I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Parallel Translations
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I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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I am the good shepeheerd. The good shepeheerd geveth his lyfe for the shepe.
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I am that good shepheard: that good shepheard giueth his life for his sheepe.
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Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to John 10:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 23:1 Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.
- John 10:14-15 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
- John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
- Revelation 7:17 for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
- Isaiah 40:11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
- 1 Peter 2:24-25 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
- 2 Samuel 24:17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.”
- Ezekiel 34:23 I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.
- 1 Peter 5:4 When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
- Ezekiel 37:24 “ ‘ “My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.
- Ezekiel 34:11-16 “ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture; and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord Yahweh. “I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.” ’
- Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
- Matthew 20:28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
- Micah 5:4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
- 1 Samuel 17:34-35 David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after him, and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him.
- Psalms 80:1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- John 10:17-18 Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
- Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- Ephesians 5:2 Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
- Genesis 31:39-40 That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. The good shepherd giveth his life for the…
11. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. From the extraordinary affection which he bears towards the sheep, he shows how truly he acts towards them as a shepherd; for he is so anxious about their salvation, that he does not even spare his own life. Hence it follows, that they who reject the guardianship of so kind and amiable a shepherd are exceedingly ungrateful, and deserve a hundred deaths, and are exposed to every kind of harm. The remark of Augustine is exceedingly just, that this passage informs us what we ought to desire, what we ought to avoid, and what we ought to endure, in the government of the Church. Nothing is more desirable than that the Church should be governed by good and diligent shepherds Christ declares that he is the good shepherd, who keeps his Church safe and sound, first, by himself, and, next, by his agents. Whenever there is good order, and fit men hold the government, then Christ shows that he is actually the shepherd But there are many wolves and thieves who, wearing the garb of shepherds, wickedly scatter the Church. Whatever name such persons may assume, Christ threatens that we must avoid them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd…
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Ver. 11. I am the good shepherd] So he is by an excellency, for he left his glory to seek out to himself a flock in the wilderness. "He feeds them among the lilies," Son 2:16; gives them golden fleeces, and shepherds to keep them, after his own heart; watcheth over them night and day in his Migdal Eder, or tower of the flock, Gen 35:21; seeks them up when lost, bears them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young, Isa 40:11; pulls them out of the power of the lion and the bear, punisheth such as either push with the horn or foul with the feet, Eze 34:19; washeth them in his own blood, and so maketh them kings and priests to God, Rev 1:5, &c., so that they need not fear the spiritual Assyrian, Mic 5:5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain That good Shepherd prophesied of, Isa 40:11. I cannot…
That good Shepherd prophesied of, Isa 40:11. I cannot agree with those who think that Christ here speaketh not of himself as the good Shepherd, with reference to his office, as he was the Messiah, but only in opposition to the hirelings after mentioned. I can allow that he thus calleth himself, both in the one respect and the other; but I cannot allow the latter sense exclusively to the former; for what followeth is peculiar to the Messiah, of whom it was prophesied, Dan 9:26, that he should be cut off, but not for himself: and though it be true, that the true shepherd will hazard his life for his sheep, as David did, when he encountered the lion and the bear, 1Sa 17:34,35; yet it cannot be said to be the duty of the best shepherd to lay down his life for the sheep, for the life of a man is much more valuable than the life of any beast. Our Saviour therefore, doubtless, in this place showeth wherein he was the most excellent Shepherd, far excelling the best shepherds in the world, because he was come, not only to expose, hazard, and adventure his life, but actually, willingly, and freely to lay it down.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain In these verses our Saviour evidently proves himself to…
In these verses our Saviour evidently proves himself to be the true Shepherd of his church, by the marks and signs, by the properties and characters, of a good shepherd; which were eminently found with him; namely, to know all his flock, to take care of them, and to lay down his life for them.
1. Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of his church, hath an exact and distinct knowledge of all his flock: I know my sheep, with a three-fold knowledge, with a knowledge of intelligence and observation: he knows them so as to observe and take notice of them, with a knowledge of care and protection; he knows them so as to defend and keep them. Thus Christ knows his sheep, and is also known of them; that is, he is believed on, beloved, and obeyed by them.
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2. He lays down his life for his flock. And for this doth he eminently deserve the title of the good shepherd. (As for his power, he is stiled the great shepherd.) A good shepherd indeed, who not only gives life to his sheep, but gives his own life by way of ransom for his sheep! This example of Christ, the great and good shepherd, in laying down his life for his sheep, teacheth all subordinate and inferior shepherds, to prefer the good of their flock, even before their own lives.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I am the good shepherd,.... A shepherd of his…
I am the good shepherd,.... A shepherd of his Father's appointing, calling, and sending, to whom the care of all his sheep, or chosen ones, was committed; who was set up as a shepherd over them by him, and was entrusted with them; and who being called, undertook to feed them; and being promised, was sent unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and under the character of a shepherd, died for them, and rose again, and is accountable to his Father for everyone of them; the shepherd, the great and chief shepherd, the famous one, so often spoken and prophesied of, Gen 49:24. And discharging his office aright, he is the good shepherd; as appears in his providing good pasture, and a good fold for his sheep; in protecting them from their enemies; in healing all their diseases; in restoring their souls when strayed from him; in watching over them in the night seasons, lest any hurt them; in searching for them, when they have been driven, or scattered in the dark and cloudy day; in caring for them, so that he lose none of them; and in nothing more than in what follows,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep: not only exposes it to danger, as David did his, for the sake of his father's flock, but gives it away freely and voluntarily, for the sake of the sheep; in their room and stead, as a ransom for them, that they may be delivered from death, and might have eternal life: the Ethiopic version renders it, "the good shepherd gives his life for the redemption of his sheep"; so Nonnus paraphrases it, the "ransom price of his own sheep": this belongs to Christ's priestly office, and with the Jews priests were sometimes shepherds hence we read (q) of , "shepherds that were priests". Philo the Jew speaks (r) of God as a shepherd and king; and of his setting his word, his firstborn Son, over the holy flock, to take care of it: and a good shepherd is thus described by the (s) Jews;
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"as , "a good shepherd", delivers the flock from the wolf, and from the lions, (see Joh 10:12) so he that leads Israel, if he is good, delivers them from the idolatrous nations, and from judgment below and above, and leads them to the life of the world to come, or eternal life; (see Joh 10:10).''
Which description agrees with Christ, the good shepherd; and so the Lord is said to be , "the good shepherd", and merciful, and there is none like him (t).
(q) Misn. Becorot, c. 5. sect. 4. (r) De Agricultura, p. 195. & de nom. mutat. p. 1062. (s) Zohar in Exod. fol. 9. 3. (t) Aben Ezra in Psal. xxiii. 3. & Kimchi in Psal. xxiii. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. I am the good shepherd] Whose character…
Verse 11. I am the good shepherd] Whose character is the very reverse of that which has already been described. In Joh 10:7; Joh 10:9, our Lord had called himself the door of the sheep, as being the sole way to glory, and entrance into eternal life; here he changes the thought, and calls himself the shepherd, because of what he was to do for them that believe in him, in order to prepare them for eternal glory.
Giveth his life for the sheep.] That is, gives up his soul as a sacrifice to save them from eternal death.
