Have you wondered why Jesus
said that he is the Good Shepherd, who lays down his own life for his sheep ? To
whom was he addressing this?
To find this out, we must
read from John 9:1 through John 10:21, of which, John 10:1-21 are known as the
Good Shepherd Discourse.
It all began with the
disciples’ encounter with a man born blind. They asked Jesus who had sinned to
let him be born blind, him or his parents (John 9:2). This suggests that the
disciples were influenced by the Pharisaic teaching: if you face affliction in
life, it is God’s punishment for a sin of yours or your parents. Attributing
one’s suffering to sin was rather not uncommon at that time, in reference to
Exodus 20:5, Numbers 14:18, Jeremiah 32:18 and so forth. However, Jesus gave a totally different view
on suffering. According to him, suffering is not necessarily God’s punishment
for anyone’s sin but can be a channel for God’s glory to manifest. To
demonstrate this, Jesus cured this blind man. By this act, Jesus saved his
disciples from becoming judgemental – preventing them from being like the
Pharisees.
Then, here came a problem. As
Jesus let God’s glory manifest through the blind man’s suffering, those who
were self-righteous and taught suffering as God’s punishment for sin became
furious about Jesus for what he had done to the blind man. Jesus began to
debate with them. Jesus’ Good Shepherd Discourse was a development in his
debate with these hypocrites, whom Jesus indicated as the spiritually blind.
So, why did Jesus began speaking
metaphorically about the shepherd, sheep, and sheepfold in arguing with the
spiritually blind?
Jesus was rebuking the
spiritually blind with these words, “If
you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see”, our sin
remains” (John 9:41). This is the end of John 9. But, Jesus went on
speaking in the same breath, “Very truly,
I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in
by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the
shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep
hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John
10:1-4) to begin his Good Shepherd Discourse.
Just as the spiritually blind
were unable to see God’s glory manifestation in Jesus’ act of curing the blind
man, they were not able to understand this figure of speech that Jesus made
(John 10:6). So, Jesus again said to them, “Very
truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are
thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate.
Whoever enters by me will be will be saved, and will come in and go out and
find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that
they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 7-11).
Of course, the spiritually
blind still did not understand what Jesus meant by these words.
How about us? Do we
understand Jesus’ figure of speech on the shepherd, sheep, and thieves in the
Good Shepherd Discourse, on the heel of healing of a man born blind by Jesus?
First of all, Jesus’
figurative words in the Good Shepherd Discourse must be interpreted in
conjunction with the event of Jesus healing the man born blind and the Pharisee’s
reaction to this. People in suffering, like the man born blind, were excluded
from the society, because the public did not want to associate with sinners,
whose marks were believed to be seen in their suffering. The Pharisees prided
themselves as the champion of keeping spiritual purity, doing whatever it takes
to exclude those who were associated with sin, like those who suffer in their
community. This was the reality that Jesus challenges as through his debates
with the Pharisees, and this debate turned into Jesus’ Good Shepherd Discourse.
Those who were marginalized because
they were assumed to be sinners for their suffering were the sheep, whom Jesus
shepherds. They were the lost sheep, for whom Jesus came to this world to
redeem them into his fold, which is namely the Kingdom of God that he teaches. On
the other hand, those who marginalized the “sheep” by judging them as “sinners”
for their suffering, make out of their self-righteousness, such as the Pharisees
are the thieves. Their hypocrisy makes those who suffer “lost sheep” by
marginalizing them. There is a contrast between the one who redeems the lost
sheep and saves his sheep as the Good Shepherd and those who harm the sheep
because of their judgemental self-righteousness, like the Pharisees.
Sheep are helpless animals on
their own. They cannot survive without a good shepherd’s care. For them to
survive, they must listen to their shepherd and follow his lead. The man born
blind in John 9 was helpless, as he kept begging for help. However, once Jesus
the Good Shepherd reached out to him and came to believe in him, this man was
no longer “lost sheep”, as he was redeemed into his sheepfold.
As a matter of fact, a
shepherd was not a highly regarded occupation. Rather, it was considered to be
an unclean job for its constant contact with animals. Shepherds live with
sheep, rather than a mainstream human community, where the Pharisees liked to
gather public respect for their “righteousness”. And Jesus chose to call
himself a shepherd – the Good Shepherd. It means that Jesus brings himself to
the marginalized section of the world to dwell among the marginalized so that
he can for and lead them.
Jesus the Good Shepherd came
to this world to redeem the “lost sheep” the marginalized by the hypocrisy of
the spiritually blind into his sheepfold. This is also reflected in these words
of Jesus to the Pharisees, “Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call
not the righteous but sinners to repentance”(Luke 5:31-32). He cares for them by bringing the Good
Tidings, healing and nourishing with his Word and the Eucharist. He leads them
even through the valley of death to the ultimate pasture – the Kingdom, as
reflected in Psalm 23.
The sheep of Jesus the Good
Shepherd were no longer “blind” as being redeemed and saved by him. He has laid
down his own life to ensure that all of his sheep are not “blind” so that they
enjoy eternal life.
Who are we? The “lost sheep”
? The “redeemed and saved sheep”? Or, the “thieves and bandits”, who harm the “sheep”
by being self-righteous and judgemental because of the spiritual blindness?
Our Good Shepherd hears our
cries and reaches out to us in our suffering. He does not dwell among the
hypocrites, who cannot see the truth in him and his teaching. Rather, he dwells
among us, who listen to him and see the truth in his voice. As our Good Shepherd,
he provides so that we say that his grace is enough (2 Corinthians 12:9), echoing
these words of David, “The Lord is my
shepherd; I shall not want (because I now lack nothing)”(Psalm 23:1).
No comments:
Post a Comment