I Am the Good Shepherd
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2021 · 23 May 2021
Our Lord had been in a confrontation with the leaders of Israel. And they had rejected Him, and they had declared their hatred of Him, and they were on a course to kill Him. In fact, by the time you get to John 10, they have tried at least three times to kill Him. In John 8, He escalated this by saying to them, “You’re of your father, the devil. He is a liar and a murderer, and so you are liars and murders as well.”
John 8 ends with this: “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him. Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” So He escapes a vigilante mob execution. On His way out of the temple, He sees a blind man begging. The man had been blind from birth and Jesus stops and heals him. By then, the Pharisees, had caught up with Him. They felt threatened by the fact that Jesus is so popular.
The Jews had made a law that if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Well, Jesus healed the blind man, and then the blind man came to faith in Christ. So, the man was healed physically and spiritually. As a result he violated their law. He confessed Jesus as Messiah, Lord and Savior. They throw him out of the synagogue and they still want to kill Jesus.
The context here is that Jesus does a great miracle that has no other explanation. This is a man congenitally blind, who was totally instantly healed. But it has no effect on how they feel about Jesus. Their hostility has in fact, demonstrated that they are false leaders who, instead of acknowledging their Messiah, reject Jesus, and want to execute their Messiah. They are the false shepherds of Israel.
Shepherding was a metaphor in the ancient world that people understood in an agrarian society. It was very common in the Old Testament. They all understood that because the land of Israel was full of sheep and shepherds. Shepherds spoke of care and feeding and protection. These Jews were men who appointed themselves shepherds of Israel, but they were false shepherds. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing.
As we come to John 10, Jesus explains how a good shepherd conducts his life. We looked at last week, verses 1 to 10. A shepherd knows his own sheep. He has the responsibility to lead and feed his own sheep. The sheep know their master’s voice, and they follow him. At night, thieves and robbers may try to climb over the wall and fleece or slaughter the sheep.
The shepherd is committed to protecting them at night, and then in the morning coming and leading them out and, by name, one by one, to green pastures and still waters. The shepherd is even the door, because they have to pass by him to be identified as his own. The reality becomes clear in the language in verse 9, “I am the door; if anyone comes through Me, he will be saved.”
This is a picture of the salvation provided by the true shepherd. The divine Shepherd has His own sheep. They have been given to Him by the Father. They have been chosen before the foundation of the world. He knows them all by name. The elect are in the fold of the world. But the voice of the Shepherd calls, and they hear and they follow that voice. This is irresistible grace; this is the effectual call to salvation.
The shepherd is the door. He’s speaking metaphorically because in the same verse, He is talking about salvation. But in verse 11-12, He says specifically, “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”
Verse 13-16, “The hireling flees because he works for money and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
Verse 17-20, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” 19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
Verse 21, “Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” So here, in verses 11 to 21, our Lord explains how He fulfills the identity of the Good Shepherd. He is the One prophesied in Ezekiel 34. Jesus tells them this because the religious leaders of Israel were known as the shepherds of Israel, but they were false shepherds.
This is the fourth “I am” in the gospel of John. “I am” is a Tetragrammaton in Hebrew, which is the name of God. So they all are claims to deity as well in the context of each one. For example: I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the door. I am the Good Shepherd. All are affirmations of His deity that are found in the “I am” statement of it.
Verse 11, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Then He repeats it immediately, “the good shepherd,” again. The emphasis here is this: “I am the shepherd, the good one.” As if to say, “in contrast to all the bad ones.” There are two words in Greek for “good.” One is agathos, from which you get the name “Agatha.” Agathos means morally good. It’s a familiar word in the New Testament.
The other word is kalos, the opposite of kakos, which is “to be bad.” Kalos is to be good not only in the sense of moral quality, but it means to be beautiful, to be magnificent, to be attractive, to be lovely, to be excellent on all levels, not just in that which is unseen in terms of character, but in all aspects. I am the shepherd, the excellent one, as contrasted to the ugly dangerous ones.
Now, the Jews had an idea about who was the best shepherd. For them, historically, it was David. David the shepherd boy who cared for his father’s flocks and defeated Goliath, and became the king of Israel. But in John 5, Jesus claims to be greater than Moses, and in John 8, He claims to be greater than Abraham, “before Abraham was I am.” Here He is the shepherd greater than David.
