Wednesday, September 26, 2018

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.” (Luke 15: 4 -5, New Living Translation)

                There are a considerable number of idioms that have to do with our shoulders. You look like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Are you giving him the cold shoulder? Get that chip off your shoulder! She can take it; she has broad shoulders. Do you need a shoulder to cry on? He is head and shoulders above the rest of the class. We are going to do this together, shoulder to shoulder. Look at us; look at whom we are rubbing shoulders with. Let’s put our shoulder to the wheel and get this done! I’ve done all I can do; it’s on your shoulders now.

                One of the “joys” of becoming older is to discover that I have considerable damage in my shoulders from arthritis.  It would wake me up at night with the pain. Fortunately, a recent cortisone shot has much alleviated most of the problem, for now. At least, it gives me an excuse not to rake all our leaves this Fall and let our lawn-care people do it instead.

                I have often counseled people who are living through some major crisis and are deeply emotionally conflicted and confused and questioning where God is in all this, that it is perfectly OK to express anger, frustration, hurt, and distress in one one’s prayers and admonitions towards God. Afterall, God has very big and broad shoulders.

Encounter Job who rails and protests long and loud about the unfair position that God has allowed to happen to him. Read many of the Psalms which are deep laments and angry complaints: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?” (Psalm 22: 1, NLT). Although I am somewhat captivated by The Message Bible’s interpretation of the same verse: “God, God . . . my God! Why did you dump me miles from nowhere?”  

                If one has ever been to the Holy Land the chances are pretty good that you have come home with a carved, wooden statue depicting the Good Shepherd with a lamb being carried upon his shoulders. I now have the one which I gave to my mother after my trip many, many years ago. Although there are many biblical images of God as Shepherd and therefore Jesus, too, the parable from Luke always seems to me to be  the one which best expresses the perseverant, tenacious, resolve of a compassionate and loving God to find us in our wildernesses and carry us home, back to the fold.

As it is affirmed in John’s Gospel, Jesus, himself, acts out the God as the Good Shepherd motif. Consequently, our Shepherd knows our names. We are apt to go astray, find ourselves in unfamiliar and unsafe circumstances, think the grass is greener on some other hill and not see the fast-flowing and dangerous river between, and yet, the parable assures us that God does not give up on us ever and will continually look for us until he finds us and leads us back to greener pastures and still waters. “The one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”  (Deuteronomy 33:12, New International Version)

Finally, this is an example for us, as well, to help shoulder the burdens of others when we can. “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2, NLT) We cannot always fix the problems and issues that others are facing, nor should we try necessarily, but we can be a listening and empathetic ear, give a shoulder to cry upon, or be a voice of encouragement and affirmation. Find the good shepherd in yourself and be supportive and caring. As the old song goes, you’re not heavy; you’re my brother/sister.

Dale