Life on the Pasture

Each morning as students and staff enter Beautiful Savior, temperatures are taken. For the fun of it, I like having my temperature read twice, first as I enter the building and then in the office. I have yet to have the same reading by both thermometers. Thus, I can add my own personal experience to the wealth of anecdotal evidence that temperature checks are not necessarily very reliable, which begs the question: “Why are we doing them?”

One could begin a social media debate at this point regarding best practices during the pandemic and then morph it into a “Let’s Solve the Injustice Issues While We’re At It” discussion. From what I’ve observed, that has led to very little that is constructive and, in some cases, to words that are very destructive. To use the pasture analogy, it’s like a flock of sheep standing around seeing who can bleat the loudest.

I am currently reading through Leviticus, a book filled with very meticulous laws covering a wide variety of situations. I wonder if the Israelites ever wondered to themselves, “Why are we doing all of this?” I also wonder if some ever felt that Moses was on a power trip and thought up all of these rules and regulations simply to make their lives miserable. 

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron.” (Leviticus 14:33) The concept of the LORD speaking is repeated throughout Leviticus, reiterating that all the rules and regulations were not Moses’ idea, but from Him whose ways are not always our ways and whose thoughts are not always our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). 

The writer to the Hebrews begins the letter with these words: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son.” (Hebrews 1:1–2, NIV) If we want to hear the voice of the Lord and see Him in action, we listen to the words of Jesus and see how He reacts to various situations as we read through the Gospel accounts. In so doing, we move beyond the temptation to make God into a perfect version of us with God basically thinking as we do. Instead, we hear things about One who would willingly die for poor miserable sinners of all backgrounds that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. We hear the words of One who calls us to selfless love, even for our enemies. We read of One who shows us how to stand up for those who are otherwise marginalized, such as when He spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). And then there are words such as, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:21),” challenging us to consider how Jesus would have us react to certain government regulations even if we think they’re unwise or unfair. 

We are very fortunate that our system of government allows for dissenting voices and the opportunity to share differing opinions, but our Lord Jesus also says: “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27–28, NIV) Perhaps it’s time for a little less bleating from us the sheep and more listening to the Good Shepherd.

– Pastor Schmidt