Dear Friends in Christ,
One artist exhibits at a gallery are interesting. As you move from work to work you get a sense of the artist’s inner soul from varied perspectives. Such shows generally include a self- portrait or two or three. How does the artist see himself? How does the artist want us to relate to her?
John’s gospel is a gallery of Jesus’ self-portraits; I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the true vine; I am the way, the truth and the life. These are how our Lord and Savior sees himself and wants us to relate to him.
Today we stop and pause at Jesus’ Self-Portrait as the Good Shepherd.We see the perspective Jesus has about himself; then, the perspective Jesus has abouthis relationship to us his flock.
Sheep herding always has been a hard and honest profession and still is. Many of Jesus’ ancestors were shepherds at one time or another; Abraham, Isaac, David who became a king. Wandering constantly, always vigilant for bad weather, wolves and robbers, the good shepherd led and fed, corrected and protected his charges. Why? The good shepherd genuinely loved his sheep.
Prefigured by his fathers and others, Jesus paints himself as the Good Shepherd. This was in keeping with the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah who called the coming Messiah, shepherd. In Psalm 23 David who knew a thing or two about being a shepherd painted that portrait of the coming Savior. These were initial pencil sketches. Jesus painted the final portrait as a self-portrait during his ministry.
Jesus led and fed the people during his ministry with the Word of God and with miracles. He constantly was on the move. The good shepherd was vigilant against wolves in sheep’s clothing like the Pharisees. He corrected and instructed. Jesus did all of this because of his genuine love for all sinners. He met and loved all people where they were in their lives. At the same time Jesus did not hesitate to call them to repentance of their sins and invite them “Follow me,” as his disciples in faith and thus also with a new way of life. What a powerful and positive role model for us whom God graciously has called as “pastors,” shepherds serving the good shepherd.
Jesus also manifested the outstanding feature of the good shepherd. It was the feature that separated the shepherd who loved the sheep and the hired help who cared more for themselves than for the sheep. The good shepherd was willing to die for them. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…I lay down my life for the sheep…the reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life-only to take it up again.”
The hired hand runs away at the first sign of trouble. He would not stay and fight his sheep’s enemies on their behalf. He would run away even as he watched the sheep scattered. He is taking care only of his interests. Why? Jesus said, “The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”The good shepherd on the other hand stayed and died if he needed to.
Jesus did not act like a hired hand when it came to our redemption and salvation. We are under attack by spiritual enemies and in fact were doomed to destruction on account of our sins and guilt. Jesus did not run away from Satan in the wilderness but defeated him for our sake. He did not let the people make him a king but remained a lowly servant. Jesus did not agree with Peter that suffering and death should not happen to him. He had come to bear them and he defeated sin and death. Jesus did not come down from the cross to save himself. He willingly remained on the cross to save the world.
Isaiah is right, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”Is 53. Peter is right, “For you were all like sheep going astray but now you have been returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.” 1 Pet 2:25.
Jesus self- portrait as our good shepherd also paints his perspective about his relationship to us his flock. What a privilege and safe place to be counted among the sheep who belong to the good shepherd.
Jesus’ sheep consist of believers from both Israel and his “other sheep” pen, we Gentiles. This is the holy, Christian Church, the communion of saints. From Jesus perspective he sees himself speaking to us and he sees that we are listening to his voice. This does not mean just the sound of his voice and then we can go off and eat bad grass, and drink polluted water, and buddy up with wolves. We recognize his voice and hear it in the sense of taking his words to heart and following him to the sweetest grass, to the living water and to the safety of his arms against the predators of false teaching and arrogance.
You may know that sheep are not counted among the rocket scientists so to speak of the animal kingdom. But Jesus does not compare us to swine who like to get dirty, or mules that have to be driven and pulled because of stubbornness, or vipers whose mouths are filled with poisonous venom. He perceives us as sheep which have the uncanny knack of distinguishing their shepherd’s voice from all others. Sheep follow their shepherd because they trust he will lead them where they need to go and where we are best off.
It is Jesus’ voice we hear and follow in God’s Word that keeps us connected to him and to his life saving sacrifice on our behalf. He brings us into the flock. He does this because his Father in heaven commanded him to be our Savior and he listened to his Father’s voice. Jesus willingly and completely followed his Father’s will. Because of the Father’s love for the Son the Father loves each and every one of us. Jesus guides me, knows my needs and well supplies me, love me every day the same, even calls me by my name.
We step out of St. John’s portrait gallery after seeing Jesus’ self-portrait. His perspective is as our Savior. His perspective of us is that he speaks and we listen, he leads and we follow because our hearts are ever glad for his work. He is the good shepherd who laid down his life for us and did not flee. We follow his bloody hands and feet that lead us and pay close attention to his soothing voice. Amen. <SDG>