This one is a challenge for me. The thought that each night every sheep must “pass under the shepherds rod� to be individually checked makes me tired. And yet I believe it to be true. Somehow I need a solution.
We’ve got about 1400 members in our church. For most of the last year I’ve been the only priest on staff – my two assistants were called to their own congregations. I tried to keep up the “lifting the eyelids, the pulling back the ears, the rubbing of oil.� And realized that as much as this shepherd would like to do the personal touch, I can’t.
I can’t do it on my own. To keep on trying would lead to my own collapse. Instead I’ve begun to learn the balance between wanting to check each sheep and having undershepherds to check the sheep. That’s not easy. Will they catch the contagion quickly enough, will they notice the affliction for these people that I’ve grown to love? Can I trust them enough?
Probably not enough to ease all my fears. Instead I need a different approach. What I've begun to do more of is to trust the Good Shepherd with His flock. After all, they are His sheep. I trust that He checks them every night. That He feeds them every day. That He heals them of their ills. Sure I need to keep at it, but what a comfort to know that He's the one under who's rod we all must pass. These are His sheep.
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