thoughts about The Good Shepherd

[mecco]

Sunday I was reading John 10, about Jesus being the Good Shepherd, and I started thinking about shepherds in the Bible. Jacob was a shepherd (so was Rachel! Gen 29:6) All of Jacob's sons were shepherds too; in fact, the reason that they did not live with the Egyptians when they moved to Egypt was because the Egyptians would have nothing to do with shepherds (Gen 26:34). Moses was a shepherd when he saw the burning bush. And, of course, David was a shepherd, which developed his bravery and faith. So the Jewish history is rich with stories that say "God is with us" when it is about shepherds. Jesus was tapping into that cultural memory when He said "I am the Good Shepherd."

The sermon was on Gen 2:4-9; God called Adam to take care of the Garden. It is obvious from Gen 3:17-19 that Adam was to grow plants for food. Cain, his first born son, followed this word from God and planted a garden. Abel, his younger brother, became a shepherd. And God was pleased with Abel's offering, and not with Cain's. God never said anything about becoming a shepherd! In fact, not in the entire Bible is anyone called by God to be a shepherd! But God blessed shepherds over gardeners, at least in the Genesis story. No wonder Cain was angry!

I see a parallel between Cain and Abel and the Pharisees and Jesus. The Pharisees were trying to do God's will, and Jesus seemed to dishonor God. He did not honor the Sabbath, He did not insist that His disciples wash their hands, He said He was one with God. And, like Cain, that made them angry enough to kill Him.

i try hard to love God and obey Him, but i don't want to be like Cain. If God chooses to bless someone who is not what I consider "holy", I don't want to be angry. That is His business. Our business is to master our anger. (Gen 4:6)

On another note, John 15 is about God being a gardener. In this analogy, Jesus is the vine in the garden; He is not the gardener. God takes care of Him, and as we stay in Him, so are we.

 

[james1523]

I like the comparisons drawn between Abel and Cain and Pharisees and Jesus.

It is also interesting to consider why God would reject Cain's offering but accept Abel's?

I believe it is because Abel lived a life of repentance but Cain did not.

God calling Adam and Eve to tend the garden. This was before Adam and Eve fell. A result of the fall was that God cursed the ground, as if also to say the job of gardening is also cursed. So for Cain to offer God fruits of the soil, was offensive to Him because it was like offering something that was cursed. Cain continuing in the job of his parents, as a gardener, is symbolic of a person who has not repented, or changed the way they live their life. Cain did not repent of his parents sins. On the other hand Abel becoming a shepherd rather than a gardener/farmer, is symbolic of repentance. He did not continue living as his parents or older brother did. The offering he brought was not associated with something which God had cursed, and it signified Abel's repentance.

Similarly, like Cain, the Pharisees did not repent but kept on living as they had before, in the tradition of their fathers which God had rejected. Like Abel, Christ lived a life of "repentance", which turned away from the traditions of man and towards the things that please God.