Never abandoned

‘When I go, you will not be left all alone; I will come back to you. In a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me; and because I live, you also will live. When that day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me, just as I am in you.’  (verses 18-20)

Read John 14:15-21

The day is wet, cold, miserable. The sheep and their lambs huddle under the trees in the corner of the paddock. But, quite some distance from the flock, right in the middle of the paddock, stands one shivering little lamb. Somehow it has become separated from its mother and the flock and just cringes there. Soaked, pathetic, frightened. Bleating its little head off. Abandoned, it seems.

But watch . . . over there in the flock! One of the sheep is frantic, running around, baaing. It’s the lost lamb’s mum, of course. She can’t find her youngster, and she rushes from lamb to lamb, sniffing here, bunting there, moving on.

Suddenly, something causes her to pause. A distant sound. A familiar bleat. And off towards that sound she trundles, straight to the middle of the paddock. Joyous reunion!

I am Jesus’ little lamb.

And his promise to me, to you, is that he will never abandon us. Life for us might become cold and scary too. But always – in word, in sacrament, and in himself – he assures us that he is, and will be, there for us.

Come, Lord Jesus, and be with me also today. Amen

by Bob Kempe, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)

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