The Good Shepherd
Reading: John 10:1-10
Preached by Joshua on 3 May 2020
There’s a popular game in my household with small children where we act out various animals and try and guess who is pretending to be what.
Animals that make frequent appearances are lions, tigers, bears, and the occasional unicorn.
The humble sheep doesn’t often feature.
Who wants to be a sheep after all?
We say things to each other like “Don’t be a sheep.” The image of being a sheep has negative connotations which suggest vulnerability, weakness, and herd mentality.
We would rather think of ourselves as unique individuals who do our own thing…
I realized as I was reading this passage through the week the resistance within me to this metaphor. Something about it bothers me. A lot of the time I don’t think I find the image of being a sheep in the fold all that comforting.
I prefer the idea of my own independence.
I prefer the idea of my own self-determination and freedom.
Being a sheep?
No thanks.
At first glance this passage can seem like one of those Christian hallmark cards – fluffy sheep, green pastures and cliché sayings that give us warm fuzzies.
I remember as a child staying at my nana’s house and she had an image of Jesus with a sheep draped over his shoulders. The sheep snuggled into his neck and Jesus with a kind and mild face.
Often this image of Jesus can be dripping with sentimentality.
But there is nothing sentimental about this passage at all.
It is realistic and gritty, it includes the reality of thieves and wolves and a flock in danger.
If we take a closer glance at this passage, we see that it is at its heart all about leadership.
It makes big claims about who Jesus is and what Jesus has come to do.
So how might we think about the shepherd and sheep metaphor in our context?
Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann frames the issues at hand helpfully saying this:
“We may take the “shepherd-sheep” metaphor as a way to discern our life. On the one hand there are false shepherds, false religious leaders, greedy economists, phony politicians, even mistaken parents who offer an illusionary world for their children. On the other hand, there is life with no shepherd, being on one’s own, vulnerable and without resources, stumbling from one failed prospect to another.”[1]
What Brueggemann helpfully recognizes is that this metaphor is about power, influence, and leadership.
So, let’s dig into the passage and have a closer look at it.
John 10
Context is so important when reading the Bible and here we can’t read John 10 all on its own.
What has come before it sets the scene for the teaching of Jesus in John 10. Jesus’ words about shepherds, wolves, and strangers is told within the context of a scandal and an argument.
In chapter 9 we hear about a man who was born blind. Jesus reaches out to him and heals him. The man recognizes who Jesus is and worships him.
Surely all of this would be a cause for celebration?
The only catch is that Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was a day set aside for worship and rest. The Jewish people had a series of rules and regulations around what was allowed and what wasn’t on this very holy day.
The Pharisees, who were important religious and political leaders catch Jesus healing this man on the Sabbath and so they drag the blind men in for questioning.
They Pharisees treat this once blind man with contempt, they question him, rebuke him, mock him, and then cast him out.
Directly following this drama, we hear Jesus tell a story. The story of the good shepherd.
As we hear it, we can’t help but identify the blind man who recognizes Jesus as the sheep who “hears his voice.”
And guess who Jesus is referring to when he talks about the false shepherd?
The Pharisees are his target here. They are false shepherds, leading the people astray.
In using this story Jesus draws upon a biblical tradition before him that uses images of sheep and shepherds. One particular passage in the Old Testament stands out.
The prophet Ezekiel uses the imagery of false shepherds to describe the leaders of God’s people who had gone astray. The message translation puts it bluntly saying:
God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherd-leaders of Israel. Yes, prophesy! Tell those shepherds, ‘God, the Master, says: Doom to you shepherds of Israel, feeding your own mouths! Aren’t shepherds supposed to feed sheep? You drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep. You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost. You bully and badger them. And now they’re scattered every which way because there was no shepherd—scattered and easy pickings for wolves and coyotes. (Ezekiel 34:1-6)
The false shepherds Jesus refers to are in it for themselves too. Jesus says they are like hired hands, just in it for their own benefit.
The Pharisees scatter the sheep and kill and destroy with their harsh judgmental religion, their hypocrisy and their self-serving politics. Like the thief, or the stranger, or the hired hand they do not have the best interests of the sheep at heart.
The thief seeks to kill and destroy.
The stranger doesn’t know the sheep.
The hired hand is just there for the pay-packet at the end of the day.
But there is a good shepherd.
In Ezekiel chapter 34, after the prophet announces that God will judge the false shepherds, God himself promises to shepherd the people.
16 “ ‘God, the Master, says: From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I’m going looking for them. As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I’m going after my sheep… I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I’ll go after the lost, I’ll collect the strays, I’ll doctor the injured, I’ll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they’re not exploited. (Ezekiel 34:11-16) (THE MESSAGE)
Jesus tells the story about shepherding and makes the claim that he is the Good Shepherd.
When he does this he fulfills the role of the shepherd in Ezekiel.
Jesus comes as the legitimate leader of the people, he comes as a Shepherd King in the line of David.
But will we hear his voice?
That is one of the central questions that this passage asks of us as readers…
Sheep farming in Jesus’ day was a bit different to how we do it here in New Zealand. I grew up as a city boy, most of my exposure to sheep farming was through reading Footrot Flats. But what I do know is that in New Zealand farmers tend to herd the sheep with a dog or two and drive the sheep from behind.
