Parable of a Shepherd

There was once a benevolent King who ruled over a large kingdom. The King loved his people and would daily stand in a tower window of his castle and watch the people over which he reigned.

One day the King noticed a man wandering to and fro through the streets. The next day he again saw the man who had caught his eye.

On the third day the King noticed the man wandering the streets, the King summoned one of his advisors and told him to go out into the kingdom and inquire about this man and report back to him.

A few days passed when the advisor reported back to the King who asked, “What have you learned of this man?” The King’s advisor reported that the people of the kingdom spoke favorably of the man and many had said he had a caring heart and would help anyone if they needed him, but this man had no known job in the kingdom and so he wandered to and fro, seeking whom he might help.

So the King ordered the advisor to go to this man and summon him to the castle so that the King might meet with him.

The advisor went out and found the man and returned to the castle with him. The man, upon seeing the King, presented himself in a very humble spirit and inquired why the King wished to speak to someone such as himself.

The King told the man that he had noticed the man wandering to and fro throughout the Kingdom and that the people have spoken very favorably about him. The man was very humble and thanked the King.

The King told the man that because the people had spoken so favorably about him and because he did not have employment in the kingdom, he would now be given the responsibility of being the Shepherd of the King’s flock.

The man joyfully accepted and became the shepherd of the King’s flock, tending them and making sure they drank from the best springs and ate the sweetest grass. The flock grew and multiplied and produced much for the kingdom.

After a few years had passed, one day the shepherd noticed a lion walking close to the flock. The lion looked emaciated as if it were starving, and the man thought how pitiful the lion looked and how it would be a shame that such a proud animal would starve, so he cut a lamb out of the herd and ushered it towards the lion so it could eat.

Of course, a few days later the lion returned and again the shepherd gave a lamb to the lion. This continued for a time and the lion grew stronger and no longer waited on the shepherd but began to hunt the flock for himself. Eventually, the lion drew more lions and they also fed on the flock.

Soon these happenings were made known to the king and the shepherd was summoned into the King’s presence. The King said to the man, “I have made you the shepherd of my flock. Why have you fed them to the lions?”

This parable shows what happens in our churches. We will, out of some misguided feeling of compassion, allow the enemy to enter and feed them the flock until they gain strength and become self-sufficient and who will then through their strength sway others, either out of fear or intimidation, to follow them. They will make situations very difficult to correct.

This, dear reader, is how churches split or, even worse, fail.

People will be put in positions just because they asked, instead of the church considering the fruit that they have produced. Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

No position should be given without a time of proving, no matter the need! Does the blacksmith not test his forging or the jeweler not remove the dross from the pour?

Yet we will allow anyone to gain positions in God’s house without a second thought. Is this the picture of good stewardship? Pastors, is this being a good Shepherd? What will you tell the King of Kings when you are summoned into His presence?

All of this came to me shortly after waking, even before my prayer time.

I pray that we will be good stewards and good shepherds of the flock of our Father in Heaven.

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple