The Good Shepherd
30 Days in John - day 11
John refuses to let us forget what happened in chapter nine. While John 10 is divided into two scenes; a continuation of the teaching of chapter nine and then a second teaching during Feast of Dedication, both scenes are connected by the theme of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
This shepherd talk is about what just happened to a man. Jesus is contrasting Himself with the “shepherds” of Israel; the Pharisees. We have just seen them cast out the healed blind man without care and with a veiled threat against others who might also believe in Christ. They were blind leaders whose primary concern was protecting themselves, their power and position, and holding onto the benefits that came with that authority.
This was a contrast and a critique. When Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” He wasn’t talking first about the devil but about the religious leaders of Israel. They were thieves, wolves, and hirelings.
Jesus does not merely point out the faults of the failed shepherds of Israel. He shows how He is distinctly different – a truly Good Shepherd.
As the Good Shepherd, Jesus does for us what He did for the man born blind: He stays with those others abandon. Through the cross, He shows up in our lives when rejection would be easier and retreat would make sense. When the wolves close in, He does not flee, because the sheep are His. He is good because He lays down His life for them
Like the man born blind, what Jesus says here is a word to all who find themselves vulnerable, rejected, and outcasts while following Jesus. In the midst of the threats of hirelings’ and the howling of wolves, Jesus speaks and calls, and real sheep follow.
And they are secure. Not because they are strong, but because their Shepherd is.
Knowing Him, hearing Him, being held secure by Him – this is the life of the Good Shepherd’s sheep.