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Some will have the phrase here only to mean hazarding his life in order to protect others; but the 15th, 17th, and 18th verses, Joh 10:15; Joh 10:17; Joh 10:18, as well as the whole tenor of the new covenant, sufficiently prove that the first sense is that in which our Lord's words should be understood.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Joh 10:11-15. I am the good shepherd — Jesus,…
Joh 10:11-15. I am the good shepherd — Jesus, having represented himself as the door of the sheep, and intimated the regards which ought to be maintained to him as such, particularly by those that professed to be teachers of others, now changes the similitude, and represents himself, by way of eminence, the good shepherd, namely, the person frequently foretold in Scripture under that character, (see the margin,) and the proprietor of the sheep. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep — win expose himself to any danger for their safety, because they are his own property; but he that is a hireling — Who attends the sheep merely for hire, who is employed as a servant, and paid for his pains; whose own the sheep are not — Who has neither profit nor loss by them, and proposes nothing to himself but his own gain; seeth the wolf — Or some other savage beast; coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth — Deserts them; because, instead of loving them, he loves himself, and therefore will not expose himself to any danger on their account; in consequence of which, the beast of prey, meeting with no resistance, catcheth, and scattereth the sheep — Seizes on some and disperses the rest; the two ways of hurting the flock of Christ. The wolf signifies an enemy who by force or fraud attacks the Christian’s faith, liberty, or life. Observe, reader, it is not the bare receiving hire, which denominates a man a hireling, (for the labourer is worthy of his hire, Jesus Christ himself being judge: yea, and the Lord hath ordained that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel,) but the loving hire; the loving the hire more than the work; the working for the sake of the hire. He is a hireling who would not work were it not for the hire; to whom this is the great, if not only, motive of working. O God! if a man who works only for hire is such a wretch, a mere thief and a robber; what is he who continually takes the hire, and yet does not work at all! The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling — Because he loves the hire, not the sheep; and takes the work upon him merely for the wages he is to receive. From what our Lord here says, it plainly appears to be the duty of every minister of the gospel, intrusted with the care of a flock, to reside ordinarily among them. For, if approaching danger to himself, or them, is no excuse for his fleeing away and leaving them, far less will interest, or pleasure, or any lesser matter, be an excuse for such unfaithfulness. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep — With a tender regard and special care. Being the good shepherd, and the owner of the sheep, I pay such earnest and constant attention to my flock, and take such care of it, that I not only know every particular sheep, but I know every thing relating to each. I know the circumstance, wherein they are placed, am well acquainted with their wants, and can judge what aids they stand in need of. Besides, I love them all with an ardent affection, and approve of their obedience to me, because, though it is imperfect, it is sincere. And am known of mine — With a holy confidence and affection. As I know, love, and approve my sheep, so I am known and beloved of them in return, for they have just apprehensions of my dignity and character; in particular, they know that I am their Shepherd and Saviour, sent from God, and that I am able to feed them with knowledge, and to deliver them from the punishment of sin, and to bestow on them everlasting life. As the Father knoweth me, &c. — That is, I know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; for so the passage ought to be rendered, and construed in connection with the foregoing verse; as if he had said, The mutual knowledge subsisting between me and my sheep, is like that which subsists between the Father and me. It is a knowledge which implies an inexpressible union. See Joh 17:21-22. And I lay down my life for the sheep — He speaks of the present time: for his whole life was only a going unto death. I show the greatness of the love which I bear to my sheep by dying for them, which no hireling did, or ever will do.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The good shepherd - The faithful and true shepherd,…
The good shepherd - The faithful and true shepherd, willing to do all that is necessary to defend and save the flock.
Giveth his life - A shepherd that regarded his flock would hazard his own life to defend them. When the wolf comes, he would still remain to protect them. To give his life, here, means the same as not to fly, or to forsake his flock; to be willing to expose his life, if necessary, to defend them. Compare Jdg 12:3; “I put my life in my hands and passed over,” etc.; 1Sa 19:5; 1Sa 28:21. See Joh 10:15. The Messiah was often predicted under the character of a shepherd.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain How happy are we in having such a shepherd,…
How happy are we in having such a shepherd, so great, so good, so loving, so careful of our true welfare! O he is the true shepherd indeed, that came down from heaven to seek the poor sheep that was lost; and when he found it, took it upon his own shoulders to carry it home with joy to his heavenly fold. How dearly have his sheep cost him, for truly has he made good in himself sentence, that the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. Let us then ever follow and obey, love and embrace this true shepherd of our souls. (Meditations for every Day, vol. ii. p. 417.) The good pastor gives his life for his sheep; he exposes himself to every danger to save them, no inclemency of the weather, no frost or cold, no rains or tempests, can drive him from looking over his sheep, to defend them from the attacks of wolves, &c. and like Jacob he might say, day and night was I parched with heat, and with cold, and sleep departed from my eyes. (Genesis xl.) Or, like David speaking to Saul: "Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock; and I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouths; and they arose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled them, and killed them." (1 Kings xvii.) This is a model of a true pastor. But Jesus Christ has done more than this for us. He has exposed his life and his repose, he has spilled his blood, he delivered himself to the fury of his enemies, and has offered himself as a victim on the cross to his eternal Father, to free us, his lost sheep, from the most cruel wolf, the devil. And ever since his death he has always protected his Church, assisted and consoled his distressed flock under all their sufferings, pouring into their hearts the consolations of the holy Spirit, and sending to them holy teachers, to govern and lead them in the holy path of salvation. Such were the apostles and their successors, the bishops and priests of the holy Catholic Church, whom he has sent, and will continue to send, to govern his flock to the end of time. (Calmet.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain I am the good shepherd--emphatically, and, in the sense…
I am the good shepherd--emphatically, and, in the sense intended, exclusively so (Isa 40:11; Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24; Zac 13:7).
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep--Though this may be said of literal shepherds, who, even for their brute flock, have, like David, encountered "the lion and the bear" at the risk of their own lives, and still more of faithful pastors who, like the early bishops of Rome, have been the foremost to brave the fury of their enemies against the flock committed to their care; yet here, beyond doubt, it points to the struggle which was to issue in the willing surrender of the Redeemer's own life, to save His sheep from destruction.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. The good shepherd—Rather, the noble shepherd; the model…
11. The good shepherd—Rather, the noble shepherd; the model and original shepherd. The shepherd does not, as some think, symbolize the mere teacher. It includes the various ideas of government, guardianship, maintenance, training, and leading. Kings were called by Homer the shepherds of the people. Hence, Christ also is called the shepherd and bishop (or overseer) of our souls.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11–18. The Allegory of the Good Shepherd
11–18. The Allegory of the Good Shepherd
11. I am the Good Shepherd] The word translated ‘good’ cannot he adequately translated: it means ‘beautiful, noble, good,’ as opposed to ‘foul, mean, wicked.’ It sums up the chief attributes of ideal perfection. Christ is the Perfect Shepherd, as opposed to His own imperfect ministers; He is the true Shepherd, as opposed to the false shepherds, who are hirelings or hypocrites; He is the Good Shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep, as opposed to the wicked thief who takes their lives to preserve his own. Thus in Christ is realised the ideal Shepherd of O.T. Psalms 23; Isa_40:11; Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 34, Eze_37:24; Zec_11:7. Perhaps no image has penetrated more deeply into the mind of Christendom: Christian prayers and hymns, Christian painting and statuary, and Christian literature are full of it, and have been from the earliest ages. And side by side with it is commonly found the other beautiful image of this Gospel, the Vine: the Good Shepherd and the True Vine are figures of which Christians have never wearied.
