John 10:11-18 - "Good" Shepherd? - April 25, 2021

“Good” is one of those words that we throw around without really thinking about it. Your spouse or child walks in the door and you ask them how work or school was: “good.” Back when teams could shake hands after a game, you would run through the line saying, “good game.” Many of you asked me, “How was your vacation?” “Good.” But “good” is a pretty bland word, isn’t it? It’s pretty vague, it’s not very descriptive. Today Jesus calls himself the “Good” Shepherd, but what does that mean? Given who he is and what he does and where he leads us, we might be tempted to wonder how good Jesus really is at the shepherding business.

Don’t get me wrong, sheep need a shepherd. For a long time I was under the impression that it was because sheep were dumb. But having read the accounts of some actual shepherds and scanning the Bible’s assessment of sheep, it doesn’t appear that sheep are necessarily dumb, but another “d” word: dependent. Isn’t that how David, a shepherd himself, portrays himself in Psalm 23? He’s completely dependent on the LORD, his shepherd, to lead him to green pastures and quiet waters, to guide him with his rod and staff, to feed and bless him. And, in fact, this dependent nature of sheep is rooted in reality. In Palestine, weeds grow that are poisonous to sheep. The shepherd must either lead the sheep away from those pastures or go in and pull them up – because otherwise they’d eat them. It’s the same with water. Swiftly running water can be dangerous to sheep, should they fall in (imagine trying to swim wearing a heavy wool sweater) – they need the shepherd to find quiet pools to drink from. On their own, they are defenseless. Lacking fangs, claws, speed or stealth, they have no protection from wolves. Without a shepherd, sheep are easy targets – and, even if the wolves don’t kill them, they do, as Jesus says, scatter them – and the big, wide, dangerous world will kill the sheep just as surely as the wolves will. This is us. We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way (Isaiah 53:6) – we are in desperate need of a shepherd.

Who is this shepherd? Jesus states categorically I am the Good Shepherd. Now to our ears, that sounds like a pretty simple, innocent statement. But to his original audience, especially the Jewish leaders (John 9:40; 10:20), this was a loaded, jarring, offensive, statement. By using the phrase “I am” (Greek: Ἐγώ εἰμι) Jesus is identifying himself as, equating himself with Jahweh, the LORD of the OT. He is declaring himself to be the one who told Moses You will say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you (Exodus 3:14) from the burning bush. He’s also claiming to be the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s OT promise: This is what the LORD God says. I am against the shepherds…I will remove my flock from their hand. I will remove them from taking care of the sheep, and no longer will those shepherds take care of themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, so that they will no longer be food for them (Ezekiel 34:10). Jesus is claiming that the people of Israel were like helpless sheep who had been abused by their so-called shepherds – the teachers of the law and the chief priests, the Sadducees and Pharisees – and that the situation was so bad that the LORD himself had to come to earth in human flesh and blood to gather and shepherd his people. The LORD is our shepherd. The question is: is that a good thing?

We know who the LORD is and what he is capable of, don’t we? The LORD created the universe and everything in it (Genesis 1); the LORD destroyed the world and all its inhabitants – except for eight – in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:1-5); the LORD plagued Egypt and killed it’s firstborn (Exodus 7-12); the LORD smoked and thundered on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-20). No human can see the LORD and live (Exodus 33:19-20) and yet the LORD is present everywhere and sees everything you think, do and say (Psalm 139). The LORD does not leave the guilty unpunished and threatens to punish the children for the sins of their fathers to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34:7). That’s who the LORD is. Does this sound like a “good” shepherd?

I think it’s fair to say that we all question his shepherding ways at times. Jesus claims here to save the sheep from the wolves, but in Matthew 10 he tells his disciples: I am sending you out as sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16). Psalm 44 says that we are sheep, sheep to be slaughtered (Psalm 44:22). Or just think of Psalm 23. He doesn’t lead us around or over but right through the valley of the shadow of death. He feeds us, but he does it right in front of our enemies. Consider what that means, practically speaking. Jesus isn’t just leading you through what you consider the good times in life – but even and especially in the hard, painful, bad times. He doesn’t just lead us to green pastures and quiet waters – he leads us right into times of sickness and crisis, of depression and death. Isn’t that a rather strange way for a supposedly “good” shepherd to be leading his sheep? What earthly shepherd would send his flock into a pack of wolves? What shepherd, who is raising his sheep for their wool, would point at them and say, “You, you and you are going to be slaughtered tomorrow?” What shepherd would guide his flock into a valley filled with death?

This is the “good” shepherd we’re supposed to follow? What’s so good about him? Remember, Jesus is contrasting himself – the good shepherd – with the Jewish leaders, the hired [men] who care nothing for the sheep – except to become rich and powerful by fleecing them. So what is it that sets Jesus apart from them, that makes him unique, that qualifies him as “good”? You know how if you want to get a point across you repeat yourself? Well, Jesus answers the question of his goodness by repeating himself five times in our text. Did you catch it? Five times he says I lay down my life for the sheep. That’s the mission his Father had given him (10:18); not to kill the wolves, not to save the sheep from sickness or suffering, not to build a bridge over the valley of death – but to lay down his life.

