My inspiration for this painting is drawn from the work of the Christian motorcycle groups.
God has a 'set of wheels' in the Old Testament. There is a description of them in Ezekiel 1:15-21 and Ezekiel 10:9-18. (They sparkled like chrysolite; each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel; their rims were high and awesome and all four rims were full of eyes all around.)
In Ezekiel the Spirit of the living creatures is in the wheels and the glory of God sits above the wheels. In this painting the Spirit of the living Christ is in these wheels and my representation of the Incarnate Son of God sits above the wheels.
I think Jesus celebrates the lives and work of the people in every walk of life who have remained true to His command to 'shepherd His flock'. His Spirit is with them and I believe He is saying:
"Well done good and faithful servant. You live and work in My Redeemed World. Remind them that they are redeemed. Be one with Me."
Jesus used the picture of a shepherd and his sheep in the unique relationship of the time to help His listeners understand the reality of God's love for us. A shepherd's life belongs to the sheep. The lives of the sheep belong to the shepherd. They sustain each other. Three times He asked Simon Peter if He loved Him and each time He told Him to feed His sheep. He also said 'I am the good shepherd, I know My sheep and Mine know Me.'and'I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.'
Since then the 'Good Shepherd' has been honoured as an enduring Christian symbol for Jesus. In Hebrews Chapter 13 Paul refers to God as [the God of Peace who raised from the dead the 'great Shepherd of the sheep by the Blood of the Eternal Covenant' who is Jesus our Lord].
In Ezekiel Chapter 34 Verse 11 God says to the prophet, 'I myself will look after and tend my sheep.'
In Jeremiah Chapter 3 God says, 'I will give you shepherds after my own heart..'
The Scottish missionary Oswald Chambers speaks about God's flock. He says that Jesus has some extraordinarily funny sheep, some bedraggled, dirty sheep, some awkward, butting sheep, some sheep that have gone astray.
At the end of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10 St Paul tells the fledgeling Christians to do everything for the glory of God. Not to offend Jews or Greeks or the church of God. But to be like him when he tries to please everyone in everything, only seeking the advantage of the many, so that they may be saved."
It looks like the Christian shepherd has no easy task, the standards are high in the face of impossible odds at worst and extreme difficulty at best.
To read more about the shepherd in the bible some references are Psalm 23; John chapter 10; Isaiah chapter 40 verse 11; Ezekiel chapter 34; Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15; Luke chapter 2.
