The
theme of the good shepherd is seen in both the Old and the New Testament alike.
The Profit Ezekiel writes of the good shepherd as the Lord God who will come
and rescue his sheep. Chapter ten of John’s Gospel fulfills this prophesy as
Jesus shows that he is the good shepherd. The image of Jesus as the good
shepherd continues to shape the imagination of Christians today as Jesus is
often seen in paintings and stain glass leading a flock of sheep. This imagery
is so prevalent in Christian tradition that the ordained are referred to as the
“Pastor,” the one who ministers to the flock, obedient and chosen by God.
The
theme of the shepherd is found throughout the Old Testament in Genesis,
Numbers, Psalms, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and so on. In the
Old Testament, often the past shepherds of Israel have led their sheep astray by
irresponsible tending. Ezekiel addresses this concern with his prophesies about
the good shepherd who is to come. Ezekiel’s prophesy is twofold. First, he
addresses the problem of the past shepherds and then tells how God plans to
make things right.
Speaking
in terms of the Old Testament, a shepherd is referred to as a king or a great
leader,[1]
and people without a king are like a flock gone astray without a shepherd.[2]
The problem in Israel however, was not that the people didn’t have a leader;
they had many kings and Pharisees to shepherd them, but that they did not have
a good shepherd to minister to them. Tending a flock entails much more than
simply feeding it. The true problem in Israel was that the shepherds were
tending themselves when their responsibility was to tend the sheep.[3] Throughout
the Old Testament, God had appointed kings and leaders as shepherds to deliver
his people. Their mission was necessary and their sins of commission held the
entire flock at stake. The shepherds of Israel chose not to feed the sheep and
rather they ate the fat, clothed themselves in their wool and slaughtered the
fattened sheep (sins of commission) (Ezek 34:3). They made no attempt to
strengthen the week, heal the sick, bind the injured, return the strayed or
seek the lost (five sins of omission); but rather, they ruled over them with force
and harshness (Ezek 34:4). Their sin and irresponsible shepherding left “all
Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that had no shepherd” (1 Kgs
22:17). The shepherds of Israel were not really shepherds at all because they
failed to protect the sheep from the wild beasts.
God
therefore rebukes the shepherds of Israel and reveals his plan to rescue his
sheep from the mouths of the shepherds with his own hands. God will first
attend to the shepherds for their evil doings and then will bring his sheep
back together (Jer 23:3). Continuing with the theme of the shepherd, Ezekiel
foretells the coming of the good shepherd. Israel has seen its share of bad shepherds,
but now they foresee the coming of the good shepherd. The irresponsible
shepherds were accused by God to have five sins of omission (Ezek 34:4), but
now God recasts these negative statements to show what the good shepherd will accomplish.
“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up
the crippled, and I will strengthen the week, and the fat and the strong I will
watch over; I will feed them in justice” (Ezek 34:16). God will appoint one
servant over the people to feed them. David will be their shepherd until the
coming of the Lord. David will be their shepherd and feed them and God will
banish the beasts from the land to keep them protected until the good shepherd
comes (Ezek 34:25). David is seen as a shepherd at a young age in the story of
David and Goliath. The young shepherd said to Saul, “your servant used to keep
sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or bear, and took a lamb from
the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth;
and if he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed
him” (1 Sam 17:34-35).
The
Gospels fulfill this prophesy made by Ezekiel on many accounts. John’s Gospel
shows how Christ Jesus is the good shepherd who has come from the seed of David
just as the prophets said he would: “Has not the scripture said that the Christ
is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David
was?” (7:42). While all the Gospels make a point of Jesus as the good shepherd,
John is the only one who recalls a distinct account of this fulfilled prophesy.
The placement of this pericope is also important. Previously in Chapter nine,
Jesus gives sight to the blind man who then acclaims Jesus as the Lord. In
order to acclaim Jesus as the good shepherd, the people must restore their
sight in him, recognizing him as the door of the sheep. Some of the Jews have
their eyes opened and refer back to the blind man: “these are not the sayings
of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (10:21).
Before
the evangelist develops his theme of Jesus as the good shepherd, he examines
the allegory of thieves and robbers. Just as Ezekiel first spoke about the bad
shepherds of the past, Jesus also recognizes those who have led the sheep
astray. Jesus refers to the bad shepherds of his time as “thieves” and “robbers.”
Some identification is given to these bad shepherds when Judas is called a
thief (12:6) and Barabbas a robber (18:40).[4] Jesus identifies these bad shepherds as ones
who enter the sheepfold by ways other than the gate and thus do not belong in
the fold.[5]
Verse Nine incorporates the Old Testament imagery of Jesus as the gate by
echoing Psalms 118:19-20 and identifies himself as the point of access to God
for the flock.[6]
The Jews, no doubt, would recognize the Psalms, thus Jesus was prepping them
for what he would say next. In verse
eleven Jesus makes his thesis statement, “I am the good shepherd.” Just before
this statement however, Jesus once again refers to the false shepherds that
came before him, making Ezekiel’s prophesy clear to the Jews; “all who came
before me were thieves and robbers” (10-8). The line of priestly rulers,
Pharisees and political leaders from Maccabean times until Jesus’ day are
certainly characterized as false shepherds, thieves and robbers who came before
Jesus.[7]
With
Jesus’ “I am” statement, he begins to draw on figures of the Old Testament. The
adjective “good” (Kalos καλός) meaning ‘model’ or ‘true’ is a reference to the
good shepherd described in Ezekiel 34 as the shepherd image of God.[8] Jesus
identifies himself as the good shepherd who fulfills Gods promises (4:37) and
does his work (17:4). Jesus makes himself known as the good shepherd of Ezekiel
who will feed, seek, bind, care and rescue his sheep, and then takes the
parable to another level by saying in verse sixteen that he will lay down his
life for his sheep. Once again, an Old Testament antecedent to the messianic
oracle of Zechariah 13:7-9, in which the death of the shepherd is required so
that the flock can be purified.[9]
[1] Janet, Soskic M., Metaphor and Religious Language (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985) 15.
[2] Petersen, David L., Gene, Tucker M., The New Interpreter's Bible. Isaiah – Ezekiel. Vol. VI. (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001) 1463.
[3] Ibid.,
1463.
[4] Marsh.
John., The Pelican Gospel Commentaries (Great
Britain: Cox and Wyman Ltd, 1968), 394.
[5] Culpepper,
Alan R., Gail O'Day R., The
New Interpreter's Bible. the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of John. Vol. IX. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995) 669.
[6] Ibid.,
669.
[7] Brown.
Ramond E., The Gospel According to John
I-XII. Vol. 29 (New York: Doubleday, 1966), 393.
[8] Culpepper, Alan R., and Gail O'Day R., The New Interpreter's Bible. the
Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of John. Vol.
IX. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995) 669.
[9] Schanakenberg,
Ruldoph., The Gospel According to St.
John. Vol 3 (New York: Seabury, 1982) 2:295.
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