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giveth his life] Better, layeth down His life. The phrase is a remarkable one and peculiar to S. John, whereas ‘to give His life’ occurs in the Synoptists (Mat_20:20; Mar_10:45). ‘To lay down’ perhaps includes the notion of ‘to pay down,’ a common meaning of the words in classical Greek; if so, it is exactly equivalent to the Synoptic phrase ‘to give as a ransom.’ It occurs again, Joh_10:15; Joh_10:17, Joh_13:37-38, Joh_15:13; 1Jn_3:16. In this country the statement ‘the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep’ seems extravagant when taken apart from the application to Christ. It is otherwise in the East, where dangers from wild beasts and armed bands of robbers are serious and constant. Comp. Gen_13:5; Gen_14:12; Gen_31:39-40; Gen_32:7-8; Gen_37:33; Job_1:17; 1Sa_17:34-35.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) I am the good shepherd.—The central point of…
(11) I am the good shepherd.—The central point of the allegory has now passed from the “Door,” through the last verse as the connecting-link, to the “Good Shepherd.” If we think that the whole discourse was suggested by a scene actually occurring (comp. Note on Joh_10:1), then the prominence of an actual shepherd passing before them would suggest the turn which it now takes.
The word “good” means that which is fair, and is in a physical sense that which is in its own nature excellent, and in a moral sense that which is beautiful and noble. St. John uses the word only in Joh_2:10, of the “good wine,” and in this chapter here and in Joh_10:14; Joh_10:32-33. (Comp. Note on Luk_8:15.) The passage of the Old Testament referred to above has prepared our minds for this thought of Christ, especially Psalms 23; Isa_40:11; Eze_34:11-16; Eze_34:23; Eze_37:24. He is the Shepherd who is ideally good, fulfilling every thought of guidance, support, self-sacrifice that had ever gathered round the shepherd’s name. No image of Christ has so deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Church as this has. We find it in the earliest Christian literature, as in Tertullian (Works, vol. i., p. 371, in Ante-Nicene Library), or Clement of Alexandria (Works, vol. i., pp. 149, 462, A.N. Lib.). We find it in the very earliest efforts of Christian art, in painting, embroidery, and even statuary. (See Kugler’s Handbook, Italian Schools, Lady Eastlake’s Trans., 4th Ed., pp. 5 and 6.) It comes to us naturally in our hymns and prayers. The pastoral staff is the fit emblem of the Bishop’s work, and the Pastor is the name by which the humble way-side flock thinks of him who in Christ’s name is appointed to be their guide.
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Giveth his life for the sheep.—This was true of the actual shepherds, of whose devoted bravery many instances are told. A striking one is that of David himself who rescued the lamb of his father’s flock from the mouth of the lion and the bear (1Sa_17:34-37). That self-sacrifice that would lead the shepherd to risk his own life for that of his flock has its ideal fulfilment in Him who is the Good Shepherd, and will give His life for mankind. The word rendered “giveth is life,” should be almost certainly layeth down His life. They are found only in St. John’s writings. The other passages are Joh_10:15; Joh_10:17-18; Joh_13:37-38; Joh_15:13; 1Jn_3:16 (twice).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 11-21. (3) The functions and responsibilities of the…
Vers. 11-21. (3) The functions and responsibilities of the veritable Shepherd, and the relation of the Shepherd to the flock.
I am the good Shepherd. The word here rendered "good" means more than the "true" (alhyhv) or the" veritable" (alhyinov); more than agayov , good, in the sense of being morally excellent and inwardly fulfilling God"s purpose that the sheep should be shepherded. The word kalov suggests a "goodness" that is conspicuous, that shows and approves itself to the experience and observation of all. Thus the Lord fills up the meaning of the first parable by emphasizing another element in it. There may be many shepherds worthy of the name, but he alone justifies the designation. (cf. Ps 23 Isa_40:11 Isa 53 Eze 34 Jer 23) This imagery has inwrought itself into Christian literature and art. The earliest representations of Christ in the catacombs depict him as "the good Shepherd" (Tertullian, "De Fuga.," c. 11; Hermas, "Sire.," 6:2); the earliest hymns and latest minstrelsy of the Church dwell fondly on the image which portrays his individual watchfulness, his tender care, his self-sacrificing love. The good Shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep; not only does his work with his life in his hand, but he deliberately lays down his life and consciously divests himself of his life, and is doing it now. The Shepherd dies that the sheep may live.Elsewhere (cf. 1Jn_3:16 Joh_15:13) Jesus says, "The Son of man gives his life a ransom for many". (Mat_20:28) The thought is very grand, and is a strange addition to the claim to be the Shepherd of Israel, and gives intense pathos to the language of our Lord to Simon Peter, (Joh_21:6) "Shepherd my sheep." The further development of the parable shows that in the metaphor he regards his death as no disastrous termination of the Shepherd"s function, but as an event in his career. Hence it is not just of Reuse ("Theol. Chretien," 2.) to contend that our Lord does not here suggest a vicarious or propitiatory death on his part. This is a veritable death, which secures the life of the sheep, and does not arrest the Shepherd"s care (see vers. 17, 18).
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Vers. 11-21. Allegory of the good Shepherd.
There is a progress of thought in each allegory.
I THE CHARACTER OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD. "I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
1. He is himself "the great Shepherd of the sheep" of whom the prophets stoke. (Eze_34:23 Gen_49:24 Isa_40:11)
2. This interest in his sheep is manifested in his throwing away his life/or their protection. Like David, he exposes his life freely for the sake of his Father"s flock; he gives his life in their room and stead. Our Lord constantly emphasizes that doctrine of atonement which the "wisdom of the world" rejects.
II THE CHARACTER OF THE HIRELING.
1. He has no natural concern for the sheep. "But he that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sooth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep." Hirelings of this class mind their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ, seeking only their gain from their quarter. They care not, therefore, what becomes of the sheep. Our Lord here refers, probably, to the natural guides of the Jewish people the priests and the Levites, who had come to forget or ignore all their religious responsibilities.
2. He allows the wolves to scatter the flock. "The wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." The wolf represents the natural enemy of the sheep. Jesus had said before, "I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves". (Mat_10:16) The Pharisees were "wolves" from their rapacity, their falseness, and their temper of domination.
III THE RELATION BETWEEN THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP. "I know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, and as I know the Father.
1. This bespeaks mutual knowledge.
(1) Jesus has an individual knowledge of each member of his flock, as at once the choice and gift of his Father, and as his own purchase. The relation between himself and his Father was the source and the pattern of this intimate relation with his sheep.
(2) The sheep know Christ savingly; for their knowledge is linked with
(a) trust,
(b) love,
(c) admiration.
2. He sacrifices his life for the sheep. "And I give my life for the sheep." The sacrifice was yet future, but clearly foreseen. There was no life for the sheep but through the death of the Shepherd.
3. He has also purposes of mercy for the Gentiles. "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall be one flock, one Shepherd.
(1) Jewish unbelief will not defeat the Lord"s purpose to establish a kingdom of believers.
(2) Our Lord foresees the hearty belief of the Gentiles in his Messiahship.
(3) He regards them as already his, for they are so from all eternity. (Joh_18:37)
(4) He regards them as not "of this fold," for they are as yet "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise". (Eph_2:12)
(5) Yet they are to be brought out of the wilderness of the world to his heavenly kingdom and glory by their hearing his voice in the gospel.
(6) There will be but one Church-state for Jew and Gentile. "And they shall be one flock, one Shepherd.
(a) Jesus by his death has made both one new man breaking down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile.
(b) There may be many folds, that is, many visible Churches, but there is but one flock.
(c) There is but one Shepherd in this flock. Our Lord foresees the great mission-work of the Church in coming ages.
IV MARK THE PERFECT FREEDOM OF THE SHEPHERD"S DEATH. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I give my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it from me, but I give it of myself.
