Thought books containing reflections on the Christian life based on the theme of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
Monsignor Joji Vadakara, Vatican City
The tenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the salvation of the sheep. In the other Gospels and in many other places of Scripture, the concept of shepherd is used in relation to protection. Psalm 23 verse 1 is an example of this. There the psalmist says: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing” (Ps. 23, 1). The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40, verse eleven, says about the Lord’s rule over Israel: “Like a shepherd, he feeds his flock; he takes the lambs in his arms, and gently leads the sheep” (Isaiah 40, 11). When we come to the Gospel of Saint Luke, which beautifully paints the face of God’s mercy and love, we also read about the responsible shepherd who searches until he finds the lost sheep in the fifteenth chapter verses 3 to 7.
Image of Nallitayan in the early Christian church
In places where early Christians gathered together for prayer, Christ was symbolically painted with the image of the Good Shepherd. During the first centuries of the Roman Empire, we can see the image of Nallitayan on many wind branches that were used underground for prayer and cremation. This image continued to be used even after Christianity was allowed freedom under the Roman Empire. By the 5th century, it has evolved into a style of painting with more rich costumes and halos like the Nallitayan paintings seen today. A similar image is found in the shrine of Saints Cosmas and Damian, believed to have been built in the 5th century in the old Roman city known as the Foro Romano.
God’s sheep
Coming to the scriptures, in the 23rd chapter of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord God of Israel speaks of his people as “the sheep of my pasture” (Jeremiah 2,31). Jehovah laments that the shepherds chosen to protect His people have forgotten their duty and scattered the flock. His wrath rises against the shepherds who have scattered His flock, whom He has entrusted to care for, and have driven them to different lands. In this passage, God reveals a plan to bring the scattered sheep back to His fold. God promises them a safe place. Throughout the Old Testament we see God Himself leading His people. His sheep, the people of Israel, were not always obedient. But he is bringing his people back to his abode, through each of the prophets, fathers, and angels. In the Old Testament we also read about God guiding Israel as they wandered aimlessly in the wilderness. He leads his people to green pastures, to a promised land flowing with honey and milk.
He has also devised a different plan to graze his sheep. Henceforth God’s people, the flock of God’s tabernacle, need not fear or be troubled, for God has determined to appoint good shepherds to feed them; God has determined to plant a branch of righteousness in David’s line. Thus, shepherd and sheep were familiar words to the Israelites even before they entered the New Testament. It is to the people who clearly know this thought that Jesus tells them that he is the good shepherd, the true shepherd who leads the sheep to the Father’s fold and gives his life.
Shepherds whom Jesus meets
Saint John devotes the entire first half of the 10th chapter of his Gospel to writing down the words Jesus spoke to the shepherds. We can tell the difference between mercenary and insincere shepherds and good shepherds by their devotion to the sheep. At least some of the shepherds in the Old and New Testaments are among the bad shepherds that Jesus refers to. In John’s Gospel, chapter 10, verse 12, Jesus says this about such shepherds: “The hireling, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away. The wolf comes and catches them and scatters them” (John 10,12). It is not easy for a hireling to love sheep as his own. Many shepherds have degenerated into people who only see the care and feeding of the sheep as a duty, and who dress up as shepherds for wages.
In the gospel, another group of people who come to the sheep in God’s tabernacle, God’s people, are thieves and robbers. Those who come in through the back door. False shepherds who, despite knowing the right way, use the sheep for their selfish interests, and instead of mercy on the sheep, the law becomes harsher with the whip. An example of this is the group of men that the evangelist speaks of just before the tenth chapter, which contains the section on the Good Lord. We read at the end of the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John that the Pharisees cast out the blind man whom Jesus had healed, accusing him of testifying that he was from God. They are hypocritical shepherds who do not even allow men to do good on the Sabbath, and do not want the good of their sheep. Spiritually blinded mercenaries who, despite recognizing what is good, deny justice to the sheep under the guise of law and strings. Not all who raise their voice among the sheep are good shepherds. Israel has seen so many shepherds who are not ready to work for the good of God’s people, who disguise themselves as shepherds through back doors, without merit, through commercial tactics.
