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SOUNDING OUT:
The Shepherd and Sheep Analogy (Part I)
Jesus was the good shepherd
who gave his life for the sheep. He taught the allegory
of the shepherd and the sheep in John 10 to teach people
how to recognize a genuine ministry and distinguish
his from the counterfeit provided by the Pharisees.
In Part I we will see that the analogy of the shepherd
and the sheep was familiar to Eastern people. In Part
II next week we’ll see that the good shepherd
gives out of the love of God in his heart. Then in Part
III on 4/18/03 we’ll see that the good shepherd
leads the flock by his freewill commitment, and puts
the welfare of the flock above his selfish personal
gain.
The analogy of the shepherd and the sheep that
Jesus taught in John 10 was familiar to the children
of Israel. Psalm 23 was called the Shepherd’s
Psalm. It started:
Psalm 23:1-3:
The LORD [Jehovah] is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake.
This analogy was repeated
throughout the Old Testament. Here are some examples
from Numbers and Psalms:
Numbers 27:17:
Which may go out before them, and which may go in before
them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring
them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as
sheep which have no shepherd.
Psalm 95:7a:
For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand….
Psalm 100:3b:
… we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
God took care of His people
like a true shepherd was supposed to take care of sheep.
The leaders of God’s people in the Old Testament
were to also care for God’s people with that same
heart. The shepherd and the sheep analogy communicated
clearly to the Eastern man the love and care that God
wanted exercised over his people. In John 10 Jesus uses
the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep to confront
the religious leaders of his day. The context of this
great teaching of Jesus is very illuminating.
In John 8 the Pharisees interrupted Jesus’
teaching in the temple by bringing in a woman taken
in adultery demanding that she be stoned. Stoning in
Chapter 8 and excommunication in Chapter 9 were two
of the trump cards that the religious leaders used to
instill fear into people through which they sought to
control them. Instead of succumbing to the pressure
to stone the woman Jesus interceded for her and delivered
her. Jesus then returns again to teaching the people
at which time the Pharisees in verse 13 again interrupt
him and call him a liar. Jesus then confronts the Pharisees
in the presence of the people in the Temple for their
learning.
In verse 47 Jesus says, “He that is of
God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not,
because ye are not of God.” After this, they accuse
Jesus of having a devil or being possessed, and eventually
take up stones to stone him in verse 59. However Jesus
hid himself and passed through the midst of them and
got away. As he passes by they see a man born blind
and Jesus heals him. The Pharisees then attack the man
because of his association with Jesus and eventually
excommunicate him.
Freeman in his book Manners and Customs of
the Bible has a note on page 427 about excommunication.
He says, according to the Talmud and the Rabbis, there
were as many as three different grades of excommunication.
In the first they were not permitted for 30 days to
have any communication with anyone save at a distance
of 4 cubits or about 6 feet. Neither were they allowed
to shave and they were required to wear garments of
mourning.
If the first didn’t bring people under
their control, the second stage required that 10 people
of the congregation formally confront and curse them.
They were no longer allowed into the Temple or synagogue,
and all communication with other people was forbidden.
If this didn’t bring the excommunicant
to his knees, the third and final step was to cut the
individual off from all connection with the Jewish people,
and to consign them to utter perdition.
Does that sound familiar to any of you? Well,
Jesus didn’t comply with their edict and sought
the man out. Let’s pick up the account in John
9:35:
John 9:35:
Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he
had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on
the Son of God?
Jesus had already taught
them in John 6:37 “that all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out.”
John 9:36-38
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and
it is he that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
What different responses
from the man born blind and the religious leaders. The
Pharisees refused to believe and the man born blind
eagerly believed Jesus’ words. Jesus then gives
this commentary on what’s going on:
John 9:39-41:
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world,
that they which see not might see; and that they which
see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard
these words, and said unto him, [Are you talking to
me?] Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have
no sin: [If you couldn’t see or didn’t know
what you were doing there would be no sin.] but now
ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. [You claim
you do see or do know what you are doing, therefore
you do sin. They made their decision and they knew what
they were doing. They judged themselves.]
Remember Jesus said, “for
judgment am I come into this world.” The word
judgment is often used of legally binding judicial decisions.
Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, but to
make it available for people to believe.
John 3:17,18:
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God.
Jesus extended the analogy
of the shepherd and the sheep to himself, because he
was the epitome of the true good shepherd.
John 10:27:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me:
Jesus came to bring God’s
Word and God’s Will to God’s people. Jesus
brought people to the point of decision. Were they going
to believe him or reject him? They had to make a decision.
The man born blind decided to believe and received his
sight. The Pharisees for the most part refused to believe
and were blinded by the god of this world as it says
in II Corinthians 4:4.
Whose voice do we hear? To whom do we give our
attention and believing obedience? Who are we following?
If we are following true shepherds our lives will prosper
in their care.
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