However, the way they did sheep farming in Jesus’ day was quite different. The Middle Eastern shepherd leads the sheep by walking out in front of them and by calling them. The sheep would recognize the voice of their shepherd and follow them. Jesus uses this image of sheep hearing their shepherd to talk about those who follow him.
The Biblical scholar Ken Bailey has done lots of really helpful research about reading Jesus in his context and about the life of shepherds in the middle east.
When he was teaching in Lebanon he had some students who were from small farming communities, who farmed in traditional ways that go back centuries. He asked his students about their experience of a new sheep arriving in a flock.
They told him about how early in the morning as the day dawns the sheep would become excited and eager in their pen, ready to get out and be led by the shepherd from the village to green pastures to eat their fill.
As soon as the shepherd opened the door of the pen they would hear the voice of the shepherd call to them, and they would follow his distinct note. In a village there may be several shepherds doing the same thing, but each sheep knows the voice of their shepherd.
Apparently when a new sheep came into the fold it could take some time. It would be common for a new sheep to have a kind of nervous breakdown, running around the pen aimlessly while the others go out. It would take a few days for the sheep to get to know the voice of its new shepherd.[2]
In the midst of all of the voices competing for our attention what does it mean to be hear the voice of the Good Shepherd?
There were in the time of Jesus false shepherd and thieves, claiming to offer the good life but all in self-interest.
If we take a clear-eyed look at our world things are much the same.
Advertisers and politicians make promises they can’t keep. Many shepherds come with big promises, whether it is the company with the product that claims to bring perpetual happiness, or the politician who claims to usher in heaven on earth.
None of them is perfect, all of them bear the same burden of brokenness and corruptibility of every human.
In contrast, Jesus comes with the claim to be “the Good Shepherd”.
Jesus’ leadership looks different to the false claims of the other shepherds. How so?
Jesus in John 10:10 gives us his mission objective. He says this:
- “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
The Shepherding image draws not only from the fiery words of Ezekiel but also from the consoling words of Psalm 23. This Psalm is read on death-beds and at funerals precisely because of the comfort and hope it offers.
It speaks of basic human needs.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters…”
Here the Psalm speaks of provision. Basic needs of food and sleep.
It goes on…
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.”
Here the Psalm speaks of security and care.
Jesus draws upon the images of Psalm 23 to describe his ministry. He is the Good Shepherd who has come to feed his people, to deliver them from death and evil and to offer goodness and mercy. To offer the abundant life as we see it in Psalm 23.
How does Jesus do this?
1 Peter 2: 24 says this:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
The Shepherd we meet in John 10 isn’t a shepherd who barks orders at his sheep from a distance or one who simply gives some good advice to his sheep. He is the Shepherd who becomes the sacrificial lamb, who dies on behalf of his sheep.
Jesus not only presents himself as the Good Shepherd, but also as the “the gate” of the sheep-pen. The point here is that Jesus is the one whom through the sheep are led into the safety of the sheep pen. It would be common enough for a Shepherd to lie down in the gateway at night to stop predators getting in.
This image of Jesus as the gate is similar to John 14 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus makes a big claim by calling himself the gate for the sheep. Here Jesus presents himself as the Saviour of the world, the one through whom we have access and relationship with God the Father.
Jesus is no ordinary shepherd; he is the shepherd who dies for his sheep.
This radical servant-hearted, self-giving leadership of Jesus forms a radical new community who follow him.
Acts 2
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
This is a community led by the Good Shepherd.
A COMMUNITY LED BY THE GOOD SHEPHERD…
The failure of the shepherds mentioned in Ezekiel 34 was to care for the community.
The weak were not strengthened, the sick were not healed, the injured were not bound up, the strayed were not brought home, the lost were not sought out, the people were ruled with force and harshness.[3]
As I read Acts, I see a contrast to the community that Ezekiel critiques.
I see a community with Jesus as its shepherd.
The Coronavirus has raised lots of questions for us. One of the biggest questions is – what kind of community do we want to be?
Will we be a community that cares for our most vulnerable members…
Or will we when this is over embrace business as usual?
The story of the Good Shepherd that Jesus tells recognizes the needs of the sheep, the community gathered around Him.
We have been living through fearful and uncertain times.
When fear rules we tend to turn in on ourselves.
When the rhetoric of fear drives our politics, we often look out for number one.
We have seen sad examples of this over the past few months.
Over and against fear though, the good shepherd speaks calmly and invites us to an abundant table to dine with Him. The community in Acts know this. From this table with Jesus at its head flows generosity and love to all they meet.
As we consider the story of the Good Shepherd today my hope is twofold
1) That we hear afresh his voice among the din of false shepherds and empty promises and that we come to Him to experience life in all its fullness.
2) That we may be like the first Christians describe in Acts, a people who gather around the table with the Good Shepherd and follow his lead of generosity and care for the community.
[1] Walter Brueggemann, quoted in https://sojo.net/preaching-the-word/living-awed-life
[2] Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd: A Thousand Year Journey From Psalm 23 to the New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014).
[3] Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd: A Thousand Year Journey From Psalm 23 to the New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014).