Thy Rod and Thy Staff: The Two Instruments of the Good Shepherd

“Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
— Psalm 22 (23):4
There is something striking in these words of the Psalmist. We might expect him to say, “Thy mercy and Thy love comfort me,” or “Thy protection and Thy grace comfort me.” But instead, David speaks of two instruments of the shepherd: the rod and the staff.
And both comfort him.
To the modern Christian, this may seem strange. How can a rod—which can strike—and a staff—which can pull and guide—be sources of comfort?
Because the Psalmist understands something that we have largely forgotten: the shepherd does not love the sheep merely by comforting them. He loves them by correcting them, protecting them, restraining them, and bringing them back when they wander.
The shepherd who only comforts is not necessarily a good shepherd.
The shepherd who never corrects his sheep is a shepherd who may eventually lose them.
The Rod That Corrects
The shepherd’s rod was a strong instrument. It could be used to defend the flock against wolves and other predators. It could also be used to correct a sheep that was endangering itself or wandering where it should not go.
The rod was therefore an instrument of authority.
A sheep does not always know what is dangerous. It sees grass and follows it. It sees an opening in the fence and goes through it. It follows another sheep even when that sheep is going in the wrong direction.
And sometimes the shepherd must intervene firmly.
This is an image of the correction of God.
There are times when God allows us to experience the consequences of our actions. There are times when He closes a door that we desperately wanted opened. There are times when He takes away something upon which we had become dependent. There are times when He permits suffering, humiliation, disappointment, or failure to become the means by which we awaken from spiritual carelessness.
We may call these things punishments.
But the Psalmist calls them part of the shepherd’s care.
“Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
The rod is not proof that the shepherd has ceased to love the sheep.
The rod may be proof that he loves the sheep too much to allow them to destroy themselves.
A father who never corrects his child is not necessarily a loving father. A shepherd who refuses to warn his sheep because he is afraid of offending them is not fulfilling his responsibility.
There is a false idea of love that has entered deeply into modern Christianity: that love means never saying “no,” never correcting, never judging an action to be sinful, and never warning someone that he is walking toward destruction.
But this is not the love of the Gospel.
Christ Himself says:
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”
The rod, rightly understood, is an instrument of love.
The Staff That Draws the Sheep Back
But the shepherd has another instrument.
The staff is different from the rod. Traditionally, the shepherd’s staff was long and often had a curved end. With it, the shepherd could guide the sheep, separate them, or reach out and draw a wandering sheep back toward himself.
This gives us another image of God’s mercy.
The rod says:
“Stop. You are going the wrong way.”
The staff says:
“Come back to me.”
The rod restrains.
The staff gathers.
The rod corrects.
The staff draws.
The rod may strike the ground beside the wandering sheep to stop it.
The crook of the staff may reach around the sheep and gently bring it back.
And we need both.
There are times when God must stop us.
And there are times when He must draw us.
Think of the Prodigal Son. The father does not go into the far country and beat his son into submission. The son must come to himself. But when he turns back, the father runs to meet him.
This is the staff of the Good Shepherd.
Christ says:
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”
And elsewhere He tells us about the shepherd who has one sheep that has wandered away. He leaves the ninety-nine and goes after the one that is lost.
Why?
Because the shepherd does not consider the wandering sheep disposable.
The sheep may have wandered through its own foolishness. It may have followed another sheep. It may have ignored the shepherd’s voice.
But the shepherd still seeks it.
The Christian Shepherd Must Know Both
This has a particular significance for those who have been entrusted with shepherding souls.
A priest, bishop, spiritual father, or any Christian who has been given responsibility for others must learn the difference between the rod and the staff.
There are times when a shepherd must correct.
There are false teachings that must be rejected.
There are sins that must be named as sins.
There are dangerous paths from which people must be warned.
There are wolves from which the flock must be protected.
A shepherd who sees a wolf approaching and says, “I do not want to offend anyone,” has ceased to shepherd.
But there is another danger.
A shepherd can become so accustomed to the rod that he forgets the staff.
He can learn how to condemn but forget how to restore.
He can learn how to strike but forget how to gather.
He can become so concerned with identifying the wandering sheep that he forgets that the purpose of correction is to bring the sheep home.
The rod without the staff can become harshness.
The staff without the rod can become sentimentality.
The Good Shepherd uses both.
God Does Not Correct Us to Destroy Us
When God chastens us, His purpose is not destruction.
The surgeon cuts in order to heal.
The father disciplines in order to teach.
The shepherd uses the rod in order to preserve the sheep.
And God corrects us because He desires our salvation.
This is why the Apostle says:
“Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.”
There are times in our spiritual life when we should ask ourselves:
“Perhaps this difficulty is God’s rod.”
Perhaps the closed door is God’s rod.
Perhaps the rebuke of someone wiser than us is God’s rod.
Perhaps the failure we cannot understand is God’s rod.
Perhaps the suffering that has humbled our pride is God’s rod.
We naturally want God to remove every difficulty.
But sometimes the difficulty is precisely the instrument through which God is saving us.
A sheep does not always understand why the shepherd strikes the ground before it.
Does it know that the shepherd is preventing it from walking into danger?
We likewise do not always understand the providence of God.
But faith means trusting the Shepherd even when we do not understand the road.
And When We Have Fallen Away?
Then we need the staff.
Perhaps we have wandered far from God.
Perhaps we have fallen into the same sin again and again.
Perhaps we have become discouraged and think that we are no longer worthy to return.
Perhaps we have convinced ourselves that God is tired of us.
But the Good Shepherd does not abandon His sheep.
He comes looking.
He reaches out His staff.
He draws the wandering sheep back toward Himself.
This is the mystery of repentance.
Repentance is not merely our decision to improve ourselves.
It is our response to the Shepherd who is calling us home.
The sheep hears the voice.
It turns.
And the shepherd draws it back.
Sometimes the greatest miracle is not that we never wander.
The greater miracle is that when we wander, the Shepherd continues to seek us.
The Rod and the Staff Both Comfort
Now we understand the Psalmist’s words.
“Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
He does not say, “Thy rod frightens me and Thy staff comforts me.”
He says that both comfort him.
Why?
Because both belong to the same Shepherd.
The hand that holds the rod is the hand that holds the staff.
The God who corrects us is the same God who gathers us.
The God who says, “Do not go there,” is the God who says, “Come back to Me.”
The God who exposes our sin is the God who offers forgiveness.
The God who wounds our pride is the God who heals the contrite heart.
This is the complete pastoral care of God.
Sometimes He must stop us. Sometimes He must pull us back. But in both cases, He is trying to bring us safely home.
And this is also the calling of the Christian shepherd.
We must not be afraid of the rod when the rod is necessary.
But neither must we forget the staff.
We must defend the flock from the wolves, but we must also search for the sheep that has wandered.
We must speak the truth, but we must speak it for the salvation of souls.
We must correct sin, but we must never cease calling the sinner to repentance.
For the purpose of the shepherd is not to punish the sheep.
The purpose of the shepherd is to bring the sheep safely home.
And when, at the end of our earthly journey, we stand before the true Shepherd of our souls, may we be able to say with the Psalmist:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
May God grant us the humility to accept His rod when we need correction, and the humility to follow His staff when He calls us back.
For whether He corrects us or draws us, His purpose is always the same: that we may remain with Him, hear His voice, and finally enter into His eternal Kingdom.
Amen.