The Shepherd

I find it rather amusing when people talk about Jesus simply being a 'good moral teacher'. Whenever I hear this, I know that the person has not accepted the full truth of scripture and all of Jesus' teaching; or they never have even read about Jesus' life and teachings in the Gospels.

I began reading through the Gospel of John awhile back. John is a pretty mystical guy and uses all sorts of codes and imagery when talking about Jesus. When you read John, you really get a sense of Jesus' holiness. But reading parts of John is a little freaky. In chapter 3, Jesus and Nicodemus talk about being born again and Nicodemus asks how in the world do you get back into your mother's womb - ugh. Then Jesus goes on in chapter 6 about having to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Again, ugh. But I'm not talking about spiritual regeneration or the Lord's Supper. I want to fast forward to chapter 10.

Jesus gives a very clear teaching in John 10 about Him being the Good Shepherd for his sheep. Check it out:

14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."

Now there is a ton of important theological truths packed into these verses about salvation, sacrifice, and eternal security. But the main point I want to focus on is verse 30: 'I and the Father are one.'

You don't call someone a good moral teacher who calls himself God. You put those guys in padded rooms or they go camp out in Waco, Texas and get blown up. Either Jesus was a nutjob, or he's telling the truth. The rest of scripture and 2000 years of Christianity goes with the 'he's telling the truth' part.

This teaching that Jesus gives also echoes what God said through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 34:

11 " 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

These are tremendous verses that should drive us to our knees in worship. By reading John 10 and Ezekiel 34, we find that: God (Jesus) seeks out and chooses his sheep, He cares for his sheep, He protects his sheep, He leads his sheep justly, and He sacrifices himself for His sheep. If that's the way God has promised to treat me, I find it a priviledge to be a dumb animal.

Serving the Shepherd,

Ryan