Jesus is the shepherd who is the premier one. He was telling those Jews that He was God, because they knew Psalm 23, “the Lord is my shepherd.” They knew Psalm 80, the “Shepherd of Israel.” They knew what Isaiah the prophet said about God shepherding His people. He is saying: “I am the shepherd, the premier one.” Again, this was another claim to being God.
His goodness as a shepherd is seen here in three ways. One, He dies for them; two, He loves them; three, He unites them. In verse 11, the shepherd, the good one, first “lays down His life for the sheep.” Shepherds were totally responsible for their sheep. It was a man’s job, and it was high risk, and it was dirty. Amos 3:12 describes a shepherd who took two legs and an ear out of the lion’s mouth.
Jesus is God in a body, and He gave up His body. But it’s more than that, and it’s bound up in the word “life.” He lays down His life. It’s not the word bios or zoe. Those are the two words for “life” in Greek. Bios is biological life; and Zoe, meaning the study of life. But it was neither of those scientific words. It’s the word psuche, which is the word for “soul,” which speaks of the whole person.
The psuche is the inside. He gave up His soul, His whole person. He didn’t just feel the pain of the nails in His body, and the pain of the thorns in His body, and the pain of the scourging in His body. His whole soul was tortured with sin-bearing suffering. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, “The Son of man gives His soul a ransom for many.” He gives His soul, His whole person.
Why did He voluntarily lay down His soul? He does it for the sheep. That’s exactly what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where Paul explains: “He who knew no sin became sin for us.” This speaks about the substitutionary atonement of Christ, that He took our place, and that He died for us. It was a complete atonement for the sheep whom He knew, and who, when called, would know Him.
But did this shepherd die? No. Because verse 18 says He had the power to “take it up again.” And on the third day, He came out of the grave and re-gathered His scattered sheep. Were they scattered? Yes. Kill the shepherd and the sheep are scattered. But He came back from the grave and re-gathered them, and said, “All that the Father gives to me will come to Me, and I have lost none of them.”
He actually paid in full the penalty for His sheep, whom He knew, and throughout human history is calling to Himself. Very unlike a hired hand. Verse 12, “He who is a hired hand, and not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.” He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
And who is the wolf? Anybody that attacks the sheep. There are many false pastors, false teachers, as there have been throughout history. They say in Matthew 7:22-23, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
There are also wolves dressed like sheep. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” There are false teachers, who instead of protecting the flock, use the flock for their own profit and flee when the danger comes.” But the True Shepherd, He gives His life for the sheep, and is raised up again.
Secondly, He loves his sheep. Verse 14-15, “I am the shepherd, the good one, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” The word “know” here has the idea of a loving relationship. That’s a euphemism for loving intimacy. This implies an intimate loving relationship, a sort of consummated relationship.
Thirdly, Jesus unites the sheep. First with Himself, and then with each other. Verse 16, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Who are they? The Gentiles, the nations. This is unacceptable to the Jews because they believe Gentiles are outside salvation and the promises of God.
And yet, in Isaiah 42:6-7 we read, “I am God. I have called You in righteousness. I will appoint You as a covenant to the people. 7 As a light to the nations to open blind eyes and bring prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.” That is a messianic promise from God that the Messiah would bring salvation to all the nations for those who believe in Him.
That is why there’s a Great Commission, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person.” Go make disciples of all nations. That’s why Paul in Galatians 3 says, “In Christ, there’s neither Jew nor Greek,” Jew or Gentile. In Ephesians 2, Paul says, “The middle wall of partition is torn down, and we’re all one in Christ.” He brings all of them into intimate unity with Himself.
Verses 17 – 18, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” That’s why the Father loves Me, because of My obedience. Yes, the Father chose Jesus to be the Lamb, the acceptable sacrifice.
Yes, the Father is the One who killed the Son by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God. He was the sacrifice. But Jesus is telling us this was a perfect act of willing obedience. These are mysteries. Jesus had no capacity to sin. And yet, there’s a real struggle. But that’s what the Father wanted Him to do; that was critical to the plan of salvation, to gather the redeemed into eternal glory.
There’s a final relationship of the Good Shepherd to the world. Verses 19–21 says, “Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Jesus divided the crowd.
There are divisions among non-believers and that’s what you have here. So, one part in the division were the people who said Jesus is a demon-possessed lunatic. But then there were others in verse 21 who said, “These are not the sayings of a person having a demon.” Demon-possessed people don’t do miracles. So whatever counterfeit things demons do, they cannot do miracles.
Let us close by remembering Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.” Let us pray.