Have you ever wondered why, of all people, it was shepherds who first saw Jesus Christ in the flesh? I'm sure there are many reasons but surely one of them is that these shepherds had a particular interest in seeing for themselves the Lamb of God. It is important to understand that Jesus is both the Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd. As our shepherd, Christ sees us as sheep of His flock, but, being the Lamb of God, He is Himself the lowliest of sheep. He does not lead us towards or ask of us anything to which He has not Himself also been subjected. In fact, He is the very best of Good Shepherds precisely because He has taken upon Himself the pains and privations common to those of His flock and knows down to His bones just what it means to be a sheep. We are so very blessed and fortunate to have the Lamb of God for our Shepherd. He knows how to lead us because He allowed Himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter. I hope that we can all strive every day to become more and more like the Lamb of God so that we can learn better and better how to follow and give heed to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
