In Jesus’ time, sheep were very important as they provided both food and clothing. Shepherd’s had to have a nomadic lifestyle because of the available pasture. They had to travel with their sheep from one region to another as the seasons changed. This created the close relationship between sheep and shepherd that we hear Jesus describing and using in this reading:
“The Shepherd cares for his sheep, calls them by name, leads them to pasture and water, finds shelter for them in inclement weather, defends them against bandits and wolves, and willingly lays down his life for them. The sheep have great confidence in the shepherd. They recognize his voice, obey his commands, and they follow wherever he leads them” (http://www.frksj.org/homily_the_good_shepherd.htm).
This is why the “image of Shepherd stood out in a special way in the minds of the early Christians. In the very first Christian cemeteries and worship places we find crude but definite artistic expressions of the depth and meaning this particular image had for Christians in the very first century of the Church's history. Images of Jesus as the Good Shepherd appear on the walls of the earliest churches and often as decorations on the tombs of Christian martyrs” (http://frcharliehughes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/blog-184-good-shepherd.html). So, the early Christian community cherished the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
“The word “good” (kalos …) means first and foremost beautiful – the good shepherd is attractive. At the same time he is good at his work. So this attractive and very skilled shepherd draws us to himself and is able to provide accurately for our needs” (Stephen Verney, Water into Wine)
The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep:
“The word “life” (psychē …) is impossible to translate by any one English word. The psychē means the self, or the ego, or the soul. It can be the centre of our earthly life, or the centre of our supernatural life. If the shepherd lays down his psychē for the sheep he is offering them this centre of his inner life, in all its varied aspects …
It might mean that the attractive and skilful shepherd puts the whole of his mind and heart at the disposal of the sheep, through lambing time and shearing time, through summer days in the high mountains and through the cold winter days when food is scarce. Or it might mean that his skilled shepherding reaches this climax, that he is ready to lay down his earthly life to protect the sheep if they are attacked by wolves. Or it might mean, looking into the heart of the shepherd Jesus, that he lays aside his ego self for the sake of the sheep, and seeking their well-being rather than his own he receives from the Father his true Self” (Verney).
In whichever of these three ways or in all three together, the shepherd gives his own life so that the sheep can receive the superabundant life of God himself. Lesslie Newbigin writes that:
“Here is the unmistakable criterion by which true leadership is to be distinguished from false. We are familiar with the kind of leadership which is simply a vast overextension of the ego. The ultimate goal – whether openly acknowledged or not – is the glory of the leader. The rest are instrumental to this end. He does not love them but makes use of them for his own ends. He is a hireling – in the business of leadership for what he can get out it.
By contrast the mark of the true leader is that of the cross” (The Light Has Come).
The mark of the true leader then is courage. Courage, in the sense described by G. K. Chesterton who said, “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a readiness to die.” Literally speaking, courage comes from the Latin ‘cor,’ meaning heart. So when we open up to any experience fully, with courage — our whole heart — it naturally opens us up to a deep love. The Argentinian musician Facundo Cabral said, “If you are filled with love, you can’t have fear, because love is courage.” This seems to be another way of saying that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4. 18) and it must be love of us that enables Jesus to talk so freely, as the Good Shepherd, of laying down his life for us, his sheep.
“Jesus …is the good shepherd, who knows his own sheep as they know him (10:14). Shepherds called their sheep out of the fold by their names and the flock followed their voice (10:3-4). The Greek word for church literally means ‘called out’, ec-clesia, from which all our ‘ecclesiastical’ words are derived. Jesus’ knowledge of his sheep is rooted in his knowledge of his Father and his Father knowing him as his Son” (Burridge)
“… the Son can do nothing of himself, but he simply looks at the Father and whatever he sees the Father doing so he does too … the Father holds back nothing for himself but gives everything to the Son.
So it is, says Jesus, between the Good Shepherd and his sheep – between me and mine, and mine and me. They are in my heart, and there I see them in all their human ambiguity. I see what they are and what they can be, and I give myself to them. And I am in their hearts …
That is how the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and how they know him. They do not simply know about him, or pass examinations in theology, or even read books about John’s gospel. They know him in their personal experience” (Verney).
“What is more, God’s love is universal, so the shepherd must also be concerned for ‘other sheep … not of this fold’, who will also hear his voice and be brought together into one flock (10:16)” (Burridge). Immediately before speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd there has been an incident where a blind man who had been healed by Jesus is rejected by the religious leaders and thrown out. What Jesus says here, about what he offers not being for a little exclusive group but for the whole human race, is in direct contrast “to the religious leaders’ concern to maintain their pure group and throw the blind man out.”
“As we move towards the Passion, the inevitable result of his clash with the authorities, Jesus emphasizes that he lays down his life willingly, out of sheer love for his people, a love which flows even from the heart of God (10:17-18).
This is a challenge to all involved in the pastoral care of God’s people. It takes time and effort to know everyone individually, even as God knows us, and caring for them as Christ laid down his life for us may demand the ultimate sacrifice. The ordination charge for priests in the Church of England says ‘as servant and shepherd … set the Good Shepherd always before you as the pattern of your calling … to search for his children the wilderness of this world’s temptations … the treasure now to be entrusted to you is Christ’s own flock’. This is true whether we are an Archbishop or a bible study group leader, a minister or just visiting an elderly person around the corner – we love others as the good shepherd loves us.”
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Keith Green - The Lord Is My Shepherd.
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