Of Shepherds and Sheep: An Easter Meditation on John 10

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not,

seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth:

and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling,

and careth not for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father:

and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:

them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;

and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Jesus’ parable in John 10 uses earthly imagery to help convey spiritual realities.  In ancient Israel, as in many agrarian communities to this day, the image of shepherds and sheep is one readily perceived.  Sheep are creatures which are easily hunted and taken by those who would destroy them, and shepherds serve as both guide and guardian for an animal which cannot even fathom their own dangers. But sheep do learn the voice of their shepherd, and the ones who survive and flourish are those who heed their shepherd’s voice; those who are drawn by their own inward desires or other outward voices away from their shepherds, usually find only suffering and disaster.  Wolves love an easy mutton lunch, and the earthly terrain is ambivalent of those who traverse it.

Jesus uses this imagery, because it teaches us something about Him, ourselves, the world, and our relationship to Him.  First, we learn that He is unfailingly good, in full unity with God the Father, and that He is so devoted to the life and flourishing of His people, that He is prepared to give His life to save theirs.  This love and divinity brought forth in His human Incarnation, make Him a unique Shepherd to His people, at once their Lord, their Savior, and their Preservation.  No other pretender of human or demonic origin can fulfil this role which Jesus has with His people, nor would they seek His people for anything but destruction, slavery, and death.  While demons and wicked men will seek to enslave and ensnare people, using them as means to their own ends of power, lust, and wealth, Jesus alone seeks His people only to love and save them, that they might have life eternal and abundant.  He is the one and the only Good Shepherd.

We also learn of ourselves, that we are hopeless without our Good Shepherd.  Like sheep relative to the shepherd, our perception and our wits are dim.  Easily we would wander into dangerous terrain that would wound us, into snares which would entangle us, or into lairs which would devour us.  Unable are we to untangle the web of our own fallen desires from the dangers of a fallen world, and unmatched are we to the predators who swarm throughout it.  A herd of sheep to a pack of wolves is nothing more than a buffet; a gathering a people is nothing more than slave labor to the tyrant; a wounded soul to the demonic horde is nothing more than the prey of hell; without the guidance and guardianship of a Good Shepherd.

As the perception and abilities of sheep are to people, even more so are man’s perceptions and abilities to God.  We traverse a universe of majesty and wonder, but it is also one of danger to our fragile and fallen nature.  There are forces for good and evil at work in the world, both in human and angelic realms, so little of which we can see.  The wolves which hunt the people of God lurk everywhere, hidden in the camouflage which amplifies their lethality.  Our minds are easily drawn to the shiny and the smooth, to lies and deceptions, and to our own destruction.  Thinking ourselves wise, we find ourselves fools, as easily despoiled of our lives and liberty as a wandering sheep is by a passing brigand.

And so, this Easter season, we are reminded of where our life, our liberty, our safety, and our preservation abide:  in Jesus, our Good Shepherd, alone.  He alone is God with Us, fully human according to our unfallen nature, and fully God according to the divine nature.  He alone loves us as the Eternal Word of our Omnipotent Creator, the revelation of the Holy Spirit which is testified to every living soul.  He alone has laid down His life for His people, and He alone has taken it back up again, that He might lead His people from fallen life, through death, to the bliss of eternal life.  His voice alone calls to forgiveness, life, and salvation, by His Word carried forth in every generation.  He alone gathers all who repent and believe in Him into one flock, one universal church, with Him alone as their One Good Shepherd.  His voice, His Word alone, prevents our eternal calamity and restores us to eternal life by His grace and mercy.  What we could not do, He has fully accomplished, leading His people today as He has faithfully led His people in every generation which has come before, and every generation yet to come.

We will never see things, in this world or the next, as clearly and completely as our divine Good Shepherd.  Even in glory we remain creatures, and our Creator remains the only omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient King of the Universe.  And yet, while we may not know the fullness of all things in heaven and on earth, we know that our Saving Lord is Good—that His voice, His Word, leads and preserves us even through the valley of the shadow of death, that we may fear no evil of man or demon.  We know what He has done for us, and what He has promised to complete in each of us, according to His own time and wisdom.  And so, with Him we rejoice even in our sorrows, knowing that our Good Shepherd remains and abides with us, leading us through this world and into the endless ages of ages to come.  Glory be to Him forever.  Amen.