A parable of Jesus as a shepherd...

This week, we are addressing the distorted view of God as the all you can eat buffet. Yesterday, we discovered that this view is reinforced by the current of the culture we live in. In Western American culture, we take pride in reinforcing the reality that everything is about us. And because we repeatedly reinforce the reality that everything is about us, we create environments, products and services that are customized to meet our wants and desires.

And as a result of living in a culture that makes everything about our preferences, our wants, our desires, we can find ourselves finding ways to customize God around our preferences, our wants, our desires. We find ways to double up our God around all the things we like about God while avoiding all of the things we don’t like and don’t want in or from God. 

However, when we see God as the all you can eat buffet, we end up creating a faith that is centered around ourselves. And just like continually eating at an all you can eat buffet, we can end up spending our whole lives filling our plates with our favorite parts about God, while our soul slowly starves from a lack of the Divine malnourishment that is necessary, but that we continually avoid, about God.

The problem with viewing God as the all you can eat buffet is that God is inseparably whole. God cannot be divided and portioned out into the parts we find most palatable. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John.

And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless and true view of God that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as the all you can eat buffet and replace it with an accurate view of God. So let’s jump into this section of the gospel of John together, beginning in John 10:11-13:

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. ¹² "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

John begins this section of his account of Jesus life by giving us a front row seat to an event from history that occurred between Jesus and the Pharisees. Now to fully understand what is happening in this event from history, we first need to understand two things. The first thing that we need to understand is the context in which this event from history took place. Just prior to this event from history, Jesus did the unexplainable by healing a man who had been blind since birth.

The problem for Jesus however, is that he healed the man on the Sabbath, which broke one of the religious rules of the day.  As a result of breaking this religious rule, a group of men known as the Pharisees, who were the self righteous religious legalists of the day, confronted and challenged Jesus for breaking one of their religious rules. Jesus responded to being confronted by this group of religious legalists by telling a parable.

A parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. In this parable, Jesus painted the self righteous religious legalists as thieves and robbers who were attempting to steal people, who Jesus referred to as sheep, away from God. In the parable, Jesus revealed the reality that there was only one entry way, or door, to God, and that was through the shepherd, who would lead the people through the door. And it is in this context that Jesus identifies Himself as being the good shepherd.

Now that leads us to the second thing that we need to understand, which is the relationship between sheep and their shepherd. You see, while the Jewish people of Jesus day would have totally connected with this picture, we do not spend any time around sheep and shepherds. So let’s take a minute to understand a few things about sheep, shepherds, and how they related to one another. The first thing about sheep and shepherds is that sheep desperately need a shepherd.

The reason why sheep need a shepherd because sheep are needy. And sheep need a shepherd because sheep are stupid. Sheep are some of the dumbest animals on the planet.  And because of that reality, sheep need protection, sheep need guidance. Sheep need direction. Sheep need care. Sheep need feeding. Without a shepherd, a sheep’s needs remain unmet. Without a shepherd, the sheep suffer, and even die.

You see, Jesus used this metaphor because we are a lot like sheep, aren’t we?  Like sheep, we can be very needy. Like sheep, we can be very stupid. Like sheep, we need, guidance, direction. Like sheep, we need to be cared for. Like sheep, we can easily get off track, lost, and in a position where we suffer and even die as a result to the direction we decide to take in our lives.

Jesus explains that as the good shepherd, Jesus lays down His life for the sheep. Jesus then unpacks this statement by revealing the difference between Himself and the self righteous religious leaders of His day.  Jesus referred to the self righteous religious leaders as the hired hand and explained that when the sheep are threatened, the hired hand will not put his life in danger. Instead, the hired hand responds to the threats and danger by fleeing.

You see, for the hired hand, watching the sheep is just a job. For the hired hand who is working as a shepherd, his interest is in the money alone. He doesn’t own the sheep; he only does the job for the money and the money isn’t worth putting his life in danger. The hired hand does not have the investment in the sheep to sacrifice or endanger his life to save the sheep from the danger of wolves or other predators. The hired hand does not have the investment in the sheep to sacrifice or endanger his life to save the sheep from death if they fell in a pit or off a cliff.

However, as the good shepherd, Jesus has total ownership and total commitment to His sheep. Jesus is the Co-Creator of the universe. And as our creator and Lord, Jesus loves us and is willing to sacrifice His life for us. Jesus then continues to unpack His nature and character as the good shepherd in verse 14-18:

 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, ¹⁵ even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷ "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. ¹⁸ "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

Jesus continued His confrontation with the self righteous religious legalists of His day by explaining, that as the good shepherd, I know My own and My own know Me. Jesus here is revealing the reality that as the good shepherd, Jesus has intimate knowledge of His sheep. In the agricultural culture of Jesus day, sheep were more like a family pet. A shepherd would name His sheep. A shepherd would call for and talk with his sheep. And the sheep would know his shepherd much in the same way that a family dog knows his owner.

Jesus point is that, as the good shepherd, Jesus has a mutual and intimate relationship with His sheep. Jesus does not have a superficial relationship with His sheep; instead Jesus cares, feeds, and leads His sheep. Jesus then revealed the reality that as the good shepherd, Jesus did not simply come to earth to be the shepherd of people who were like him ethnically. Instead, Jesus came to call people from every ethnicity to follow Him in communion with Him as their shepherd and in genuine and authentic community with one another that represented every ethnicity with Jesus as their shepherd.

Jesus explained that this was the reason God the Father loved Him. God the Father loved Jesus because, as the good shepherd, Jesus was willing to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived the selfish and sinful life of the sheep, so that God that Father could treat the sheep as though they had lived Jesus perfect life. John then turned to reveal how the self righteous religious leaders, and the crowds that had gathered around this conversation, responded to Jesus referring to Himself as the good shepherd.

Friday, we will discover how they responded together...