The Good Shepherd

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep....
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." - John 10:11,18

Yesterday, we had a guest speaker at church. He and his wife (and new son) are missionaries in St. Vincent. His sermon was on a familiar passage in the book of John, where Jesus claimed to be the good shepherd. In John 10:11, Jesus has the audacity to say that he is the 'good shepherd'. Why is that audacious? Because this is not just a cute metaphor to make a children's Sunday School a little more interesting. It's not just simply a word picture using sheep and the visual that we get with the little cuddlies being herded along by their strong shepherd. Oh, we are sheep. We've gone astray, and we need our shepherd. But here's the point the pastor was making:

When Jesus called himself the GOOD shepherd, He didn't use the word for 'good' that means what we think. We think of 'good' as being morally nice, not morally bad. But there is another meaning for GOOD in the original language: excellent good, perfect good, pre-emminent good, 'I am the best, the best there has ever been' good.

The Jewish people hearing him speak these things would have been outraged. In their minds, Moses was a 'good' shepherd... and certainly David was a 'good' shepherd. But then their minds race to what we know as the Twenty Third Psalm... The Lord is my Shepherd. Jehovah. The God of Israel. Jesus was making himself equal with the God of Psalm 23! Of all the audacity! How could he? Unless He was really the God of Israel in the flesh...

And this GOOD Shepherd laid down his life! He gave it all. Not just his body, not just biological - but he gave his very soul. Everything. He died. And if He did this for you, then your worries are over. He owns the rights to every last one of your worries. The pastor then challenged every Christian with the following response to this passage: If this is true, then why would any Christian resort to Prozac to calm their nerves? Why would any Christian resort to any drug to relieve depression, stress or anxiety? Why would any Christian be biting their fingernails over whether McCain or Obama becomes the next president? Drugs, presidents or anything other than the Lord Himself will not be there in your darkest hour. They will not see you through those deepest valleys. Only the Good Shepherd will. He has the power to lay down his life and to take it back up again. And if he has the power to do that, then he has to power to take care of your worries, because He is... the Good Shepherd.