In an amazing yet mysterious way, Jesus, as the Father’s divine Son, fulfills the promise that “one” shepherd-a Trinitarian “one”-would tend to the flock. It is no real surprise that Jesus teases out the implications: not only does He fill the messianic role of shepherd in His parable, but He declares, “I and the Father are one” ( John 10:30). In other words, both God and the Davidic Messiah are the future shepherds of the flock. Moreover, God promises that in the future He Himself “will search for my sheep and will seek them out” ( Ezek. Throughout the Old Testament, God Himself is regularly described as the true shepherd ( Gen. Yet, the image’s ripples go even further. 12), Jesus will give life to His sheep by laying down His own life (v. And He will far exceed any earthly shepherd: while “hired hands” run away when trouble comes (v. By declaring Himself to be the “good shepherd” ( John 10:11), Jesus makes clear that He is that promised messianic shepherd. He shall feed them and be their shepherd” ( Ezek. Out of this chaos of sheep-devouring shepherds, God promises to send one true Shepherd, a new David, who will care for the people forever: “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David. . . But when its leaders prove bankrupt, the prophets denounce them as worthless and thieving shepherds ( Isa.
44) and Israel’s kings, especially David, as their shepherds ( Ps. God promises to send one true Shepherd, a new David, who will care for the people forever.īut the selection of shepherding/sheep imagery ripples back into Scripture, where the people of God are regularly described as a flock of sheep ( 1 Kings 22:17 Ps. 3), not the corrupt religious authorities who want to destroy them like the would-be thieves in the parable.
At this stage in John’s gospel, Jesus is striving to prove that He is the true leader of “his own” (v. In ancient Israel, shepherds would go in front of their sheep and lead them (rather than driving them from behind) purely by voice recognition. As He lovingly cares for His sheep, it is His “voice” that matters most ( John 10:4). This image evokes how Jesus describes the people as “sheep without a shepherd” ( Mark 6:34) and Himself as One sent to gather the lost sheep ( Matt. Anyone who does not go through the gate is a would-be thief. Using details of shepherding familiar to his audience, Jesus envisions a large sheep pen with a gatekeeper guarding the door to ensure that only the real shepherds go in and out with their vulnerable sheep.
Like any good metaphor, it ripples outward across several contexts. 6 “parable” in some translations) of the shepherd, sheep, the gate to the sheep pen, and would-be thieves gets to the heart of who Jesus is-and how we are called to follow His voice alone. Deep-rooted metaphors (God is our rock, love is a journey, and so on) help us grasp truths that otherwise might slip through our mental fingers.