on a hill, we saw a shepherd and his sheep. As we watched, we heard music from the distance. From the top of the hill came another shepherd. He was playing a flute and had about thirty sheep in hot pursuit. For a moment the shepherd with the flute stopped playing and shared greetings with his friend. As the two shepherds spoke, the two herds of sheep mixed and mingled. When the two men were finished speaking, the shepherd with the flute began to play once more and all of his sheep extracted themselves from the other heard and once again began to follow the sound of his music. Nothing distracted these sheep from the sound of their shepherd’s music.
In our world there are many temptations that seek to distract us from God’s grace. In the midst of all these distractions it would do us well to keep our ears tuned to the guiding music of Jesus Christ. We are his sheep. He is the good shepherd.