1. There is more in the sacrifice of Christ than in the death of a shepherd, who lets himself be torn in pieces that his flock may escape.
2. Christ"s was a death absolutely self-determined, yet in accordance with his Father"s will, and therefore does it specially challenge the Father"s love.
(1) There was power to lay down life. This implies the power to keep it. He could have claimed the aid of twelve legions of angels to snatch him from the grasp of his enemies. He was, indeed, "crucified in weakness;" but it was a weakness self-induced.
(2) There was power to take life again in his resurrection, after he had satisfied law and justice by his obedience and sufferings unto death.
V CONSIDER THE EFFECT OF OUR LORD"S TEACHING. "There was a division therefore again among the Jews by reason of these words." There is always the same result: a few accept the teaching, the rest become increasingly hostile and insulting. The question, "Why hear ye him?" implies an uneasiness at the favor shown to him by a portion of the Jews.
The good Shepherd.
I THE INFORMATION GIVEN TO US. We may ourselves be very ignorant of sheep and shepherding; and what should we know of Eastern customs? Hence it is well to study the information given in the first five verses of this chapter. We are to imagine a large fold where a great number of sheep are gathered together. At the door of the fold a man is stationed to keep guard, chiefly, as one may suppose, to prevent the entrance of unauthorized persons. For the sheep within do not constitute one flock. They are not the property of one person. The fold has been made for the common advantage. Each shepherd could not afford to make a fold for himself and employ a doorkeeper of his own. Imagine, then, some shepherd having a hundred sheep. He has been out with them all day, watching them and leading them from pasture to pasture. Then at night he brings them to the common fold and leaves them with the doorkeeper. Next morning he returns to take them out for the day; and how must he find his own amid the mixed crowd? By the simple plan of calling each sheep by name. And so the shepherd takes them out and goes in front of them till the pasture is reached. His voice is quite enough to keep them right. They will not follow a stranger, for they know not the voice of strangers.
II JESUS CAN SAY MORE FOR THE SHEEP THAN FOR THE SHEPHERDS. He can say this of a sheep, that if a shepherd gives it a name, and then calls it by that name, it will make its way to the familiar voice, even though it be amid a large crowd of other sheep. But take a lad and entrust him with a flock of sheep. Explain to him their ways, their wants, and their perils. Still you cannot tell beforehand what sort of shepherd he will turn out. He must be tried by actual experience, and the name good or bad given to him according to the way in which he behaves.
III JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD. What power there is in the word "I" when Jesus uses it! We like Jesus all the bettor when he talks about himself. We do not call him egotist. Think in how many respects men are like sheep, and need a good shepherd. In many things we can look after ourselves, but in the most important things we need to be looked after. The true shepherd will not submit to have his property scattered and lost without a determined attempt to save it. He has a special and supreme interest in the sheep because they are his sheep. Every human being has something of the sheep-nature in him. Jesus looks on every company of human beings as a fold wherein sheep of different flocks are gathered together, and he has to get his own flock out of them. We cannot do without some shepherd, and happy is it for us if we have the good shepherd. He laid down his life for the sheep, seemed to be destroyed by the wolf, but really he was engaged in its effectual destruction. He has gained for his sheep broad, even measureless lands of green pastures and still waters, where the sheep may feed at leisure without a foe and without a fear. In all those lands no ravenous beast has his haunt. Nothing shall hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I am the Good Shepherd
Joh_10:11-15
I am the Good Shepherd
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Christ the Good Shepherd
Christ is the Good Shepherd.
He is this because
I. He OWNS the sheep. He is the Proprietor of the flock. They are His
1. By the gift of the Father. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me.
2. By creative ties. His own--sheep which are His even before they are called.
3. By purchase. The Good Shepherd giveth as a deposit, layeth down as a pledge, His life for the sheep (Heb_13:20). The blood He shed was not in His own defence, but for the sake of those whom He came to rescue.
II. He KNOWS His sheep.
1. By their faces. An ancient and convenient custom among shepherds is to put a mark upon their sheep, an ear-mark, as they call it; and by the mark they know them in years to come. Jesus Christ, too, puts a mark on His sheep, not on the ear, but on the forehead (Rev_14:1).
2. By their names. He knows His followers, not as men and women only, but as Peter and Andrew, Mary and Martha. The saints have queer names in the Epistles. I cannot remember them, but Jesus does. He calls the stars by name too, but then the stars are very big things. The wonder is that He calls the tiny sheep by name, scattered as they are. Whats in a name? A great deal, especially in a Christian name, given at the font, and accepted by Christ.
3. Their circumstances (Rev_2:13). The Good Shepherd knows where you live--the town, the street, the house (Act_9:11; Act_10:5-6).
4. By a thorough apprehension of their character. In the fourth and fifth verses know signifies outside acquaintance--that Christ and man have come within the same circle. But in the fourteenth verse it means a clear discerning insight into the springs of life and the motives of action.
III. He FEEDS His sheep (Joh_10:9).
1. They go in first to the fold. Rest after wandering. He leadeth me beside the still waters (services of Gods House: perusal of the Bible).
2. They go out to graze. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures (marg. in pastures of tender grass). The Bible pasture is green pasture. Every truth as fresh as if it were spoken but yesterday. Not only is the grass green, but there is plenty of it (Joh_10:10).
IV. He LEADS the sheep (Joh_10:3).
1. He leads the sheep. Exceedingly simple and helpless is a sheep gone astray. And when the Bible speaks of sinners it compares them to erring Isa_53:6).
2. He leads them gently (verse 4). He is not behind them, searing them with the lashes of the law, but in front of them, drawing them with the cords of His love, and adapting His steps to theirs.
3. He leads them safely along the paths of righteousness for His names sake. This is, to me, one of the most cogent reasons for believing in His Divinity, that He was able to stamp His feet so deeply on the rock of history, that their prints have not yet been erased. The weight of Godhead was in His steps, the emphasis of the Infinite in His tread.
4. Not only does He lead us through life, but He goes before us through Psa_23:4). Not a single sheep will be wanting, they shall all be safely folded by Divine love (verse 16). (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
Christ the Good Shepherd
This is one of those Divine sayings in which there is so much of truth and love, that we seem able to do little more than to record it and ponder on it, to express it by symbols, and to draw from it a multitude of peaceful and heavenly thoughts. It was the symbol under which, in times of persecution, His presence was shadowed forth. It was sculptured on the walls of sepulchres and catacombs; it was painted in upper chambers and in oratories; it was traced upon their sacred books; it was graven on the vessels of the altar. The image of the Good Shepherd has expressed, as in a parable, all their deepest affections, fondest musings, most docile obedience, most devoted trust. It is a title in which all other titles meet, in the light of which they blend and lose themselves. Priest, Prophet, King, Saviour, and Guide, are all summed up in this more than royal, paternal, saving name. It recalls in one word all the mercies and lovingkindness of God to His people of old, when the Shepherd of Israel made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. It recites, as it were, all the prophecies and types of the Divine care which were then yet to be revealed to His elect: it revives the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel (Isa_40:11; Eze_34:12-27; Eze_37:24; Isa_49:9-10). And, moreover, by this title He appropriates to Himself the fulfilment of His own most deep and touching parable of the lost sheep. There is no thought or emotion of pity, compassion, gentleness, patience, and love which is not here expressed. It is the peculiar consolation of the weak, or of them that are out of the way; of the lost and wandering; of the whole flock of God here scattered abroad in the midst of this naughty world. And though it be an office taken on earth, and in the time of our infirmity, it is a name which He will never lay aside. Even in the heavenly glory it still is among His titles. He is even there the chief Shepherd, that great Shepherd of the sheep; and in the state of bliss shall still guide His flock: though more fully to express the unity of His nature with theirs, and His own spotless sacrifice in their behalf, He is called the Lamb (Rev_7:17). Let us then consider awhile the surpassing and peculiar goodness of the One True Shepherd. And this He has revealed to the world in His voluntary death. There was never any other but He who came down from heaven that He might lay down His life for the sheep. This is the one perpetual token of His great love to all mankind--a token ever fresh, quickened with life, full of power to persuade the hearts of His people to Himself. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends; and therefore the death of the good Shepherd is the subject of all the Churchs testimony. Again, His surpassing goodness is shown in the provision He has made of all things necessary for the salvation of His flock in this state of mortality and sin. For this He has provided, first, in the external foundation and visible perpetuity of His Church. He has secured it by the commission to baptize all nations, by the universal preaching of His apostles, by shedding abroad the Holy Ghost, by the revelation of all truth, by the universal tradition of the faith in all the world. And, secondly, His love and care are shown, not only in the external and visible provision which He thus made beforehand for the perpetual wants of His flock, but in the continual and internal providence wherewith He still watches over it. The whole history of His Church from the beginning--the ages of persecution, and times of refreshing; the great conflicts of faith with falsehood, and of the saints with the seed of the serpent; the whole career of His Church amid the kingdoms of the earth and changes of the world, are a perpetual revelation of His love and power. (Archdeacon Manning.)
