The Good Shepherd
John 10:1-21
Israel has had a severe leadership problem. The Pharisees' investigation into the man Jesus healed in Chapter 9 is an excellent example of the corruption leading God’s people astray for hundreds of years. And Jesus, talking to the same Pharisees who knew of His healing, seeks to clarify His leadership in direct contrast with their own. Not only do we find a beautiful example of what Godly leadership looks like in the church, but much more than that, we are reminded of the intimate relationship we have with the One we follow.
Before Jesus, God had tasked leaders to watch over His people; oversight and pastoral care have always been in the works. The New Testament introduces and expands the analogy of God's people being like sheep to a shepherd in various places. Here, Jesus famously declares Himself as the Good Shepherd. An important distinction is that His coming follows the wake of what He identifies as “thieves and robbers” and “hired hands” plaguing this role for God’s people. In his commentary, John MacArthur sheds light on how the people of the Roman world would have understood shepherd ranching. Hiring an extra hand to man the gate was common practice, especially to maintain watch over the sheep throughout the night (The MacArthur Bible Commentary, 2005, p.1391). The flaw Jesus exposes, though, is found inherently in the title given this type of overseer; there is no more stake in it for them but personal survival, and therefore, the sign of danger is his indication to depart (John 10:12-13). Jesus is unlike this hired hand as He genuinely cares for His sheep. The greatest example of this and the sign Jesus points to indicating His goodness to the sheep is His dying in their (and our) place. To MacArthur, this would have astonished the people listening as no ordinary shepherd would go to such a length.
In terms of leadership, there is no greater leadership picture or model we have in Christ. As sheep in the flock, we would not be wrong to hold our pastors and leaders accountable to the leadership model of Christ as it pertains to this passage. This, of course, is to a limited extent as we consider the first declaration of Jesus, making this analogy all the more profound: “I am the gate for the sheep” (John 10:7b). He defines who He calls into His flock, and they can enter only through Him. Shedding more historical light, MacArthur clarifies the depth of this calling. It was typical for shepherds to have a specific call for their sheep to know and respond to their voice, but no shepherd could call his sheep individually by name as Christ is insisting He does. And Jesus tells us we will know His voice when He calls. Yes, we are called by a voice we recognize, and the voice knows us by a name unique to us, indicating a personal knowledge more powerful than what is common to our nature. The gate to our salvation has called us this way: the same one who shepherds our souls to life in abundance no one else can promise, and the world seeks to take away.
If you’re a leader in the church right now or aspire to be one, Jesus is communicating something foundational about us. Before we could think of ourselves as His imitators in this way, to shepherd as He shepherds requires us first to be in His flock. Too often, our giftings overshadow this necessity. However, if our desire to lead is true, we will come into His flock, this family, through the gate that is Jesus Christ. If you are in a season of doubting leadership of others or your own, take confidence in Jesus’s words here that He is the Good Shepherd we can trust. On the flip side are those whom Jesus both warns His sheep about and confronts sternly. If someone isn’t willing to come by way of the gate as Jesus has established, the sheep simply will not recognize and follow their voice. More so, Jesus exposes the perpetrators, who are only here to steal, kill, and destroy, a definite contrast to the purpose and hope we have in Christ. Jesus’s authority to lay His life down and take it up again is the unrivaled, distinguished sign of God’s love for us: His sheep.
For us to be reconciled to God and belong to Him, we receive and believe in Jesus, who alone is our Lord and Savior. Even though our situation said He shouldn’t die for people like you and me, He did just that for us to be rescued from the clutches of sin and death once and forever. Praise God for being an other-worldly shepherd who knows us more intimately than we could imagine or know how to ask for. And loves us so much as to give us a place in His kingdom to His glory.
Spend time praising God, His knowledge, and love for you today. The world may think us fools to call ourselves sheep as Jesus does here. But there is a more profound protection, power, and loving intimacy with salvific and transformative effect on our souls. Praise God!
If you identify yourself as someone who has yet to come by way of the Gate, repenting and believing in Jesus, I encourage you to discuss it more with a trusted leader or staff member of your church as there is no other life quite like that which is found only in Christ.
