The Baby in the Manger #22: Good Shepherd

Good Shepherd (grk: poimēn ho kalos, heb: rāʿâ (shepherd))

‘I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15)

Today's title for Jesus is another of the famous I Am sayings from John's gospel - each contributing something to our understanding of who Jesus is and how he works.  The Good Shepherd is one of my favourites!

The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and they know him.  It may be an unfamiliar concept to those of us uninitiated with 1st century shepherding practices (which I imagine is most people!), but a good shepherd knew each of his sheep by name.   Sheep all look the same to me, but I once spent time talking with a sheep farmer, who said she and her family could recognise all their sheep individually just as you or I might recognise a person.  God is not like I would be as a shepherd, but like the Good Shepherd.  And you are not just another sheep - not just a faceless one of many, a brick in the wall.  Each person is known by God.  Consider the picture given to us in the parable of the Lost Sheep, told by Jesus and recorded in Matthew 18 and Luke 15: the one sheep that was lost was just as important - more important even - than the other 99 sheep.  It was not just a number, but an individual worth risking everything and searching for.

Not only that, but the sheep knew his voice too.  Sheep are timid animals that are easily frightened, and the shepherd's voice would calm and guide them.  There is also evidence to suggest that shepherds even played music to calm their sheep - it's probably where one of the most famous Biblical shepherds, King David, learned and honed his musical skill which gave us so many of the Psalms.  He knew what he was talking about when he wrote these words:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
   He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
   he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
   through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.
(Psalm 23:1-4)

Not only was there the voice of the shepherd, and the music from the pipe, but in the passage above, when walking through a dark and narrow valley, the Shepherd would strike his rod and staff against the sides of the valley so that they sheep would know the sound to follow, and be comforted.

The Good Shepherd's voice is still a comfort when we walk through dark valleys, as it speaks to us through the words of Scripture, often ministered through the words and actions of other believers - his body here on earth.  I know that this has been my experience - listening to the words and truths I know, and drawing comfort, even when all is dark.

Being a shepherd was not glamorous.  A shepherd is not one who stands far off, cosseted in a warm bed with all the comforts.  It was sleeping out with the sheep, smelling of the sheep, being cold and being uncomfortable.  There was the social stigma as well - a lowly and dirty job.  This was the path that God chose in coming to earth as the incarnate Jesus.  But there was more.  This shepherd knows and loves each individual sheep that he lays down his life for them.

Jesus didn't just endure cold, loneliness, danger and smells, he endured death. And that death was of his own choosing (I lay down my life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. John 10:17-18).   He did not do this because of some nameless and faceless lost people: the name of each person who will believe in him was on his heart as he went to the cross.  

And so, one of the most wonderful blessings of being a Christian, a follower of Jesus the Good Shepherd, is that I am known.  I am known by God - he knows everything I've ever done, he exactly what I need, and I belong in his family.  Most of all, he died for me personally, and came and found me, calling me by name.