The Greek is even more vivid. Jesus literally says, I lay down my life instead of the sheep. Jesus didn’t die for us like a soldier dies for his country – he died in our place. Why? Because we are sinners who prove it every minute of every day. Someone had to suffer and die for those sins. Someone had to go to hell for our rebellion against God. It should have been us. But it wasn’t. Jesus laid down his life in place of ours. He endured the wrath of a holy God, he suffered the torments of hell so that we never would. That’s what the Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, came to this earth to do for us. This is what distinguishes him from the useless hired [men].

But even here, don’t you have to wonder: is this really what a good shepherd should do? Wouldn’t you expect a truly good shepherd to kill the enemies of the sheep – not be killed by them? Doesn’t that just leave the sheep at the mercy of the wolves? What good is a dead shepherd? Don’t we sometimes think that it would have been better if Jesus hadn’t died – that he would just have continued living on this earth, personally defending us from the wolves of persecution; personally providing everything we could possibly need for a pleasant life in this world; personally guiding us – telling us where to go and making all of the difficult decisions for us; personally healing all of our sicknesses and diseases? In fact, isn’t that exactly the type of Jesus that is sold in all-too-many churches – a Jesus who lives to make life in this world as easy and pleasant and prosperous as possible? Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus didn’t lay down his life, but kept it – so that he could solve the problems we face here and now? What good is a dead shepherd?  

Here’s the thing: our shepherd is not dead! He says this is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. Now it’s becoming clear how Jesus really is a “good” shepherd, isn’t it? Our sins stood as an impenetrable barrier between us and God (Isaiah 59:2). From the design of the tabernacle and temple to the demands for daily ritual and sacrifice to the limitation of access to one high priest one day per year visibly and viscerally declared to the people that they could not access God as they were, covered in their sins. God couldn’t and wouldn’t hear any of our pleas, any of our prayers, any of our tears for mercy. But by laying down his life Jesus cut through, paid for and wiped away the sin that separated us from God. He died and then rose so that he could represent us, intercede for us with God. Paul writes: Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34). Jesus is the LORD of the Old Testament who came to earth to die on a cross on Good Friday so that he would rise again on Easter – all so that he could live on to defend and justify us before God in heaven. Jesus served as our shepherd by living, dying, rising and continuously interceding for us – to accomplish, win and guarantee our salvation from start to finish. In comparison to the hired [men] who require you to lay down your life to earn your own salvation, that’s pretty good, isn’t it?

The reason we question the “goodness” of Jesus’ shepherding is that we all-too-often have a wrong idea of what the Good Shepherd came to do or should do for us, his sheep. He didn’t come into this world so that we would never have to face the wolves of persecution or the wilderness of sadness, sickness, or depression. It doesn’t mean that all of life will be green pastures and quiet waters. David understood this. David didn’t say that the LORD would come to restore his home, family, health or happiness – but his soul (Psalm 23:3). David didn’t say that his Good Shepherd would save him from experiencing the pain of heartache, loss or death – but so that he would live in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23:6).

So here’s the reality we have to come to grips with on Good Shepherd Sunday: Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we are his sheep; and…sheep follow the shepherd. We are going to have Good Fridays in this life; they can’t be avoided – and Jesus says that from time to time he will even lead us directly into them. But on those days, remember these two things. First, our Good Fridays’, no matter how painful, long or severe are never punitive – that is, Jesus doesn’t lead us into them to make us pay for our sins – that could never happen (Psalm 49:7-8). Jesus already paid for our sins on his Good Friday (John 19:30). Second, our Good Fridays – again, like Jesus’ – have a purpose – they lead from death to life. Your Good Fridays, your losses, illnesses, and sadness aren’t the point, the goal, the end of the story. Easter, resurrection and the never-ending joy of heaven are – and that’s where your Good Shepherd is leading you! And that’s why the Holy Spirit leads you back here week after week. It’s not to provide some quick and easy answer – or some complicated and burdensome program or process to solve whatever temporary issue or problem you’re facing at the moment – it’s to follow the voice of your Good Shepherd – in Word and Sacrament – as he leads you through the wolf-infested wilderness of this world to the house of the LORD forever. And it doesn’t get any better than that.

In the phrase I am the Good Shepherd, the Greek word translated “good” is not the ordinary Greek word for good. While this word sometimes hints toward external beauty (Luke 21:5), its basic meaning is “useful” or “just right for a given task” (see Mark 9:50; 1 Timothy 4:6; Matthew 5:16). While Jesus’ shepherding ways may not always seem “good” to us – he’s just right for sheep like us who love to wander. Yes, sometimes he whacks us upside the head with his rod or leads us places we’d rather not go, but he’s always there to soothe our wounds with his mercy, our guilt with his forgiveness, our weakness with his strength. He does whatever it takes to bring us through the wilderness of this world to the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23:6). Yes, Jesus is a “Good” Shepherd – the very best – better than anything we could have imagined or hoped for. Amen.