Acts 2.42-47; 1 Peter 2.19-25; John 10.1-10

If we see pictures of Jesus depicted as a shepherd, they are usually quite namby-pamby, soft and gentle ones. He might have a lamb around his shoulders, but more often than not, he’s also dressed in a white nightie, perhaps with a crook, and usually with a gentle, loving expression on his face.

It’s very much an idealised picture, and quite far from the reality of what being a shepherd would have been like in his time.

A shepherd in those days lived a dangerous life. Shepherds needed to be men of courage. They were usually rough rather than refined; in coarse and dirty clothes, rather than diaphanous white, pure garments.

They lived on society’s margins, were not able to take part in Temple worship since they were considered ritually unclean, and were often considered to be dishonest men.

So, why did Jesus choose to liken himself to a shepherd?

It’s imagery that goes back a long way before Jesus himself. Today’s Psalm reminds us of that. Possibly written by King David, it certainly originated hundreds of years before Jesus. At its purest, shepherding is a good image for leading the people. A shepherd guides, cares for, defends and nurtures the sheep. That too could be seen as the role of a leader.

But the major problem was that the leaders of Israel often didn’t live up to the shepherd-ideal. Their sheep, the people, were often badly treated. If we look through some of the teachings of the prophets, we see their denunciations of these shepherd-leaders.

Zechariah has harsh words from God for the shepherd-leaders who detested the Lord, and talks of a shepherd “who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hooves”.

Ezekiel complains about the leaders of his time in these words: “Thus says the Lord God: Ah you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings: but you do not feed the sheep.

“You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them.”

But this passage, though, is not one without hope. Ezekiel continues his message from God. “Thus says the Lord God: I myself will search out the sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

“I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them in good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.”

So, when earthly leaders fail, God will be there.

This is what Jesus is fulfilling. Ezekiel’s prophecy is being worked out in the life of the Good Shepherd. The imagery of the passage we heard from John is not straightforward, since Jesus talks about being the gate, rather than the shepherd, though if we were to read on we would see how the imagery changes.  But though the pictures change, one thing is clear - Jesus is making out what makes a good shepherd.

Let us pick up on some of what he says.

First, a Good Shepherd is one who knows his own sheep. To most of us, one sheep looks pretty much like another. Though I’m sure farmers know the differences between their sheep, most people don’t spend enough time with them to know them properly.

I was watching sheep in Dorset last week, and, though I wasn’t taking much notice of individuals, the only differences I could really tell you about were between the lambs, which we small and frisky, and often wandered around in pairs, and the older sheep, who were less full of life and more often than not on their own, unless they had their lambs with them. The other major difference from field to field was the colour of the dye on their backs, marking to whom they belonged.

In the time of Jesus, they didn’t use dye to mark out their sheep. A genuine shepherd knew his sheep well enough to know their personalities, their idiosyncrasies, the qualities that mark one sheep out from the next. And likewise the sheep become able to recognise the voice of their own shepherd.

Second, a Good Shepherd leads their sheep devotedly. They seek out the best grazing land for their flock, they defend them from wild animals, they guide them away from dangerous precipices, and in Jesus’s time, they would lead their sheep from the front. As a shepherd would lead and the flock follow, so Jesus leads those who choose to follow, through narrow paths and safely guides them.

The imagery so far concentrates on what the shepherd does for the sheep. The shepherd provides and cares, and guides.

When Jesus speaks of himself as the gate, the imagery shifts to concentrate on the response of the sheep. The joys of the sheepfold are there for all who enter it by the gate. The fold is where the sheep will find protection and safety. As a sheep that walks through the gate finds itself in the security of the fold, so those who put their trust in God through faith in Jesus find a deep security, far greater than anything worldly could give.

We have hope in these words. But, there is also a warning contained within John’s passage. The warning is that there are others who try to gain our allegiance. The world is full of voices that shout out for us to follow them. I’m sure we can think of some, people or issues that demand our attention, and offer to fulfil us.

Each of us will have different tempting voices, calling us to put our trust in them - for some it’s the lure of celebrity and adulation; for others money; for some it’s power or injustice; laziness or apathy; selfishness or the cult of no-time.

We too are faced with other calls and it can be hard to keep listening for the voice of Jesus, which sometimes seems to be drowned in the noise of the world around. But what Jesus offers, for those who follow, for those who listen to his voice, is an abundance of life that nothing else can bring.

I come that they may have life, and have it abundantly. In this Easter season, we continue to reflect on what that abundant life means.

Irenaeus, who lived in the second century, said that “the glory of God is a human being fully alive.” The resurrection brought Jesus back from the dead, and restored him to abundant life. The resurrection is also about our restoration to abundant life. We do not yet have this fully, but the promise of Christ is that that is what he has come to bring.

To ensure that we receive this abundant life, let us tune into the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow his pathway and leading. Let us be sheep who hear the voice of our shepherd, who do not become distracted with other noisier, demanding calls, and who put our trust fully in Christ, that we too may have life, and have it abundantly. Amen.
(with thanks to Derek Tidball’s Meeting the Saviour BRF 2007)