Christ the Good Shepherd
He is the Good Shepherd in the sense of real or genuine. He is the Shepherd from the very centre of His being. Every instinct of His nature, every feeling of His heart, every thought of His brain, every touch of His hand are those of the true Shepherd, whose constant purpose is to guide and feed and save the flock, and for that purpose He counts no toil too severe, no suffering too intense, no sacrifice too costly. He has thoroughly identified Himself with the sheep, and whatever adds to their well-being He gladly does and bears. He is the Good Shepherd in contrast with the hireling, whose care is selfish and whose aim is wages. Jesus here gives us a distinction that applies in the most direct way to every phase of life. Interests of all kinds are intrusted with paid workers. Some of these are good shepherds, putting the very best of their lives into their toil; some are hirelings, faithful only so long as fidelity is easy, safe, and profitable. The railroad engineer who sees imminent danger and remains at his post, hoping to save precious lives entrusted to his care, is the good shepherd. The need today in the State, the bank, the factory, the store, the kitchen, is for good shepherds. The presence of hirelings brings disaster to every cause. The Good Shepherd guides His sheep by going before them. Those who follow where Jesus led are safe. He was at times in a very whirlwind of human beings who were wrought to the highest pitch by diverse passions, but His feet never made a misstep, His face never turned in the wrong direction. His lips spoke the right word, His hands wrought the most helpful work always. Jesus said, I know My sheep, and am known of Mine. I lay down My life for the sheep. These were the proofs that He was the true Shepherd. He certainly knew what was in man. He saw the treachery working in the heart of Judas. He saw in Peters self-trusting, impulsive nature the flame that soon burnt itself out to leave only the ashes of his boasted faith and devotion. But further than this, He saw the repentant Peter converted into the brave hero. He looked into the very soul of Zaccheus in the sycamore tree and taw in him a stedfast purpose of righteousness. He knew that back of the cleanly appearance of the Pharisees there was moral leprosy. On the briefest acquaintance with Nathanael He spoke of him as one in whom there was no guile. The young man who came to Him with eager inquiries for eternal life was before Him as an open book--a man with a kindly heart, but too weak to brave danger and privation and sacrifice. There was no martyr stuff in him. Sin blunts the faculties. The most exalted natures have the keenest insight. Jesus, the Perfect One, knew instantly the false and the true. (Boston Homilies.)
The Good Shepherd
These words are equivalent to
I. I am A Shepherd. I stand in a peculiar relation to a peculiar people, who are My sheep.
II. I am a GOOD Shepherd. I possess the appropriate qualifications and perform the appropriate duties of the character I sustain.
III. I am THE Shepherd--the one Shepherd--not like him of Joh_10:2, one of the shepherds, but the great, chief, proprietor Shepherd, whose own the sheep are--the Shepherd of shepherds as well as of sheep.
IV. I am THE GOOD Shepherd. I possess in the most perfect degree all the qualifications that are requisite for the discharge of the numerous, varied, and difficult duties of this most exalted office.
V. I am THAT GOOD Shepherd, i.e., the Divine Guardian foreshadowed in prophecy (Eze_34:11-24), and answering in every respect to the type. Christ is all this
1. As He secures for His peculiar people all the blessings they require.
2. As He secures these advantages to them at the greatest conceivable expense to Himself.
3. As there subsists the most endearing mutual acquaintance and intercourse between Him and His people.
4. As He cares for the happiness, so He secures the salvation of all. (J. Brown, D. D.)
The Good Shepherd
The truth here is Christs exceeding love and care for the Church. He would show that He sustained towards it a relationship beyond parallel. Not a king, however wise his rule; not a parent, however fond his care; not a friend, however great his service, for all these are kindnesses of beings of the same nature only. They suggest nothing of that condescension by which a Being of the highest order could embrace one reduced to the condition of fallen man. Hence Christ selected as the type of our lost race the most helpless of animals, and compares Himself to one of the kindest of guardians. Let us consider some of His pastoral offices in which His love is set forth.
I. HE PROVIDES FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL WANTS. This would be the first thing looked for according to the predictions (Psa_23:1-6).
1. Pasture for the flock--enough for all; variety for each.
2. Wisdom to guide.
3. Watchfulness to tend.
4. Constraint to rule.
5. Diligence to seek out.
6. Power to restore.
II. HE PRESERVES THEM FROM FOES AND DANGERS (Joh_10:12). It is our lot to be sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. If our soul escapes at all it is because the snare is broken by our Deliverer. That which enables the Good Shepherd to effect our deliverance is His profound and comprehensive knowledge (Joh_10:14). These perils are foreseen and provided for. How many tempted ones have derived comfort from the thought that when Satan has desired to have them, he has prayed, etc. Hence the encouragement, Fear not little flock. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
III. HE IS DILIGENT IN RECOVERING THOSE WHO STRAY (Eze_34:1-31; Isa_53:1-12). In relation to the whole human family Christ came to seek and save the lost. The whole history of the Church has been the gathering in of outcasts. He is found of them that sought Him not; and under backslidings after conversion, will He go after us again. He may leave us to eat the bitter fruits of our ways for a time, and make us contrast the misery of the wilderness with the blessedness of the fold. He, who of all the saints of God lived nearest to Him, and yet wandered furthest, said, He restoreth my soul.
IV. HE HAS SPECIAL CARE OF THE YOUNG, whether young in years or in grace (Isa_40:1-31). An untended lamb is the very type of helplessness and folly. The temptations are many which beset the flock in early life from the example of companions, worldly pleasures, buoyant spirits, etc.; but for these and every spiritual danger the Good Shepherd provides. Still, there are special dangers which account for this pastoral care. The very warmth and freshness of their religious feelings render them more liable to fall. Hence the first duty enjoined on restored Peter was Feed My lambs.
