This week, we will reflect on Jesus, the Good Shepherd. In the previous chapter of John’s gospel, we heard about
the man born blind. John pointed out the abysmal leadership of the religious authorities, blind guides. Now he invites us to consider Jesus’ parable of the good shepherd. Where do we look for good leadership - for a shepherd who is not only a caring, faithful leader, one worth following, one who brings light and vision but who is also prepared to lay down his life for his sheep?
The image of a shepherd
is not new. Moses and David were shepherds. Psalm 23 is known and loved by many. God, through Ezekiel, criticises the authorities for fattening themselves at the cost of the sheep, who stray and therefore become prey for the wolves. God promises to gather his lost sheep and bring them to good pastures. He ends, “You are my sheep and the sheep of my pasture, and I
Am the Lord your God.” (Ezek 34:31). We recognise the “I Am” as how God identifies God’s self. So God is to become the shepherd of the
people, following the shepherding of David, the shepherd-king. John, in this gospel, sees this happening in Jesus, the Messiah, Son of David.
The biblical shepherd does not drive the sheep ahead but leads the flock, ready to defend it from thieves, robbers, strangers and wolves. He leads them to refreshing waters and nourishing pastures. The invitation is to see Jesus as the tried and tested shepherd who leads God’s creation to freedom, to a sharing in the divine life. We have seen how Jesus has been challenged just as we are.
He has experienced abandonment, persecution, torture and death. Surely, this is a shepherd who will understand our experiences. Jesus is the faithful shepherd who will lay down his life for his sheep. This act of Jesus’ total, loving self-sacrifice is the text’s new and central message - a shepherd beyond all shepherds.
One of the oldest paintings of Jesus, in the catacombs, is of Jesus gently carrying the injured, lost sheep on his shoulders back to the sheepfold. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will leave the ninety-nine sheep to seek the lost one. Each sheep is highly valued. This is an image that Christians have held
onto from the beginning. We accept ourselves as the sheep in the flock being returned to the sheepfold. Nicholas King SJ sees this reading as being about ‘coming home’. Home - what is that for me? How will I ‘come home’?
Am I seeking a shepherd?
Will I consider Jesus as a Good Shepherd? What do I need in my shepherd?
Where do I feel at home?
Who can I
help to feel at home?
Who needs a home?
Reflection by Kath Knowles
