Three thousand years ago God called a shepherd boy to be king. In 2 Samuel 5:2, all the tribes of Israel gathered at Hebron and declared that David should be king. David was the one who had delivered Israel from the Philistines, and God had promised that David "shall be shepherd of my people Israel."

What did it mean that David would "shepherd...my people Israel"? Well, a shepherd leads his flock, feeds his flock, and most importantly, defends his flock from their enemies. Sheep are pretty helpless. In Psalm 23, however, David declares that he himself is a sheep. "Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not want." What does Yahweh do as shepherd? He feeds him in green pastures; He leads him to still waters; And Yahweh protects and defends him- even through the valley of deep darkness- the valley where wolves and robbers might await at any step. So when David is identified as a shepherd of Israel, he is identified as the one who will lead, feed, and defend his people, just like Yahweh leads, feeds and defends David.

But Psalm 23 is not the first time that God is identified as a shepherd. Jacob had called God the Shepherd in Genesis 49:24. The twelve sons of Jacob were living as shepherds in Egypt at the time, but he tells them that God is the Shepherd who will lead them and protect them. In Psalm 80, God is called "the Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock!" In Psalm 28, David cries out "Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever."

So sometimes God is called the shepherd of Israel, and sometimes David and his sons are called the shepherd of Israel.

But there was a problem. The shepherds of Israel were not leading, feeding, or defending the sheep. Jeremiah 50:6 says "My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray...they have forgotten their fold. All who found them have devoured them." Jeremiah 23 says "woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" Since the sons of David had "scattered my flock and have driven them away," God declared that he would drive them away, and replace them with shepherds "who will care for them." But the most devastating critique of the shepherds comes from Ezekiel 34. Shepherds are supposed to feed the sheep-not slaughter them! "The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them." Because the sons of David have "fed themselves and have not fed my sheep," therefore God says that he will rescue his sheep from their mouths. Yahweh declares that "I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep." God promises that he will feed his sheep and protect them. "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them."

God promises that he will come and be the shepherd who seeks out his sheep and defends them.

"I am the good shepherd." The prophets had said that God himself would be the shepherd who rescued the flock. But the Pharisees didn't think that they needed rescuing.

Jesus has just opened the eyes of the man born blind. At the end of chapter nine he declares that he has come to blind the Pharisees. And that is exactly what he goes on to do.

Read 1-5 After having declared the sin and guilt of the Pharisees, Jesus starts talking about sheep. He has come to rescue his flock from the false shepherds who devour the sheep. But they haven't the faintest idea what he is talking about. So Jesus explains it (for once). He does so with four statements, each beginning "ego eimi." Twice he says "I am the door" and twice he says "I am the good shepherd"

What does it mean that Jesus is the door? 1. "I am the door" (7-8) He has already said that those who enter the sheepfold by another way are but thieves and robbers. Here he points out that the sheep do not listen to thieves and robbers. As he will say later, "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." Jesus is the door.

So Jesus says again: 2. "I am the door" (9-10) but this time the emphasis is on the sheep. "If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." The image is that of the sheepfold. The sheep must go both in and out. At night they must go in to be safe from the wild beasts, And in the morning they must go out to find pasture. But Jesus says, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jesus is the door, because he is the only way to life.

But not only is Jesus the door, he is also the shepherd.

3. "I am the good shepherd" (11-13) The door was contrasted with thieves and robbers. Now the shepherd is contrasted with the hired hand. "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Nobody realizes yet that Jesus is speaking literally. They think that it is figurative. When we say that a husband must lay down his life for his wife, we rarely mean it literally. But this is what the prophet Zechariah had said in Zech 13:7, when he declared, "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered." Jesus cites this in Matthew 26:31 as referring to himself. This is especially interesting because Zechariah had been told by God to go out and become a shepherd as a sign to Israel after the Exile. In Zechariah 11, the prophet becomes a shepherd "of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders." The price of Zechariah's shepherding was thirty pieces of silver, which God said to "throw to the potter." And God promised that he would raise up a foolish shepherd who would desert the sheep and be destroyed. It was in that context that Zechariah had prophesied, "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered." (13:7) But it was also in that context that Zechariah had said (13:1), "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness." If you connect Matthew 26:31 with John 10, you start to realize something. The worthless shepherd is the good shepherd. The worthless shepherd that is cut down, thereby deserting the sheep, is in fact the one who brings salvation to his people. It is only if the shepherd actually lays down his life for his people that they will be saved. The hired hand runs away from the wolf, and the wolf destroys the people. The good shepherd is killed by the wolf, which delivers the people? That doesn't seem to make sense. But Jesus isn't finished yet.

4. "I am the good shepherd" (14-18) "I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep." Jesus has been emphasizing his relation to the Father. But now he connects his relation to the Father with his atoning work. The Son knows his people, just like the Father knows the Son; just as God was David's shepherd, and David was Israel's shepherd. But Jesus is greater than David. Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. He will die so that they might live. Jesus is greater than David because David was merely the shepherd of Israel. Jesus has sheep outside of Israel (16). Isaiah had spoken of this: When Isaiah spoke of foreigners joining themselves to Yahweh, he declared that God would bring them to the temple in Jerusalem, "For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered." (56:7-8) Now Jesus is bringing this to pass. Read 17-18 No prophet ever spoke like this before. The prophets spoke of God's authority, but Jesus speaks of his authority. He is opening the eyes of the blind, and blinding the eyes of those who see.

The Jews were divided. The Pharisees themselves could not make up their minds about this man. Many were convinced that he had a demon, but others, and it appears that Nicodemus was foremost among them (7:50), were troubled: "These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Copyright © 2003 Peter J. Wallace