The Good Shepherd
Ezek 34.11-16; John 10.1-20; 1 Peter 2.19-25“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10.11
Politics – ‘in it for themselves’
- lucky in Britain – not fleecing us (etymology)
Jesus arguing with Pharisees – the supposed spiritual leaders – the shepherds (like bishops)
More like hirelings – the hired hands (vv 12, 13)
In the scriptures of the Old Testament, the image of the shepherd is a symbol of divine government, and of human government, too, as an imitation of the divine.
Jesus' authority as shepherd, as governor of our lives, is established in his great act of paschal sacrifice: "I lay down my life for the sheep."
The idea of Jesus as the good shepherd is a popular and attractive image, which has inspired centuries of Christian devotion, and I suppose there is no passage in the whole of scripture better-known or more loved than the twenty-third Psalm, with its picture of divine shepherding.
But the image is almost too cute. It is too easy to be sentimentally attached to the image, and thereby overlook the deeper levels of meaning it implies.
In the earliest expressions of Christian art, the paintings which adorn the walls of the catacombs - those narrow labyrinthine tunnels which served as burial places in the early Christian centuries - a favourite theme is Jesus as the good shepherd.
It is natural and obvious enough, of course, that the Risen Lord should be represented as shepherd of the dead. But it's not just that. Jesus is represented there as shepherd of the stars - the universal, cosmic shepherd: the Son of God. He is shown as "the power of God and the wisdom of God," (1 Corinthians 1.24) that is, the good governor of all that is, shepherding all things to their appointed end. Even the mighty Roman Empire which was busy oppressing the church.
The image of the good shepherd is fundamentally an image of divine government, an image of the universal providence of God in Christ. But it is infused with the meekness of the Lamb of God, for Christ is both shepherd and lamb.
One of Dr Spooner’s celebrated ‘spoonerisms’ was to remember that ‘God is a shoving leopard!’ This is the strength and moral demand of God; and yet the loving shepherd displays the self-giving and careful patience of God with human waywardness.
When I lived in Torquay, I knew a young couple who were sheep farmers out on the moors. I would often spend my day off with them.
At lambing time, there were sometimes orphans left, whose mothers had died in giving birth. And then of course there were those mothers whose lambs were still-born or who died soon after birth.
Hungry little lambs and mothers with no young to suckle; want and plenty side by side.
But to match up these needs, the shepherds had to undertake a rather gruesome operation. They must take blood from the dead lamb and smear it all over the little orphan. Only then would the mother accept the lamb as her own and feed and nurture it.
And so this rich imagery of shepherding; of death and life, is seen supremely in this mass; we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; accepted in the beloved; clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
This is the Good Shepherd who is Governor of all things and who orders our universe; this is the Good Shepherd the bishop and guardian of our souls, our loving friend and brother; this is the Good Shepherd who loved us and gave himself up for us. This is the Good Shepherd who calls us to follow his example in self-giving care of one another, in our exercising of authority here in church; or in the workplace, or in the home
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10.11