V. HE IS WITH THE FLOCK TO THE END. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, etc. (D. Moore, M. A.)
The Good Shepherd
I. THE PASTORAL CHARACTER CLAIMED BY CHRIST.
1. We shall learn nothing from the text unless we enter humbly and affectionately into its spirit. We must dismiss all Western ideas. Here the connection between shepherd and sheep is simply one of pecuniary interest; but beneath the burning skies and clear starry nights of Palestine there grows up between the man and the dumb creatures he protects, often at the peril of his life, a kind of friendship. For this is after all the true school in which love is taught; dangers and hardships mutually shared, alone in those vast solitudes the shepherd and the sheep feel a life in common. The vast interval between the man and the brute disappears, and the single point of union is felt strongly--the love of the protector, and the love of the grateful life. Those to whom Christ spoke felt all this and more. He appealed to associations which had been familiar from childhood, and unless we try, by realizing such scenes, to feel what they felt by association, these words will only be dry and lifeless.
2. To the name shepherd Christ adds the significant word Good--not in the sense of benevolent, but true born, genuine, just as wine of a noble quality is good compared with the cheaper sort; and a soldier who is one in heart and not by mere profession, or for pay. This expression distinguishes the Good Shepherd from
(1) The robbers who may guard the sheep simply for their flesh and fleece: they have not a true shepherds heart any more than a pirate has the true sailors heart. There were many such marauders in Palestine. David protected Nabals flock from them. Many such nominal shepherds had Israel in by-gone years: rulers whose rule had been but kingcraft: teachers whose instruction had been but priestcraft. Government, teachership are sublime pastoral callings; but when the work is even well done for the sake of party, or place, or honour, or consistency, it is the spirit of the robber.
(2) The hirelings, who are tested by danger. A man is a hireling who does his duty for pay. He may do it in his way faithfully. The paid shepherd will not desert the sheep for a shower or a cold night. But he is not paid to risk his life against the lion or bear, and so the sheep are left to their fate. So a man may be a hired priest, or a paid demagogue, a great champion of rights paid by applause; and while popularity lasts he will be a reformer--deserting the people when danger comes. The cause of the sheep is not his.
3. Exactly the reverse is the Good Shepherd. The cause of man was His, and His only pay the cross. He might have escaped it all, and been an honoured leader by prudent time service. But this would have been the desertion of Gods cause and mans.
II. THE PROOFS WHICH SUBSTANTIATE THE CLAIM.
1. I know My sheep as the Father knoweth Me, and not simply by omniscience. There is a certain mysterious tact of sympathy and antipathy by which we discover the like and unlike of ourselves in others character. A man may hide his opinions, but not his character. There is a something in an impure heart which purity detects afar off. The truer we become, the more unerringly we know the ring of truth. Therefore Christ knows His sheep by the mystic power, always finest in the best natures, by which like detects what is like and unlike itself; and how unerringly did He read men--the enthusiastic populace, Nathanael, the rich ruler, Zacchaeus, Judas, the Pharisees! It was as if His bosom was some mysterious mirror, on which all that came near Him left a sullied or unsullied surface, detecting themselves by every breath. This Divine power must be distinguished from that cunning sagacity which men call knowingness. The worldly wise have maxims and rules; but the finer shades of character escape. Eternal judgment is nothing more than the carrying out of these words, I know My sheep; for their obverse is I never knew you.
2. Christs sheep know Him, not by some lengthened investigation, whether the shepherds dress be the identical dress, the crozier genuine--but instinctively. Truth is like light; risible in itself, not distinguished by the shadow it casts.
3. Pastoral fidelity, I lay down My life. Here is the doctrine of vicarious sacrifice. Unitarians say He died as a martyr in attestation of His truths; but we cannot explain away the for. This sacrificing love is paralleled by the love of the Father to the Son. Therefore that sacrifice is but a mirror of the heart of God. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The Good Shepherd
We have here
I. THE COMPLETE CHARACTER. There is more in Jesus than you can pack away in shepherd or any other emblem. But note
1. He sets Himself forth as a shepherd: not such as is employed in England to look after sheep a few months till they are slaughtered. The Eastern shepherd is
(1) The owner or his son. His wealth consists in sheep. He has seldom much of a house, or much land. Ask him How much are you worth? He answers, So many sheep. We are Christs wealth, the riches of the glory of His inheritance is in the saints. The Lords portion is His people. For their sakes He gave not only Ethiopia and Seba, but Himself.
(2) The Caretaker. Christ is never off duty. He has constant care for His people day and night. He knows and prescribes for their every complaint.
(3) The Provider. There is not one in the flock who knows about the selecting of pasturage. For time and eternity, body and soul, Christ supplies all our need.
(4) The Leader.
(5) The Defender.
2. Christ completely fills this character.
(1) He is the Good Shepherd--neither thief nor hireling. What He does is con amore.
(2) He is the Good Shepherd. Of others we can only say a shepherd. All the rest are shadows: He is the substance.
3. Christ rejoices in this character. He repeats it so many times here that it almost reads like the refrain of a song. And if He is so pleased to be our Shepherd, we should be pleased to be His sheep, and avail ourselves of all the privileges wrapped up in the name.
II. THE COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE.
1. Christs knowledge of His own, As the Father, etc. Do you know how much the Father knows the Son who is His glory, other self, yea, one with Him? Just so intimately does the Good Shepherd know His sheep.
(1) Their number.
(2) Their persons--age, character, hairs, constitution; and never mistakes one for another
(3) Trials.
(4) Sins.
(5) This ought to be a great comfort, inasmuch as it is not cold, intellectual knowledge, but that of love. He knows you--
(a) By acquaintance.
(b) By communion.
(c) Sympathy. Though He were a Son yet learned He, etc.
2. Our knowledge of the Lord, as I know the rather. This is
(1) By delight.
(2) By union.
(3) By love.
III. THE COMPLETE SACRIFICE. These words are repeated in different forms four times (Joh_10:11; Joh_10:15; Joh_10:17; Joh_10:13), and mean that
1. He was always doing so. All the life He had He was constantly laying out for the sheep.
2. It was actively performed. He did not die merely.
3. It was voluntary.
4. It was for the sheep. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Good Shepherd
I. HIS QUALIFICATIONS TO MEET THE NEED OF THE SHEEP.
1. His knowledge of all the wants of the sheep is perfect.
2. His wisdom to provide is infinite.
3. His power enables Him to carry out all His will.
4. His kindness endures through all their waywardness.
5. His faithfulness will never forsake them.
6. His undying interest forgets and omits nothing for their good.
II. HIS ACTIVE WORK FOR THE SHEEP.
1. He rescues them from the great robber.
2. Brings them into His own fold.
3. Provides them with all the nourishment needed.
4. Given them refreshing repose amid the cares and toils of life.
5. Guards them from all danger.
6. Guides them in all perplexity.
7. Heals all their diseases.
8. Reclaims them from all their wanderings.
9. Folds them at last in heaven. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The slain Shepherd
I. FORESAW THAT HE SHOULD DIE FOR THE SHEEP. The termination of the Saviours life was not accidental nor unforeseen. Many were the intimations He gave of it, which disproves the notion that His death was the disappointment of His hopes.
II. SPONTANEOUSLY UNDERTOOK TO DIE FOR THE SHEEP. He might have saved Himself; He made no attempt at escape; He prayed for no legion of angels to rescue Him; He told Pilate that there was a limitation of his power in regard to his apparently helpless captive; He committed His spirit into His Fathers hands.
III. DIED IN THE STEAD OF THE SHEEP. A shepherd while defending his sheep sometimes falls a victim to his faithfulness. So Christ died a vicarious death, the just for the unjust, which exempted the sinner from the doom deserved. Not that there was a commercial equivalent, as when a debt is paid; but a moral equivalent accepted by a righteous and gracious God.
