THE GOOD SHEPHERD: IS COVID 19 TESTING OUR RESOLVE AS A HUMAN RACE?
THE GOOD SHEPHERD – By Fred Vergara (Texts: 1 John 3:16-24; Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10) Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10). The phrase “Good Shepherd” was used by Jesus in the context of first century Palestine. Jesus spent his actual ministry in Galilee, the rural, agricultural, communal, pastoral setting where the imagery of sheep and shepherd was real and vivid. Tending to the flock was part of the geographical, socio-economic and historical background in the story of Jesus. Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews, Christians and Muslims offered a ram to God in place of his son, Isaac. A ram is a male sheep. Moses, the lawgiver of Israel was tending the sheep in Sinai when God called him to set free the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. David was a shepherd boy when God anointed him to be the king of Israel. The prophets of the Old Testament were so familiar with the imagery that they likened the bad kings of Israel and Judah to that of evil shepherds. They vi