I AM: The Good Shepherd
John 10:11 – 18
Friends we are in week four of our seven week series on the “I AM” statements of Jesus that are found in the Gospel of John. If you remember from last week I pointed out that there are two “I AM” statements in Chapter 10 both with using the familiar sights in the Judean hillside of sheepfolds and shepherds. Last week we saw that Jesus told the Pharisees “I AM: The Gate” of the sheepfold. I give the sheep access to the protection that they need and desire. Jesus is The Gate that allows us to find a right relationship with God, to find salvation through him and him alone. He is the gate and he is the only way into the sheepfold of God.
This week we pick up the other half of the Chapter 10 illustrations, the metaphor of Christ as the shepherd. The life of a shepherd was hard. It was arduous. It was outside against all the elements, the heat and the cold. There is little grass in the area. Sheep tend to wander. It was easy for sheep to get lost and easy for predators to assault them, kill them. A shepherd’s task required relentless vigilance, constant attention because danger was all around, danger from animals, danger from thieves and robbers who came to steal the sheep for the wool and for the meat.
Unlike in much of the world were sheep are reared largely for food in Judea they are kept mostly for their milk and wool. That means they lived longer and it also means a personal relationship develops between shepherd and sheep. Consequently the importance of the work of the shepherd to lives of the Jewish people was clear but there was also a clear religious picture of shepherding for the Jews.
There were many shepherds in the Old Testament that were well known to the Jewish people. Abraham was a shepherd. Isaac was a shepherd. Jacob was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd boy. Their constant vigilance, fearless courage, patient love for the flock were what made them good shepherds and made them favorites of God.
God passes judgment on religious leaders when they are selfishly caught up in their own concerns and were neglecting their duties to others. They have left the sheep spiritually sick and scattered among the heretical religions of the world. So in Ezekiel 34 God promises to become their shepherd.
I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
In order to do that He promises to send a true shepherd that would come to take care of them as their leaders were supposed to do. Here he’s talking about the Son of David, none other than the coming Messiah. This Messiah will become the one true Shepherd who will gather His people, not only from Israel, but from all the countries and all the nations, and lead them into the glory of the final kingdom.
I AM: The Good Shepherd because he knows his sheep.
Our first scene with the shepherd is a common sheepfold in a village or town that would be used by any and all shepherds that had come there. A simple pen that was a place where the sheep were brought at night to be safe. There was a guard, a gatekeeper that always minded the gate and stood watch over the pen.
They would be out on the fields, grazing during the day, and then at night the shepherd would lead them into the fold. This was a communal pen and there were sheep in the fold that belonged to different shepherds.
They would enter one at a time and the shepherd would stop each sheep with his rod and check each one for wounds, injuries or some other condition that might be of concern to him. He would check them over from front to back. It was a messy and sometimes very dirty job, but that is the shepherd’s role. He would let them through one by one. He would drop his rod over the next one, and then when he had examined and treated them he would let him in.
In the morning the shepherd would reappear and they would call their sheep. Only the shepherds were allowed to get by the gatekeeper. Only the shepherd of the sheep is allowed to come in the fold.
The shepherd always knew his own sheep because he spent every day with them and he examined them every day. He knew every mark on every one of them. He knew them from top to bottom, back to front.
My friends, the clear inference here is that Jesus is telling those gathered around him, that he is the rightful Shepherd of His sheep. He has the privilege to come in and call His sheep and take them out. He has fulfilled all Messianic prophecy from Ezekiel. He has demonstrated by words and works that He is the Messiah, the Son of God.
The picture here is really stunning. The true Shepherd has come to call Jewish people out of Judaism and to call Gentile people out of the folds of false religions. He knows who they are. He calls them by name. They know His voice, and He leads them out.
Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus has been testified to by the Holy Spirit. He is the rightful Shepherd. He is the one sent from the Father to be the one Shepherd, to lead the elect of Israel out of the fold of Judaism into the green pastures and still waters of salvation. Jesus is the Shepherd and He knows and loves his sheep.
I AM: The Good Shepherd because I lay down my life
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away”.
Unlike using a communal pen, when a shepherd takes his sheep long distances from a village, a distance too far to travel daily, they must find a sheepfold in the wilderness that will provide protection for the flock. It might be a cave, or a small valley, or a pen made from branches and scrub plants that could keep predators away from the sheep. In that instance the shepherd would actually lay down across the opening, giving his own body, potentially sacrificing his life to protect his sheep.
Pastor Ray Fowler says “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That means he lays down his life on behalf of the sheep, for the sake of the sheep. He dies so that they will live. There was a definite reason and purpose why Jesus laid down his life. There is nothing admirable about someone just laying down their life for no purpose. Jesus died to give the sheep life. He died so they would not have to. And so Jesus’ death was not a senseless or purposeless death. He died for the sheep. In the Old Testament thousands of sheep had been sacrificed as sin offerings for their shepherds. Now Jesus, the good shepherd, sacrifices himself for the sheep”.
Jesus is the good shepherd first of all because he lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus died for us so that we would not have to.
I Am The Good Shepherd
Jesus is the good shepherd because he conquers death for the sheep. Look at verses 17-18: “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father”
Yes a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. And yes, a good shepherd knows his sheep. But no common shepherd could ever conquer death for his sheep. Once the shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, that shepherd’s life was over and done with. He could no longer take care for the sheep. But not so with Jesus the good shepherd. Jesus says: “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again.”
As we come close to Holy Week and Good Friday, Christ’s death on the cross shows both the love of the Father and the Son. God the Father sent his only son to die for us. Jesus willingly gave up his life to bring us salvation.
Jesus said, “I lay down my life – only to take it up again.” Jesus died on the cross, but he also rose again. Jesus was in complete control of both his death and his resurrection. “I lay down my life in order to take it up again.”
When Jesus died on the cross, he had the resurrection in his sights at all times. Jesus died in order to rise victorious over sin and death. Christ’s death on the cross is never viewed as a defeat but as a victory, for he would surely rise again. Jesus conquered death for the sheep. He chose to go to the cross for you and for me. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Hear the Good News my friends……
Dear ones, Jesus is the Shepherd and the Shepherd is the gate. The gate and the shepherd work together for the well-being of the sheep, so that the flock thrives. Jesus is both the gate and the shepherd at the same time; he guards and protects his sheep from danger, and he provides for their nourishment, for their life in abundance.
God feeds us and sustains us with green pastures through our whole spiritual life. We have received all things pertaining to spiritual life and godliness, have we not? All things, fully sustained, fully supplied.
Jesus is truly the good shepherd. Not a good shepherd, but the good shepherd. There is no other. Just as there is only one gate for the sheep, so there is only one good shepherd. He laid down his life for the sheep. He knows his sheep and gathers them into one flock. He conquered death for the sheep so they also could know victory over sin and death, and live forever with him and God the Father. Jesus is the good shepherd of the sheep. “I AM” Jesus says “The Good Shepherd”! Amen.