IV. DIED ON BEHALF OF THE SHEEP. It was not for His own but our advantage. By His sacrifice we are redeemed from the curse of the law and the power of sin, and have secured for us eternal life. Application:
1. Adore and bless the love which animated the Good Shepherd.
2. Live as those who have been bought with a price, and have returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of souls. (Family Churchman.)
The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep
In this statement we notice the following characteristics of this sacrifice which the Good Shepherd makes for His sheep.
1. It was deliberate. For this purpose He came into the world.
2. It was voluntary. No man taketh My life. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
3. It is vicarious. Not for them in defence, but for them vicariously. He died for them as a substitute, bearing their own sins in His own body.
4. It was an accepted sacrifice. Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again (Joh_10:17). (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)
The Shepherd and the sheep
I. THE FLOCK. Were we to take a walk some spring morning among the Yorkshire hills or on the downs of Sussex or Bedfordshire, we should see thousands of sheep belonging to different flocks and masters. Christ has members of His flock not only in Sussex, etc., but in Africa, India, etc.; yes, all the world over. This flock
1. Is an exceedingly large one. If you were to go on counting for a whole year you could not count them all. The patriarchs had large flocks, so have many English farmers, but not altogether one so large. Some say all who are baptized, or take the Lords Supper, or belong to this or that Church, are the Lords sheep. But many of these are wicked, and so cannot be Christs, while some where there are no churches and sacrament are Christs because they love and obey Him. Ever since Abel died men have been gathered in, and thousands are joining the upper fold every day, and still millions are left behind.
2. While it is so large it is increasing very rapidly. Other flocks are to decrease. Every new convert is an addition, and what numbers are sometimes converted in a day (Act_2:1-47)! Missionaries tell us of whole tribes casting away their idols, etc. It ought to increase more than it does when we consider the agencies at work Bibles, tracts, churches, schools, ministers, teachers, Christian fathers and mothers.
3. Christs sheep are very much alike.
(1) In their actions. Just as we can tell wolves from sheep, so we can tell who are Christs and who are not. When we see a man roar like a lion, or greedy like a wolf, we know he is not of Christs fold.
(2) In their colour. If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me.
(3) In their disposition. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, etc.
(4) In the treatment they require. None can do without the Shepherds care.
4. They bear His mark. What strange marks farmers sometimes put upon their sheep--circles, crosses, initials. Some of Christs sheep have got His mark in greater boldness, but the porter can detect it however faint. If a king were to attempt to enter without it he would be turned away, while a prodigal with it would be welcomed.
(1) This mark is not being an Episcopalian, Independent, etc. We may have the Churchs mark and not Christs.
(2) It is likeness to Christ, and we cannot be like Him without being born again. Some try to imitate this mark and affix Morality, Liberality, Good resolution, Fasting, etc.
5. This is a loving flock. Members of the same family, school, place of worship, ought to be kind and gentle, but Christs flock is the most loving in the world. By this the world knows Christs disciples.
II. THE SHEPHERD.
1. He is awake and watchful. A good many people are awake but not watchful. Sometimes lambs are worried by strange dogs when the shepherd was asleep, and sometimes stray into danger when he is awake but inattentive. But nothing escapes Christs sleepless vigilance. He that keepeth Israel, etc.
2. He is patient. A shepherd cannot have too much patience: much as he may have it will be sorely tried. In all trials Christs patience never left Him; and were it to leave Him now how many would be expelled the fold!
3. He is strong. Look at what He has done in Nature. All power is given unto Me. All ministers, teachers, and angels combined would be unable to provide for or protect His flock. Then His stock of provisions never diminishes, and every sheep is fed according to its need.
4. He goes after every sheep or lamb that goes astray. How strange that any should desert such a fold; stranger still that those who stray should refuse to return. (J. Goodacre.)
Christ the Good Shepherd
The shepherd who can always go to bed regularly at night, and who is able to say, I do not have much trouble with my flock, is not the man to be envied. He coolly says, a few lambs died last winter; we must expect that kind of thing. It is true that some sheep died of starvation; but if the meadows failed, I could not help that. That is the kind of shepherd who deserves to be eaten by the next wolf; but the man who is able to say with Jacob, By night the frost devoured me, and by day the heat, is the true shepherd. He is most irregular as to his rest; the only thing regular about him is his labour and his disappointment, and yet faith makes him a happy man. When you grow very weak as a pastor, and your charge utterly overcomes you, do not repine at such weakness, for then you will be at your full strength; but when you are strong as a pastor, and say, I think that to be a minister is an easy matter, you may depend upon it that you are weak. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Good Shepherd and His sheep
I. WHAT THE GOOD SHEPHERD DOES FOR HIS SHEEP?
1. He protects them. Sheep are exposed to many dangers, from which they are not able to protect themselves. When David was a shepherd, he tells us of a lion and a bear, that each came and stole away a lamb from his flock; and how he went after the wild beasts, and slew them, and saved his lambs. And this is just what Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does for His sheep. He protects them from Satan, their great enemy. And in the same way He protects them from all their enemies, and from every danger. A Christian mother who lived in the city of New York, in very humble circumstances, had only one child, a little boy about seven years old, whom she had taught to know and love the Saviour. One day, when this good mother was going quietly on with her work at home, she was startled by a loud knock at the door of her humble dwelling. On opening the door she received this alarming message: Hurry away to the police station; your little boy has been run over. She was terribly frightened, and, hastening as fast as she could to the station house, on arriving there she found her little boy surrounded by strangers. The doctor had been sent for, but had not yet arrived. She was told that the wheels of a large carriage had gone over his foot, but, on examining it carefully, she was surprised to find no real injury about the foot. Why, Willie darling, how was it possible for the wheel of the carriage to have gone over your foot, and not have crushed it? The child looked tenderly up into his mothers face, and said--Mamma, dear, I guess God must have put it in a hollow place. This shows what faith that little boy had in the protection which Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has promised to exercise over His sheep. He always has a hollow place to put them in when danger is near.
2. He provides for them. This is something which the sheep cannot do for themselves, and unless the shepherd does it for them they must perish.
II. WHAT THE GOOD SHEPHERD EXPECTS HIS SHEEP TO DO FOR HIM?
1. To hear His voice. My sheep hear my voice, He says.
2. To follow Him. The sheep set us an example here, not only in hearing the shepherd, but in obeying him. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The Shepherd and His sheep
(Childrens sermon).
I. THE FIGURE OF SHEEP SUITS US. We call them silly sheep.
1. They cannot guide their own way. As wild beasts can.
2. They cannot keep or defend themselves. Frightened at danger.
3. They quickly follow bad examples. Running after wilful one.
4. They are surrounded by unknown dangers. How much mother knows, and teacher knows, that we do not.
II. THE FIGURE OF SHEPHERD SUITS CHRIST. A most blessed thing that we have someone to care for us.
1. Shepherd must be strong. To defend, carry, etc.
2. Shepherd must be wise. To guide to food and water.
3. Shepherd must be watchful. To see foes.
4. Shepherd must be loving and gentle. To tend in weakness.
III. WHEN WE SPEAK OF JESUS, WE WANT TO CALL HIM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. Especially because He was willing to die in defending us, Jesus. The old and familiar tale of Eric, who threw Himself to the wolves to save his master. Or, case of shepherd who died fighting three robbers.
IV. WHEN CHRIST SPEAKS OF US, HE WOULD LIKE TO CALL US GOOD SHEEP. What is it to be good, so that Christ can think us good? A great difference in sheep. The good sheep know the Shepherds voice. They follow, they keep close, they obey. (Weekly Pulpit.)
