Second Sunday after Easter
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
This Sunday is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the readings reflect the theme of Christ as the good shepherd. The image of Christ as the good shepherd has often been portrayed in rather sentimental ways, but the biblical basis suggests a very different interpretation.
In the Old Testament the image of the shepherd is associated with that of a ruler. God is the true shepherd of Israel and his people are the sheep of his pasture. Perhaps the most famous image of this is Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd”. King David had himself originally been a shepherd, and the true leader of Israel was portrayed as a true shepherd, while the bad leader as a false shepherd. The prophet Jeremiah denounced the false shepherds who destroyed the sheep of God’s pasture (Jeremiah 23). The prophet Ezekiel denounced the leaders of his own time as false shepherds, but looked forward to a future messianic leader who would be the true shepherd who would regather Israel. “I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.” (Ezekiel 34: 23).
Jesus, as the fulfiller of the hopes of Israel, saw himself as the true shepherd of his people. He had compassion on the multitude who were as sheep without a shepherd, in other words leaderless without a leader (Matthew 9:36). He sent his disciples to preach and heal in his name as sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16). He assured them that they were the little flock, the faithful remnant of Israel, to whom the kingdom had been given (Luke 12:32). He justified his fellowship with social outcasts with the Parable of the Lost Sheep, in which the true shepherd seeks out and finds the sheep that was lost (Luke 15). In the same way Jesus saw his mission as especially directed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The parable which we heard today of Christ as the good shepherd is part of his final challenge to the Jewish nation and its leadership at the Feast of Tabernacles, a few months before the final Passover where he met his death. It is sometimes said that St. John’s Gospel has no parables, but this passage is clearly an example of a parable drawn from the life of first century Palestine.
The first image is of sheep in the sheepfold. “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth in some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” (John 10:1-2). Christ himself is the door through whom the sheep can enter into and out and find pasture. The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but he is come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
The second image is of the contrast between the true shepherd and the hireling. The sheep follow the true shepherd because they know his voice. They do not follow a stranger because they do not know the voice of strangers. Christ himself is the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. “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.” (John 10: 12) The wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care for the sheep. The good shepherd knows his sheep and is known of them, and lays down his life for them.
The image of the good shepherd is that of the true ruler of Israel, but the parable points to one who as the good shepherd exercises his kingly rule by service and self sacrifice. His enthronement and rule come through reversal, repudiation, suffering and death. He is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah who was despised and rejected, who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. St. Peter refers to him in today’s Epistle as one who, “when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his body on the Tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” (1 Peter 2: 23-25).
Let us seek to model our own lives on that of Christ the Good Shepherd, who gave himself not only as a sacrifice for sin but also as an example of godly life. Let us rejoice in the saving benefit of his sacrifice for sin and also daily seek to follow, by his grace, in the footsteps of his own most holy life.
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