Oh little shepherd boy, watch now the sheep,
Guide them up the path so steep.
For you’ve been given the revealing light,
To pierce the darkness to expose what’s right.
The shepherd’s path is straight and narrow,
His Boss told him, make like an arrow.
Stay with the path; turn not left nor right,
It’s clear and simple, like black and white.
The shepherd’s job’s to guide the sheep,
But he followed them into trouble deep.
The flock is prone to go astray,
But this careless shep ignored the Way.
The hired hand loves not the sheep,
And all is lost, his course he’d not keep.
The Master of this wayward flock
Said, “Enough is enough, this must stop.
The only Way to get this job done
Is to send my only begotten Son.”
The little shepherd felt he’d been robbed,
For the Master’s Son had taken his job.
And the Son did well, no one better,
He’d kept to the path, right to the letter.
The little shepherd had hate in his eyes,
He plotted and planned the Son’s demise.
A little coward in filthy attire,
When it came down to the kill, another he hired.
And so the Son drew His last breath,
And for the sheep, surrendered to death.
But death couldn’t hold the favored One,
And all sheep and sheps were saved by this Son.
But some they will still wander astray,
They will not listen, though they hear Him say.
“Come my children and follow my voice,”
but so many sheep, they make a bad choice.
And follow their nose into trouble deep,
The misguided, wayward, hell bound sheep.
Tertius
The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.
John 10:13-17
A note about “The Hired Hand and the Son of Man”: One of the kids in Sunday School asked if Jews and Muslims would make it to heaven. I thought at first this could be a bit complicated because the Old Testament (and Jesus) declares the children of Israel to be God’s chosen people. The idea of an incompetent shepherd came to me when I woke up in the middle of the night. I wrote the first half then and the rest as soon as I got up. The Jews did reveal God to the world and provided much prophecy in regard to the Messiah. However, the majority (presently) failed to properly interpret the signs of His arrival. I’m not the judge of who will enter and who won’t but I rest my hope on faith in Jesus, Him and Him alone.