My Friend – You’ll notice I’ve put Scripture right into the flow of my text—setting it apart using italics and quotation marks for direct speech—without citing the reference (I am using the ESV). My desire is for you to read through the entire article uninterrupted. If the subject matter warrants another reading, and I think it does, then you can easily search, find, and read the texts in context. I hope you do because it is another skill to develop as a sheep-shepherd. ~ James

Why did Jesus spend his all-too-short public ministry discipling* followers?

Just walking through the land God promised to Abraham, doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, would fill the demands on his precious time. He had a growing sense of divine identity and purpose that no one else could grasp, “before Abraham was, I am.” His message was clear: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” All while grappling with cosmic realities, such as seeing Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Meanwhile, his followers seemed hopelessly grounded by the gravity of their narrow concerns: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The diverse personalities of his hand-picked cadre were all over the map in what they thought they needed, what they really needed, and most importantly, what they expected of him as Israel’s Messiah. They even struggled getting along with one another: “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?”

So, why bother? Working closely with people, for their good, is time-consuming and taxing, even for the Son of God. Quite frankly, people can be frustrating. Look in the mirror because that includes you and me. Even with the Master’s intense investment in us, we are still painfully slow to learn and woefully sluggish about getting with his program: I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me?

An efficiency expert might have shrewdly advised Jesus to splash onto the scene like his cousin John, proclaim and present the Kingdom in the power of the Spirit, get to the cross and justify them by faith. After all, that is what they truly needed. Right?

Discipling Parents

Joseph and Mary were raised in a Jewish culture that valued and sought ways to impart biblical faith to the next generation: these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. Likewise, the pious couple nurtured the growing faith of Jesus as he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Behind every means to that end was YHWH**, the One he would teach us to call “Our Father, in heaven.”

• The Father mentored the Son. This is one side of the S2S*** coin. “The word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
• The other side of the coin is that he, in turn, becomes an adult who can mentor others in the Father’s ways: Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

We have two options when balancing the earthly life and heavenly origin of Jesus. Either he leveraged the advantage of godhood to grow in grace, or he did not. If he did not, then we should expect to hear statements like these: though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself. And like this: for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are.

He did not draw upon his divinity, which means his faith in God was inspired and apprenticed by God through God’s Word, just like we who are in Jesus. There is a picture from the Hebrew Scriptures very familiar to Jesus and his earliest followers. It is an idea that fires the imagination and informs the biblical concept of discipleship. It served as a recurring historical motif and an intimate metaphor for the chosen people into whom we have been grafted (Rom 11:17).

YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is a Good Shepherd.

The Shepherd of Israel

The story of exodus salvation was learned by individuals, families, and tribes in every generation (Luke 22:15). Psalm 80 gives insight into how, some 500 years after the original events, they still knew and looked to Him in the present as their beloved Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.

Psalm 77:20 gives a more personal glimpse into Israel’s self-understanding of God’s covenant love: You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Contextually, this psalm arises from stress like steam from a boiling kettle: In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord. Exhausted by sleeplessness and rendered speechless by pain, the psalmist considers the days of old, the years long ago. What follows is a series of questions powerfully punctuated by this one: Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

The rich, evocative Hebrew word for God’s steadfast love (hesed) translates into English as grace, mercy, kindness, faithfulness, covenant loyalty, and steadfast love. It is part of a cluster of words expressing the character of the Creator, Israel’s Covenant Maker. It originates as a refrain of divine disclosure that resounds from Mt. Sinai: The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. It is a recollection that leads our psalmist to a question that answers his questioning: What god is great like our God?

What follows is the result of deep, heartfelt remembering: You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples! You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Notice the change in metaphor from sheep to children, from shepherd to father. The first is a role, what we do. The second is an identity, who we are.

Shaping His-Story

The Shepherd of Israel motif comes to the forefront at the burning bush, which captured the attention of the outlaw Moses (who was, interestingly, shepherding livestock at the time). As a central metaphor, it continued to form Israel, as witnessed in the psalms. So, too, in the prophets. In chapter 63, Isaiah gives voice to the continuing power of the theme in an unexpected turn of events. Like the psalmist of old, YHWH now reflects upon His exodus salvation. And acts accordingly!

Isaiah speaks to Israel a generation after their violent eviction from the Land: To a people in exile, whose forebearers rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. YHWH, he says, remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. In light of Psalm 77, what follows is stunning. God asks (Himself, Isaiah, or Israel—maybe all of the above) a series of probing questions.

Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock?

Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit?

Who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?

And then God’s pivotal answer comes as rain to an arid land, soothing their souls, provoking their petitions, and firing their faith. Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them shalom. You led your people, continues Isaiah, now brimming with hope, to make for yourself a glorious name.

As the Holy One has done, so He will do. Because of who He is.

As we will see, none of this was lost on Yeshua from Nazareth. The Shepherd of Israel, who had protected, provided, and guided his growth, would receive honor when the time was right, when God’s Lamb was ready to be a good shepherd himself.

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* The noun disciple and its verbal forms pull together images of teacher and student, mentor and learner, master and apprentice. Today, tragically, the language has become white noise; religious vocabulary so familiar it has lost its spiky edges. Not so for Jesus (Luke 9). Yes, it was familiar language in his historical context. But like any other crucial biblical idea, he elevates it to a New Covenant level. Not only are disciples to be covered in his dust (as followers) but in his blood (as co-conspirators).

** Old Testament translators use LORD in small caps to indicate the personal name of God in Hebrew, YHWH. It appears a staggering 7000 times in the Bible of Jesus and his earliest followers! God disclosed this name to Moses at the burning bush, thus binding Himself relationally to those He would save (Exodus 3:15). When the New Testament authors speak of God, that is their point of reference. It needs to be ours as well.

*** S2S is shorthand for the “Sheep-to-Shepherd Principle.” I coined this phrase a long time ago while doing an in-depth study of what it means to pastor in the NT from the Hebraic perspective of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah (Christ). It has informed my life and ministry ever since. The principle pictures the summons to kingdom service that accompanies salvation in King Jesus.