Shepherding: Psalm 78:70-72

          One of the most interesting passages for me in the Old Testament is Psalm 78:70-72. I feel like it tells us a lot about the nature of leadership as well as what God expects us to do with the mundane lives that He gives us upon this earth. Here is the passage:

70 He chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
71 from tending the sheep he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
    with skillful hands he led them.

           To start off with, shepherding was not a respected career path in the ancient world. This is reflected in David having this job as the youngest among his brothers, but is also seen among nearby peoples. This is shown in Genesis 46:32-34:

32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

             This shows us the first point that I would like us to take away from the beginning passage: that God uses the mundane, detestable parts of our lives to train us for how we will serve others and that our usefulness for God's kingdom does not rest on how esteemed our position is in the eyes of men; we do not need a position and title at a church to be of use to God. Look at 1 Corinthians 1:26-29:

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

          God goes out of his way to use people who are worthless in the eyes of the world to accomplish his will. Just look through the book of Judges and you will see a group of heroes who were all social outcasts: left-handed people, women, children of prostitutes, the smallest of families and prestige, etc. Thus, your job as a fast food worker, teacher, or janitor does not discount you from making a big impact for the kingdom. In fact, if you follow the biblical narrative, you will find that God uses the people of lower social class and background most often. He does, of course, use rich and influential people, but they face significant obstacles in living their lives for Christ. We see this in Mark 10:23:

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

          Jesus himself was just a carpenter. One of the most powerful facts about Jesus' life was that he was a carpenter who, you can bet, lived intentionally for the large majority of his life among a small, unnoticeable town and people before a crowd ever followed him. If we take Luke 2:52 seriously, we'll see that this thirty or so year part of his life was instrumental in shaping him into someone who would lead the crowds and disciples into the kingdom of God:

 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

         Beyond being part of a lowly and simple profession, there is a lot to be taken from the shepherding analogy as well: they are invested in every member of the flock and will sacrifice themselves for the sheep. We see this detailed attention of the shepherd in Matthew 18:12-13:

 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

         I think that God calls us all, in some small sense, to participate in shepherding. This means caring after the people in our circle of influence with the same loving care as Jesus does. If we look at the lowest and weakest people in our immediate context, we will be seeing Christ in our presence needing our personal care and attention. I've especially picked this up from a lesson I recently learned about Mark 9:36-37:

36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

          I was in the New Interpreter's Bible ( Perkins, Pheme. The Gospel of Mark. The New Interpreter’s Bible Vol. VII. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995) and it discussed how we, in our modern world and culture, romanticize being children, but the ancient world viewed children as worthless and contemptible. Perkins says that the best modern equivalent of a child in this passage would be our homeless person. No one wants to pay attention to them; at best, they are a distraction; at worst, they are a waste of life and space. So, Jesus is telling us that if we welcome the socially awkward and otherwise needy people, we will actually be welcoming Jesus in. This should not be read that if we welcome a homeless person into our church or home, that we have fulfilled some law Jesus is placing on us here. This is not the case; in fact, following that kind of law would be too easy; Jesus invites us to something more difficult. We must allow our lives to be mobile homes: emotionally and socially welcoming people into our lives no matter where we find ourselves. So, instead of commanding us to give money or other resources to the poor and wave at them as we rush away, we are challenged to give them our love, attention, and welcoming ears. This stems from the shepherd's heart, which knows that each sheep, no matter how useless looking, has something to contribute and should be loved with deep care and affection.
           In conclusion, meditate upon 1 Corinthians 12:21-25:

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Peace of Christ to you,
Simeon Snow