Chapter 10 Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
Verses 1-18 True
and false shepherds
Verses 19-42 True and false sheep
True and false
shepherds v1-5
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a
robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the Porter openeth and the sheep hear
his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth
before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will
flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.”
This is called a
parable in v6-Gr. paroimia which is mostly translated proverb; it simply
means a natural illustration of a spiritual truth, which illuminates the
meaning. He is speaking here of a door
into a sheepfold into which strangers seek to enter with other intentions than
the good of the fold. In contrast, He
speaks of the true shepherd who only has the welfare of the sheep at heart. The sight of shepherds in the fields with
their sheep on Judean hills was a common sight.
God used this common everyday occupation to illustrate the need for the
care of His people. Indeed, the figure
of the shepherd and the sheep is a major biblical topic that goes from one end
of the Bible to the other. This bespeaks
the fact that God has the welfare of His beloved people at heart. Some of the most notable characters in
scripture were shepherds: Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd;
Abraham; Isaac; Jacob; the sons of Jacob were shepherds; Moses kept the flock
of Jethro in the backside of the desert; David was a shepherd; the prophet Amos;
even the Assyrian king Cyrus was a shepherd-Isaiah 44v28. These were important and leading people
involved in the work of God through the ages, and it seems that God prepared His
leaders this way. This is so because God Himself is a Shepherd, as is stated in
many portions of scripture. The main
word used for Shepherd in the Old Testament is translated keep or feed.
The work of the shepherd was to feed the
flock, and to protect them from danger, and to tend to them in times of illness.
The image of God’s people as sheep,
reminds us of their vulnerability, and also the compassionate heart of God who provides
for their every need. Sheep need to be fed;
they need to be nursed; they need to be protected from danger. They tend to wander and get lost; they need to
be restored, and sought out whenever they go astray; they need to be treated
gently, and to be led into ever-fresh new pastures. The work of the shepherd is one of the
noblest works on earth, for it is nearest to the heart of God. King David translated his experience as a
shepherd to his rule over the people of God.
God said of him, through the prophet Samuel, “The Lord hath sought Him a
man after His own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over His
people”-1st Samuel 13v14, Acts 13v22. The man who will rule for God will have a
shepherd heart, for that is what best reflects the Lord. This is because the Lord himself is a Shepherd
and looks after the interests of the people.
The work of a shepherd, when applied spiritually to God’s people, is
very close to His heart, and He will have all His leaders to be pastoral in
nature. He is described as a shepherd in
the following scriptures:
Genesis 49v24; 2nd
Samuel 7v7; Psalm 23v1; 77v20; 80v1; Isaiah 40v11; Jeremiah 23v1-4; Ezekiel 34v1-19.
Christ Himself is
referred to as a shepherd: Zechariah 13v7; John 10 the Good shepherd; Hebrews
13v20, the Great shepherd; and 1st Peter 5v4 the Chief shepherd. It is the noblest work of all, and is the
work that God loves to see prosper. As
the Good Shepherd He gave His life to be their Saviour; as the great Shepherd,
God raised Him from the dead as their Sanctifier; as the Chief Shepherd, He is coming
again as their Sovereign to whom all under-shepherds will give account.
The problem was
that the leaders of Israel were false shepherds; like those in Ezekiel 34, they
were in it for themselves, they cared not for the flock, only for their own
position. The pattern was clear back
then; the shepherds starved the sheep, they stripped them and they scattered
them. This pattern was being repeated in
Jesus’ day. They had just cast a man out of the synagogue, simply because he
believed in Jesus. They were continually plotting how to get rid of Jesus
because they saw Him as a threat to them.
Later on, in Matthew 23 Jesus would say of them “The Pharisees sit in
Moses seat; whatever therefore they bid you do, that do, but do not as they do
for they say and do not.” They were guilty of a
hypocrisy of the worst kind-religious hypocrisy. C.S. Lewis, the converted atheist, said “Of
all bad men, religious bad men are the worst.” He contrasts his own work for
God with theirs and holds nothing back. He
has just charged them with spiritual blindness, and later He will say that they
are the “blind leaders of the blind.”
No comments:
Post a Comment