I have a sizeable wooden carving that is displayed in a prominent place in my home. This piece struck me the moment I first saw it while visiting a crowded street market in Ecuador many years ago. It depicts a satisfied and smiling shepherd with a young lamb securely resting over his shoulders.
Shepherds and sheep are very familiar images in God’s redemptive story. Isaiah writes of God: “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40.11). Matthew notes similarly of Christ that “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9.36). Hearing such descriptions, perhaps you recall images of a good shepherd similar to the statue on my fireplace hearth: Jesus standing peacefully among His flock, keeping watch and taking care. It is an image not far from some of those carefully portrayed in well-told stories such as Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.
When Jesus stood among crowds and spoke of sheep, familiar images of fields and grazing sheep would have come to the minds of His hearers as well. For some, the biblical images of God gathering lambs into His arms would have crossed their minds. But, these wouldn’t have been the only images that came to mind, particularly for those who heard Jesus in Jerusalem. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10.27-28).
Standing in the temple precinct, preaching to worshipers and religious leaders, these words of Jesus about sheep would have evoked a bold awareness of sounds and activities all around them. At tables nearby, bleating sheep were being sold and carried further into the temple, where they were led through a door to the place of sacrifice. Far from the peaceful setting of a pasture, Jesus spoke of sheep in the place where they were about to be slaughtered. Unlike the shepherd among passive lambs in many of our imaginations, tending these sheep requires something more than a gentle hand and a watchful eye. These sheep needed to be saved!
So, it is quite telling that Jesus first identifies himself, not as the Good Shepherd, but as the door for the sheep. In the ancient walls of Jerusalem, there was a gate (door) on the north of the city by which animals were brought in from the countryside for sacrifice. It was called the Sheep Gate. Once inside the city and within the temple courts, there was only one door where the sheep went in. No lamb ever came back out after entering the temple. They traveled in only one direction, and there they were sacrificed for the sins of men and women. For first-century hearers of Jesus’ words about sheep, such knowledge added to the shock of His statement: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep …. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10.7, 9).
In the temple filled with sheep on their way towards death, Jesus declared there was a way out: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10.11).
I readily imagine that the Good Shepherd delights in the task of caring for His flock. He goes willingly to search for the one that has gone astray. He gently carries us over His shoulders and in His arms, and He guides us through valleys and beside still waters. He calls us by name and smiles at our recognition of His voice.
But, He also breaks into places where there is no longer hope. He refuses to cower through the course of our rescue, though He is accosted by our sin and humiliated by our denials. He provides a way, though it cost Him everything. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His friends, so that we, His lambs, can go free.
