The Good Shepherd
Readings: Ezek 34.11-16; John 10.10-20; 1 Peter 2.19-25
“I am the good shepherd; and know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10.14, 15
The guide was explaining to the Holy Land pilgrims how an eastern shepherd always leads his flock from the front, gently leading the sheep who trustingly follow. Unlike the western shepherds who drive the flock forward from behind. Just then they drove past a dozen sheep being herded from behind by a man with a large staff and a loud voice. The guide immediately jumped out of the coach to investigate. He soon returned, and obviously relieved declared: “He’s a butcher, not a shepherd!”
It’s a common enough accusation, especially at election time, that our leaders are only out to fleece the sheep, not care for them.
And of course in today’s Gospel, our Lord would have to agree that in many cases, and in particular the shepherds of Israel, the pharisees with whom he is in dialogue, this is a true analysis. They are more concerned with self and self-interest, than their flock and caring for others.
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.
Thus, God is addressed as shepherd in the Psalms: "Hear, 0 thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep." (Psalm 80.1) And David, the shepherd boy, divinely anointed, becomes the shepherd King of Israel.
And when Isaiah prophesies the coming deliverer, he too speaks of a shepherd: "He shall lead his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs unto his bosom." (40.1)
So when Jesus, offspring of the House of David, calls himself the "good shepherd", his hearers would certainly have had all this background in mind. And that it was a Divine title, which further enraged the pharisees.
The image of the shepherd is a natural symbol of government. Not only in ancient Israel, but also in ancient Greece. From the time of Homer on, the Greeks spoke of kingship in terms of shepherding - a human office, no doubt, but also a reflection of the divine government of the universe. At its best, the image of the shepherd is a natural and universal symbol of divine and human government.
But there is this inbuilt ambiguity about the imagery.
So our Lord, in today's Gospel, draws a distinction between the good shepherd, who cares for the sheep, and the hireling, who is in the business for what he can get out of it for himself. "I am the good shepherd," says Jesus. "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
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.
George Whitefield preached on “The Good Shepherd’ as his last sermon in London before his final visit to America in 1769 and picks up this same point.
“Meekness is necessary for people in power; a man that is passionate is dangerous. Every governor should have a warm temper, but a man of an unrelenting, unforgiving temper, is no more fit for government than Phaethon to drive the chariot of the sun; he only sets the world on fire.“One of Dr Spooner’s celebrated ‘spoonerisms’ was to remember that ‘God is a shoving leopard!’ Perhaps in more biblical terms, Jesus is the Lion of Judah. 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. The lion lies down with the Lamb.
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. This is an ancient practice.
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
This is the God we know and love; and who knows and loves us.
“I am the good shepherd; and know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10.14, 15
