1 Peter 2:25

SHEPHERD AND SHEEP

‘Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.’

1 Peter 2:25

Who would expect such allusions in an address to servants, urging them to propriety of conduct? Evidently, from the beginning, religion was mixed up with practical life. Oppressed bondsmen were reminded of the example of Christ, and were expected to follow Him in patient endurance of wrong, remembering that they themselves had been the occasion, through their wanderings, of the Shepherd’s weary, painful quest.

I. A picture of ourselves.

(a) What we were. Even sheep going astray, according to the familiar image met with so often, both in the Old Testament and the New.

(b) What we are. Now ‘returned,’ by Divine grace, from our wanderings to the fold, and so to happiness, safety, and abundance. Happy they of whom this is true.

II. A picture of our Lord.

(a) The Shepherd, as represented in the paintings in the Catacombs. He exercises the pastoral office mainly in the recovery of the lost of the flock. Observe: (1) His pity for the flock. (2). His search for the lost. (3) His suffering for the lost. (4) His rescue of the lost.

(b) The Bishop of our souls, i.e. the Overseer, Protector, Guide, and Ruler. (1) Christ controls His people whom He has restored. (2) And leads them in the paths of peace. (3) And feeds them in His plenteous pastures. (4) And protects them, i.e. with His ‘rod and staff.’