Daily Manna · Day 16 · January 16
The Great Shepherd
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
A letter is being read aloud to a church in the first century. Some of its members have already had their property taken from them. Others are quietly thinking about going back to the older religion they came from, which was safer because the law protected it. Near the end of the letter, the reader comes to one long sentence spoken over all of them.
That sentence is a benediction, the last words of blessing over people who are tired of holding on. Look at who does the work in it. God "brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep." God will "Make you perfect in every good work." The Greek word behind "perfect" means to mend, the way a doctor sets a broken bone or a fisherman repairs a torn net. And God is the one "working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight." There is nothing in this sentence for you to lift. Notice which way it runs, though. He is mending you so that you can "do his will." The power is all His, and so is the goal.
So this blessing is a gift and not a task. You have promised to change before, and you know your own record. Yet none of the work in this blessing was ever handed to you. The hands that mend the net are the same hands that raised the Shepherd from the dead. Your record is not the subject of this blessing. His is, and the empty tomb shows what His hands can do.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 16 is After the Sceptre (Esther 8:6).