Book of Acts 2: 42-47 “Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
A common theme in Acts is to support and defend Paul’s conversion of Gentiles. The commentary by Dummelow points out the possibility that Luke wrote Acts as a formal defense for Paul’s trial. It is written in the purest form of Attic Greek, the best of the best Greek in the New Testament. Acts chronicles the history and actions following the Resurrection and Ascension. In this reading we find the believers (new and old Disciples) following the apostles teachings, breaking and sharing bread, and praying. The small but very faithful group is in awe of the many powerful things that the Apostles accomplished. The revolutionary thing here was that this group held together, in spite of being under the watchful eye of the temple and Roman power structures. They prospered and sold their personal belongings to benefit those in need (widows and orphans). In our gathering we noted that this communal sharing was something very different from the social patterns of that day as well as in our current times. It requires great faith and courage to make such commitments.
First Peter 2: 19-25 “For you were astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
This epistle responds to suffering in the name of Jesus Christ. The political context that brought suffering forward was much to do about the burning of Rome in 64 AD. Nero blamed the Christians for the fire; he executed many Christians to stifle public unrest. It took great faith and courage to stand up for Jesus at this time. The reading encourages the people to stand fast, be brave, and provides the prime example of Jesus as the model for enduring and accepting suffering. In the final verse we get the metaphor of the sheep and shepherd. In those times people where very aware of the relationships of shepherd and sheep, not so much today. My knowledge of shepherds comes from time in Army, in Dallau, Germany; where I spent the better time of my enlistment; a shepherd and his flock kept the grass in check along the perimeter of our missile site. It was very impressive to see the sheep obey and respond to shepherd’s special commands (verbal and body language). At another time, on vacation in New Zealand, we saw modern-day-shepherds; they rode in land rovers and helicopters with huge herds of sheep. The other aspect not common to biblical times was the extensive use of dogs to herd the sheep in New Zealand.
Psalm 23: Much to do about Shepherds and sheep. “Though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil.”
Gospel of John 10: 1-10: The image (ALLEGORY) of the Good Shepherd; “we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.”
This is one of the best known and extremely popular images of Jesus as a Shepherd guarding and protecting his fold from evil. Many symbolisms are used to explain some things that were unclear to the community. Thieves and bandits are the Pharisees who unjustly did not care for the blind man (see parable in John 9). Thieves and bandits is also a rebuke to false prophets and modern day evangelists that are not true too Christ. Christ is the owner of flock and all of those that aspire to be a shepherd must enter through the gate (Christ). In the day of Jesus, each village would have a large sheep fold and all of the sheep spent the night hours in the fold with a gate keeper (one of the shepherds) guarding the single access door. At dawn, the shepherds returned to the gate keeper and called out their sheep to the surrounding fields to graze. The true pastor knows every member of his flock. The good shepherd is common to scripture; these were pastoral societies of sheep and goat herders, hence, “Good Shepherd” (GS) was a meaningful metaphor to describe a good leader; reference to GS is found in Psalms 23, 77, 80, 95, 100, Isaiah 40, Ezekiel 34, Jeremiah 23. In some ways Moses was the first true Shepherd of Israel.
Our images of a shepherd of the time of Jesus should include a person of self reliance, willing to spend hours in lousy weather, protecting the sheep (not the brightest animals on the planet), dealing with wolves, foxes, birds of prey, and roving bandits. The pay was not great, and of course the Roman’s taxed the wool that was the principal product.
The last verse is a great summation of the Gospel lesson:
“Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Submitted by Walt Japp
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