I read this passage and saw my failures in these passages. Woe is me. I have failed so many times. I was expecting to get a pat on the back as a "good shepherd", but this passage really breaks my pride down. I have failed a lot in ministry. So many times I have put my education and my learning for myself, and not the people of God. HOW SELFISH! I have not strengthened the weak in the church, rather I have at times judged them. I have not healed the sick, but instead sought my own well-being. I have not brought back those who have strayed, but let them go their own way. I have been harsh and used force with my apologetic training. If anything, I have harmed the people of God rather than heal them.

However, I love the Word of God because God is the hero of the story: "I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice" (Ezekial 34:14-16).

It is assuring to know that in the midst of all our failures, God says "I have to do this myself." As humans, I see the image of God in me distorted as so many times I am self-sufficient saying, "I can do it myself." Here in all my failures, the Bible reminds me that "God has to do it all himself!" What wonderful news that I can rely on God! Only the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are sufficient in themselves, while I must be God-sufficient. God has to save his people, not I, not works, not charismatic teachers, but only Christ.

"I am the good shepherd because I lay down my life for the sheep"