The Lamb is Our Shepherd

The best bosses are the ones who have worked in the trenches. They understand how it feels to do our job—the communication challenges we face, the equipment we need to work effectively, and what is actually, humanly possible to accomplish in a day. 

Likewise, the best pastors are the ones who spend time with people—hurting with them, praying with them, and seeing the world at large. Their messages meet people’s needs, because they know them intimately.

We have a Boss and Pastor like that. His name is Jesus. He knows what it’s like to be one of us. He walks among us, and weeps for our pain. That’s why what He says to us fills our souls with wonder. 

I read this recently: “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’” (Revelation 7:17). What better Shepherd could we have than One who has been a lamb?

As we approach Easter (next week!), I encourage you to repeat this phrase every day:

The Lamb is my Shepherd.

He gives us rest, calms our spirits, feeds and leads us, walks with us through sorrow, protects, and loves us. 

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23

He has faced temptation like we have but without sinning. He gives us the power to say no.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Heb. 4:15

Jesus knows how it feels to be misunderstood by family.

When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:21

He has been hungry.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matt. 4:1-3

He was homeless.

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Luke 9:58

He grieved over death.

[When His friend Lazarus died] Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” John 11:35-36

He was rejected and abandoned by those He loved.

A man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”…Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Mark 10:17, 21-22


[When the soldiers came to arrest Him] Everyone deserted him and fled. Mark 14:50

He was brutally beaten, mocked and killed, even though He never did anything wrong.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him… [When] he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” Luke 23: 35-36, 46-47

The difference between His pain and ours, however, is Jesus didn’t have to experience these things. He chose to be born into this world; He came on a mission. He came to be the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

When things got too rough, He could have opted out. He struggled with this in the Garden when He asked the Father if there was any other way to save us (Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42), but when there wasn’t, Jesus faced death. 

That is who we worship and celebrate at Easter. Not just because Jesus chose to die in our place, but because He also did something else we can’t choose to do—He rose again! Showing He is Lord even over death.

The Lamb of God is our Shepherd. Halleluia!

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