1 The Shepherd Tends His Sheep Mark 6:34 What does it mean to be like sheep without a shepherd? The meaning may not be as obvious as we think, particularly in a culture that encourages individualism, choice, moral relativity, and skepticism of authority. To many people, the phrase sheep without a shepherd may not be alarming at all. In fact, sheep without a shepherd might be a good thing. Sheep without a shepherd have been liberated! They are free free to be themselves, free to choose what to do and when to do it, free from the oppressive constraints imposed by powerful shepherds who hinder the sheep from realizing their full potential. But sheep without a shepherd are not free at all. On the contrary, they lack the essentials of life itself. They do not know where to find wholesome food and pure water. They are unable to defend themselves against ravenous predators. They wander without direction. Liberation from the shepherd is a terrible bondage for the sheep because that kind of freedom binds the sheep to physical needs that cannot be supplied, fears that cannot be calmed, and a searching that can never end. One day, Jesus looked out at the crowd that had followed Him and His disciples and He saw sheep without a shepherd. The crowd lacked the essentials for life, true life with God. These people were fair game for the temptations of Satan and the lies of the false prophets. They were searching for truth, for hope, for a message that God cares about them. In other words, they were looking for compassion. Jesus knew that there isn t any condition worse in life than being a sheep without a shepherd. So He becomes their shepherd to tend to all of their needs that they want for nothing.
2 I was thinking the other day how this event of Jesus ultimately feeding thousands of people is Psalm 23 put into action. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (Psalm 23:1). When He went ashore Jesus saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34). Notice the first thing the Good Shepherd did for His sheep in order to tend to their wants He taught them. He taught them. He did not give them handouts. He didn t even heal the sick. He taught them. And what did He teach them? How they were basically good people and that the problems they have were all caused by someone else, so blame them? That the government they were currently living under was horrendous so they had no chance to improve their lives? That God helps them who helps themselves? There were lots of people who were teaching that kind of stuff. No, Jesus taught them the truth about the kingdom of God. He taught them that no one is righteous before Him, not one. He taught them the need to repent of their own sin, not blame others and not justify themselves. He taught them that God is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love for those who do repent. He taught them that God is a God of compassion; of doing something to show that He cares for His hand-made creatures of man and woman. Throughout His public ministry, Jesus compassion for others was plainly evident. When people suffering from diseases of every kind came to Him, He healed them, even if it meant He personally missed a meal or two or lost a few hours of sleep. When people suffering from guilt came to Him, He forgave them, even if it meant enduring ridicule from the religious establishment. Jesus even told many stories about people filled with compassion. There was the
3 one about the Samaritan who found a man beaten and robbed along the highway. While the priest and the Levite passed by on the other side, the Samaritan had compassion on the man, bound up his wounds, set him on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and paid for all his expenses. In the end, Jesus is that Good Samaritan to all who are beaten and bloodied by sin and guilt. There was the story of the father whose son went away to a far country where he spent his inheritance foolishly. When the son came to his senses and returned home in humble shame, the father had compassion on him. He forgave his son and welcomed him back home again because, as the father said, the boy was dead and is alive again. In the end, God Himself is the Father who welcomes any wayward sinner who returns in humble repentance. Even so here in today s Gospel text, Jesus compassion for sinners shines through. And, again, the first way He demonstrated His compassion was to teach. Teaching is an act of compassion because it is in the words of God revealed to us by the Son that we have all of our needs met so that we do not want. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want especially when that shepherd teaches us His word of truth in the divine service each Lord s day. How different the compassion of Jesus is in comparison to what commonly passes for compassion in our world. The fallen world around us teaches us that the compassionate person, in order to show genuine care, must avoid telling the whole truth, especially if it is potentially painful to the person you are trying to comfort. Take, for example, a woman I personally ministered to many years ago. She was dying of lung cancer and emphysema. She admitted to me that she knew it was her extensive smoking of cigarettes that put her into that condition. Now, at the end of her life, she was feeling guilty for not trying harder to quit.
4 Today s world would say that the compassionate thing would be to tell her that she did nothing wrong and that it is the tobacco companies are to blame. She had been told that by others but it brought her no peace because she recognized her own poor choices in this whole matter. What she really needed was the assurance of God s full and free forgiveness in Jesus Christ. What she really needed was the reminder that God promises to welcome all those who acknowledge their sin in sincere repentance and believe on Christ Jesus. That was the compassion she needed and wanted to hear. She wanted relief from her personal guilt; and she received it in the comforting news of a merciful, forgiving, and compassionate God, Jesus the Christ. Real compassion doesn t avoid the truth. Real compassion tells the truth. Jesus has compassion on us still today by teaching us the truth about ourselves and about Him. All those ugly, stupid, damnable sins we have committed in our lives Jesus exposes with His cutting Law. All those ugly, stupid, damnable sins we have committed in our lives Jesus covers in His own holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. That is compassion the holy Christ dying for unholy sinners that we may have God s full forgiveness. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23:1,2). Then (Jesus) commanded the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties (Mark 6:39-40). After the compassionate Shepherd fed His sheep on the spiritual food of His holy Word, He also tended to their earthly need of physical food. He literally had them sit down in green pastures and fed them, not grass of course, but bread and fish. And, as we so well know, He fed each of them until they were satisfied and ended up with more left over than they had to start. You prepare a table before me
5 in the presence of my enemies my cup overflows (Psalm 23:5), or, in this case, their baskets overflowed. When the sheep are cared for by a compassionate shepherd they have an abundance. The shepherd tends His sheep by giving them this day their daily bread; just as He did yesterday and as He will tomorrow. He causes the earth to produce enough food to feed the entire population of the world. The problems of poverty and hunger are not a lack of supply but more so the failings of human beings to distribute necessary food to the hungry. But supplying daily bread is not even the main point of the feeding of the 5000. The main point is that just as willing as God is to provide food to us human beings, so He is more willing and even more desirous to provide His Word to us human beings because it is in His Word alone that true life is planted, takes root, and bears fruit. Jesus looks at the crowds around the world today, the billions of people, and they are just like the crowd on the shore of Galilee. They are sheep without a shepherd. They are people who lack the essentials for life because they have no life with the one true God. They are people who are fair game for the lies of Satan. They are people who are lost and headed for certain doom. Jesus looks, and He has compassion. And what would He do for the crowds today? The same as He did back in Galilee. He wants to teach them. He does not hide the truth from them by glossing over sin, hiding sin, ignoring sin, claiming that sin is normal, or exalting sin as freedom. That s not being compassionate. Instead, Jesus teaches the truth that all people are by nature separated from God and lost forever unless they come to faith in Him as Savior. He teaches them that reconciliation with God is possible only through the cross of Calvary. He teaches them that eternal life with God in heaven is given as a free gift of His grace.
6 And how does Jesus teach the crowds today? He does it through His church as pastors faithfully proclaim His Word from pulpits, and as you, the flock under God s care, demonstrate His Word by showing compassion on all no matter who they may be, and by speaking the truth in love to this lost world. That is one of the most important things we can do as Christ s redeemed sheep give voice to the written Word of our Lord that those around us may know the compassion of our Savior Jesus. When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They needed so much. But most of all they needed to be taught the truth. So Jesus became their shepherd so that they may not want. Such is the need still today. Thanks be to Jesus who has compassion on all the children of men and teaches us the truth of His inerrant Word. Amen.