Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

John 10:22-30

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area of the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “how long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Chapter 10 of John’s gospel is filled with imagery of sheep and shepherds. Here, Jesus compares himself to a shepherd watching over his sheep as well as the gate through which the sheep enter. John compares Jesus to a lamb being slaughtered during the crucifixion. The sheep/shepherd imagery is perhaps John’s favorite metaphor, and would have been understood by his early readers. Shepherding was a common occupation during the time of Jesus, though a lowly and undesirable one. Shepherds were typically those who had no property or obligation to family, those who turned to the itinerant life of herding sheep in the wilderness as a last resort to making a living. That Jesus would compare himself at all to one of society’s best-known outcasts is striking, but becomes even more so when in the same breath he declares “the Father and I are one.” There is something about the life of a shepherd that tells us about who Jesus is. There is something about shepherding that reveals God.

We do not do so well with shepherd imagery since we do not see many shepherds these days. What was once commonplace has become obsolete. Our unfamiliarity with the task of herding sheep makes it difficult to fully appreciate the meaning behind John’s metaphor. We tend to reduce the image of shepherds and sheep to one of pastoral tranquility. While such a connection may be appropriate and necessary for those needing to be comforted, it nevertheless overlooks the dangers and difficulties that shepherds faced.

The primary task of a shepherd was protecting the sheep. There were constant threats of predators or thieves wherever the shepherd happened to be. Jesus alludes to this reality in the first eighteen verses of chapter 10, where he speaks of both thieves and wolves. It falls to the shepherd to defend the sheep from these constant threats. In comparing himself to a shepherd and his followers to sheep, Jesus means to invoke this kind of image – the sheep living under constant threat, though blissfully ignorant most of the time, while the shepherd constantly protected and put his own life in danger for the sake of his flock. In fact, this very willingness to confront the danger and “lay down his life for his sheep” is what makes a shepherd “good” (John 10:11-14). Here again John’s Gospel tells us in no uncertain terms that Jesus’ life is in danger. It is no coincidence that the Good Shepherd chapter of John ends with Jesus nearly being stoned. Not a very tranquil image, but no one ever said that the Christian life would be tranquil. At times we fall into the trap of assuming that we Christians should somehow enjoy benefits that others do not by virtue of our belief. Jesus himself teaches us that following him means just the opposite. Our lives will be tested. When we come face to face with the evils of the world, we will be called to respond with the same love, grace, and sacrifice as our Lord Jesus did. Claimed as his sheep, Jesus wants us to be his shepherds in this world. No small task since there are countless voices competing for our time and attention, vying for our allegiance. In this day of twenty-four hour cable news, we are constantly bombarded with voices on top of other voices, one talking head after another. The media presents us with slants and spins designed to convince listeners that this or that voice is to be trusted above all others making it difficult to hear the Voice of our Shepherd above the cacophony of words. We must learn to hear His voice above all the other voices in our world and to connect with that One Voice that says, “This way! You belong here with me!”