Jesus is God’s Good Shepherd
Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd who comes through the true door, commissioned by the Father, when mercenaries and robbers make life miserable for his people. A faithful shepherd who bleats, smells, and knows their hunger and thirst. In the words of Jesus, “I know what I have, and what I have, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (Jn. 10,14). Like the blind man who was rejected by the Pharisees in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus, who realizes that many lives are in the care of his Father, who are wounded and separated from the altar, in front of the shepherds who behaved like hirelings, he stands close to the Father and knows his heart. He lays down his life to lead the scattered people of Israel, the flock that waits in hope for the true Shepherd, to the tabernacle of God. He who understands God’s people, who calls them by name, who goes before them, who leads God’s flock through every difficult valley of death and through Calvary, who lives for them, is good. In many ways and in many ways he calls out to his people that the Father has sent him. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has taken up the commission to lead His people to the Father. We see in the words and actions of Jesus the voice and character of the Son of God who should be a guide for the flock.
Shepherd who gives life
In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11, Jesus describes the character of the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10, 11). A good shepherd is not one who abandons his sheep and runs for his life when he sees a wolf coming. We have all heard that ordinary shepherds lie across the open door of the fold where the sheep are gathered. Because the animals that come to kill and eat the goats, and the thieves that come to slaughter them, must pass through the shepherd’s place to get to the sheep. Both will hesitate to bypass a shepherd to go to the sheep. But the mercenaries, who do not care much about the goats, move to places where they can sleep comfortably. A hired shepherd is guided by the thought that even if one of the sheep is lost, his sleep will not be disturbed and no danger will come to him. When Jesus paints the picture of the Good Shepherd as so beautiful and charming, many may have a question in their hearts. Where is there a shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for a few sheep like this? However, we know that the parable of the good shepherd is not in vain when the life of the Son of God who willingly sacrifices his life for the salvation of men is before us. He is the one who gave his life for the sake of God. Even in life and in death, Jesus offered himself to fulfill the Father’s will and to be the hand of salvation for the people. Standing close to the Father, the life offered on the cross for the salvation of the people. The picture of a good shepherd is placed in front of us if we are reminded that we are all called to live by recognizing the calls of every shepherd to lead God’s people in the example of Jesus, and of every Christian to be the pointers and helpers to God in life.
Sheep with shepherd
The expression Good Shepherd puts before us the thought of shepherds who, like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, give their lives unselfishly for God’s people. But the parable of the good shepherd also presents us with a picture of sheep walking with their shepherd, listening to the shepherd’s call. Sheep that recognize the voice of the true Shepherd and follow only the Shepherd. The sheep must have the ability to run away from the stranger, to stay away from the voices that drive the sheep away from God’s house. In the olden days, some ales would have many shepherds’ sheep. There will be some markings on them to distinguish them. But when the shepherd calls in the morning, they recognize their shepherd’s voice among many voices and go out after him. Hearing the voice of Jesus, each of the disciples followed him as he called them by name. Faith should fill us with the wisdom and discernment to recognize the Shepherd’s voice and walk through the door that is Him into the Father’s abode.
Conclusion
The 10th chapter of St. John is a beautiful gospel passage that teaches the true good Shepherd, Christ, the Son of God, when the shepherds who were chosen to lead God’s people forgot their duties due to the temptations of power and lust for position, entangled the people in the strings of law and customs and distanced them from the true divine thought. He teaches by setting forth his blessed life before false shepherds and hirelings. The Good Shepherd who came to inform God’s people of God’s will, who calls each one of them by name in their life situations, holds them together, leads them to the meadows of God’s healthy love and eternal salvation, and is ready to give his life so that God’s people may have life. But we have seen that there is a second thing that this passage reminds each of us of. Today, Jesus puts before us another invitation to remain in the house of the Lord as a people of God who are waiting for the shepherd’s voice and recognize his voice. Let those who lead God’s people put an end to personal interests and selfishness and lead them to God’s abode according to God’s will. At the same time, as God’s shepherd, may we be able to recognize the true voice of God in our conscience, in the Holy Word, in the words of the good shepherds appointed by God, and to live on this earth aiming at the holiness of the Kingdom of Heaven. May God bless us to follow Jesus the Good Shepherd faithfully.