Following our Good Shepherd

Do we ever tire reading how Jesus is our Shepherd, who lovingly takes care of his sheep? In this passage, Jesus contrasted his role as our good Shepherd with the behavior of a false, or hired shepherd.

Read John 10:11-13.

• Jesus is our good shepherd. Not adequate, but good, a shepherd who performs his duty¹
• Aside from making a natural connection with Psalm 23, we may also remember this verse in Isaiah that Handel set to music in his “Messiah.”

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Isaiah 40:11).

• A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
• Jesus repeated this phrase four times in this passage, as well as twice more when he met with his disciples in the upper room to celebrate Passover the week he was crucified. John wrote the phrase again in his first letter to believers to describe the love Jesus offered and expects us also to practice.
• A “good” shepherd sets aside his own comfort and well-being.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

• In contrast, a hired hand cares only for his own welfare, not the sheep. He does not show “real interest in his duty and … is unfaithful.”²
• The Lord said,

“For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep; tearing off their hooves” (Zechariah 11:16).

• He runs away, forsaking the sheep, when their enemy comes, the wolf.³
• In contrast, our good shepherd will not abandon us when the enemy draws near.³
• When the sheep are abandoned, the wolf attacks, seizing the sheep, snatching them away.⁴
• Jesus will not abandon his flock; a hired hand abandons the sheep.

*How has Jesus shepherded you well in your life?

*Why does the hired hand abandon the flock?

*The wolf attacks when sheep stray or false leaders abandon them. How do we see this principle in action today?

*What is the significance of Jesus’ repeated phrase about laying down his life?

 Read John 10:14-16.

• Jesus repeated his reassurance for emphasis: “I AM the good shepherd.”
• He made a deliberate decision to care well for his sheep.⁵
• His audience knew how important a “good” shepherd was for sheep.
• One benefit to having our good shepherd is he knows his sheep, they are his, and he’ll keep his flock with
• They know him and will not stray.
• We are connected to him in a two-way relationship.
• The Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father.
• Not all sheep reside in the same pen.
• It’s always been the Lord’s plan to bring in all who will follow.

“The Sovereign Lord declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered’” (Isaiah 56:8).

• Before Paul taught the Gentiles about Messiah’s acceptance, Jesus taught the Jewish leaders and all who heard him speak.

“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

“remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).

• These other sheep will also hear his voice.
• All sheep, both groups, would become one flock with one shepherd.

*What is the significance that our Shepherd is I AM?

*How have you experienced a knowing between you and your Shepherd, Jesus?

 Read John 10:17-18.

• Jesus lay down his life by choice and he rose from the dead by choice.
• No one could take Jesus’ life by force because it belonged to him.⁶ He fully participated in the Father’s plan, and he had full authority in heaven and on earth.
• When we pray according to the model Jesus gave us, truly in Jesus’ name, we pray in his authority.
• “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).
• Even though Jesus had and exercised full power and authority over his life and death, everything still fell within the Father’s plan.

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (John 8:28).

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

*How does the Father’s master plan relate to this passage about Jesus as our Shepherd?

*How will we pray as a result of what Jesus taught in this passage?

 Read John 10:19-21.

• The Jews accused Jesus of being demon possessed.
• What he said didn’t fit their concept of God:
• whoever is not “for” God—taking authority (away) from God—must be against him.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30).

• As “proof” Jesus had a demon, they claimed he acted like one out of his mind.
• Others in the crowd referred back to the miracle when Jesus healed the blind man.
• But the word John recorded here means ignorant, stupid, and slow to understand.⁷
• The devil cannot bring spiritual sight and understanding.(!)
• If indeed the man was born in sin, only God can forgive his sin and heal.

“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10).

*What is the Jews’ implied concept of God in this scene?

*In what ways do people refer to Jesus as “raving mad” today?

This passage ends with the Jews divided (again) over Jesus’ identity, which leaves us with the same question (again):

*Who do we say Jesus is?

 

 

 

1. Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament (AMG Publishers, 1992), 814.
2. Zodhiates, 988.
3. Zodhiates, 300.
4. Zodhiates, 257.
5. Zodhiates, 373.
6. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/greek/142.htm
7. Zodhiates, 1400.