This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter.  “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Verse 11 pushes beyond the imagery of Ezekiel 34 in its reference to the shepherd’s willingness to lay down his life for the sheep. A possible OT antecedent may lie in the messianic oracle of Zech 13:7-9, in which the death of the shepherd is required so that the flock can be purified. Verse 11 may also have points of contact with Palestinian shepherding practices; a good shepherd may indeed have to give up his life to prevent the decimation of his flock by wild animals. Yet the reference to the shepherd laying down his life is cast in a distinctive Johannine idiom, so that the reader of the Gospel cannot help hearing in Jesus’ words an allusion to his own death. Verses 15 and 17-18 will make those associations with the death of Jesus explicit, but at this point Jesus stays within the metaphor of shepherding. He works to build the interpretive frame of reference before he turns more directly to his own life and death. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. Jesus uses the figure of the Good Shepherd to differentiate his ministry from that of false shepherds of the scribes, Pharisee, and in fact, all the kings and leaders of Israel. Jesus will also stress the voluntary nature of the shepherd’s sacrifice for his people. This chapter should be read in the light of Old Testament passages that castigate shepherds who have failed in their duty (see Jer. 23:1–4; 25:32–38; Zech. 11; and especially Ezekiel 34, the Parable of the Shepherds (which I encourage you to read). Equally as condemning is this passage from the Prophet Isaiah: “All the sentinels of Israel are blind, they are without knowledge…Shepherds who have no understanding; all have turned their own way.” (Is 56:10-11)  In this passage the leaders are both “shepherds” and “watchmen” and are castigated as “blind” and as those who “lack knowledge” (cf. John 9:40–41; 10:6). Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. To appreciate this parable it is important to understand its setting in a small first century Palestinian village. It would be quite the norm for a family to own but a few sheep. The sheep were sources of income (wool) and clothing, and so the animals were protected usually within small walled courtyards next to or connected to the house. If each family had only a few sheep, a shepherd for each household was not justified, so several households would have one shepherd to look after their sheep. Often the shepherding was done by a child from one of these families. If no child was available a hireling was employed. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter in Lectionary Cycle B. No matter which Lectionary Year, the 4th Sunday of Easter always takes the gospel reading from some part of John 10 and thus is sometimes referred to as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” There are several layers of context in this part of John’s gospel: the sequence of Jewish festivals, the content of the chapters before and after, and more. Continue reading →