THE GOOD SHEPHERD: John 10: 11-18

Jesus made several “I Am” statements, and I believe this is the first. We are familiar with them all if we try to reflect upon them. “I am the Bread of Life.” “I am the door.” and we can go on. In this particular lesson Our Lord is distinguishing Himself from all the other pretentious shepherds.”

The importance of shepherds to Israel.

Sheep were important to the Jewish people. In many ways it was their livelihood. They used the skin for making clothing, and the wool also for making clothing to keep them warm. The meat was their previous food. And so sheep was their most prized possession. We remember Jacob in Genesis 31: telling his father in law: “ These twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and your female goats never miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks...” I think we remember the story of Jacob how he kept the flock of his father in law Laban. We can remember at the birth of Jesus how the angels first went to the shepherds to tell the good news of the birth of Jesus. David, the greatest leader of Israel was also a shepherd, even at a tender age. The Israelites referred to “God as the shepherd of the people.” We all know Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

Shepherds had to have special characteristics:

Palestine was infested with all sorts of dangerous animals, and at night they roamed the place looking for food. There were lions, bears, tigers, leopards, jackals, and all the other dangerous animals roaming the place at night looking for food. They would normally attack the herds of sheep and take what they wanted. Again, we remember David in an effort to impress Saul told him in 1st Samuel 17 how while used to be tending his father’s flock he had the task of killing both a lion and a bear.” David was not exaggerating. He was telling the facts of the dangers that he faced and how he overcame them all.The shepherd’s task was a difficult one, and so the shepherds had to be special men with characteristics of bravery, skill, devotion, love, and all the good traits that make for good leadership.

As far back as Jacob and David shepherds were very important to Israel. The shepherds had to be corageous and dependable men.