He that is an hireling
The hireling is
I. MERCENARY. He tends the flock simply for wages as Jacob did Gen_29:15; Gen_29:13), though not with the love that Jacob showed Gen_31:33). An emblem of the Pharisees and Jewish rulers generally who served God in a purely legal spirit, and shepherded the flock with an eye to the merit they might acquire, or the recompense they should receive; of those who in Christs day thrust themselves into the priests office for a morsel of bread (1Sa_2:36); of all who enter the ministry for filthy lucres sake (Tit_1:11).
II. SELFISH. He pursues his calling with an eye to his own interest and comfort--a type of Ezekiels shepherds (Eze_34:2-3), and of socalled Christian pastors who use their official position solely to secure worldly emolument, social preferment, or temporal renown (1Ti_3:3; 1Ti_3:3).
III. NEGLIGENT. Chiefly occupied with thoughts of his own happiness, he not only leaves the sheep to cater for themselves (Eze_34:4; Zec_11:16-17), but fleeing at the first approach of danger, permits the helpless creatures to be ravaged and scattered. Once more a representative of the corrupt hierarchy that presided over Israel, and of such nominally Christian teachers who, neglecting the highest interests of their people, leave them to fall a prey to the principalities and powers of evil. (T. Whitelaw D. D.)
Self-sacrificing teachers
Paton records that at a time of great danger on Tanna he tried to prevail on one of the native teachers from Aneityum to remain at the mission house. The man insisted on returning to his post, and with this unanswerable defence of his conduct: Missi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see myself when the missionary first came to my island. I desired to murder him as they now desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, I would have remained a heathen; but he came, and continued coming to teach us, till by the grace of God I was changed to what I am. Now the same God that changed me can change these poor Tannese to love and serve Him. I can not stay away from them. On mission ground the term pastor is restored to its original meaning, shepherd, with good reason. Hanningtons message to the ruler who compassed his death was: Tell the king that I die for Buganda. I have bought this road with my life. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The hireling
It is not the bare receiving hire which denominates a man a hireling, but the loving hire; his loving the hire more than the work; the working for the sake of the hire. He is an hireling who would not work were it not for the hire; to whom this is the great (if not only) motive of working. O God! if a man who works only for hire is such a wretch, a mere thief and a robber, what is he who continually takes the hire, and yet does not work at all? (J. Wesley.)
The Wolf
Satan a wolf
1. His attacks are deadly.
2. His surprises are crafty.
3. His hatred of Christ is implacable.
4. His hunger to devour is insatiable.
5. He attacks under darkness.
6. He scatters the flock by tempting them to luxury, avarice, and sensuality. Filling their minds with pride, envy, anger, deceit. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
I.…know My sheep and am known of Mine
The mutual knowledge of Christ and His people
I. CHRISTS KNOWLEDGE OF HIS PEOPLE.
1. The faithful and experienced Eastern shepherd knows every one of his sheep. So does Christ. He knows
1. Their persons; not only the numbers of His flock. We are as well known to Him as the stars (Isa_40:1-31), and as our children are to us.
2. Their condition and circumstances--but general and peculiar--our sins that He may pardon them; our diseases that He may heal them; our wants that He may supply them; our fears that He may quiet them; our burdens that He may give us strength to bear them; our prayers that He may grant them, our graces that we may delight in them; our services that He may reward them.
2. We trace this knowledge to
(1) His great love. It is clear that the shepherd who loves his sheep best will know them best.
(2) His intimacy. He dwells with them.
(3) His omniscience.
II. CHRISTS PEOPLES KNOWLEDGE OF HIM is
1. Peculiar. Their fellow men do not possess it or understand it.
2. Acquired. It is not natural to us. Nature does not teach it. The young sheep knows its mother by instinct, but not its shepherd. All real knowledge of Christ is the effect of a special manifestation of Him to the soul.
3. Experimental chiefly. Some knowledge we get of Him from faith in Gods testimony concerning Him, but our chief spring is this: when we have hungered, He has fed us; when we have not known our way, He has guided us; where we have fallen into danger, He has extricated us.
4. Practical. The soul that possesses it becomes willing and obedient. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The true sheep
What is the knowledge by which Christs true sheep are known? There are many kinds of knowledge, of which only one can be the true. There is a knowledge which even fallen angels have of Him (Luk_4:33-34; Luk_4:41; Mat_8:29). This is a knowledge of the spiritual intelligence, which may be possessed in energetic wickedness, and with direct resistance of the will against the will of Christ. Again, there is also a knowledge which all the regenerate possess. The preaching of the Church, the reading of Holy Scriptures, the commemoration of fasts and festivals, the tradition of popular Christianity, and all the knowledge which from childhood we unconsciously imbibe, give us a general knowledge of the evangelical facts and of the history of our Lord. This cannot be the knowledge of which He here speaks. It must be something of a deeper kind, something more living and personal. It is plainly, therefore, such a knowledge as He has of us. It is that mutual consciousness of which we speak when we say that we know any person as our friend. We do not mean that we know him by name; for many strangers we know by name; many whom we have never seen, or further care to know: neither do we mean only that we know all about him, that is to say, who he is, and whence, of what lineage, or from what land, or what has been his history, his acts and words, and the like; for in this way we may be said to know many who do not know us, and with whom we have nothing to do. When we say we know anyone as our friend, we mean that we know not only who he is, but what, or as we say, his character,--that he is true, affectionate, gentle, forgiving, liberal, patient, self-denying; and still more, that he has been, and is, all this to ourselves; that we have made trial of him, and have cause to know this character as a reality, of which we have, as it were, tasted, by often meeting with him, seeing him at all times, under all circumstances and in all changes, familiarly conversing with him, doing service to him, ourselves receiving from him in turn tokens of love and goodness. This is the knowledge of friendship and of love. It is something living and personal, arising out of the whole of our inward nature, and filling all our powers and affections. And such is the knowledge the true sheep have of the Good Shepherd. Let us, then, consider in what way we may attain this knowledge.
1. It must be by following Him. My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me. By living such a life as He lived. Likeness to Him is the power of knowing Him. Nay, rather it is knowledge itself: there is no other. It is by likeness that we know, and by sympathy that we learn.
2. There are peculiar faculties of the heart which must be awakened, if we would know Him as He knows us. There can be no true obedience without the discipline of habitual devotion--in prayer, meditation, sacramental communion.
3. This true knowledge of Him is not a transitory state of feeling. Out of obedience and devotion arises an habitual faith, which makes Him, though unseen, yet perceptibly a part of all our life. (Archdeacon Manning.)
The understanding between shepherd and sheep
You will notice the difference between the Old and the New translation here. The new translation makes the meaning of our Saviours words much clearer. He says, I am the Good Shepherd; and there is an understanding between Me and My sheep, as there is an understanding between My Father and Me. For people to understand one another, there must be something in common. The Pharisees could not understand our Lord. They had nothing in common with Him. As He said to them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above; ye are of this world; I am not of this world. No, they could not understand Him; any more than a man without an ear for music can understand music, or a dull prosy mind can understand poetry, or a person who always acts from self-interested motives can understand another who has more thought for others than for himself. But Christs disciples could understand Him: not perfectly, often very imperfectly; still they had that which made them capable of understanding Him to some extent, and of being trained to understand Him more fully in time; as one who loves music can enjoy and to some extent understand a great musician, one who is not altogether selfish can appreciate the nobility of self-sacrifice for the good of others. Some of Christs disciples had made sacrifices for Him, though small compared with what He had made for them. There were those among His little flock who had left all they had on earth to follow Him, and this, and the faith which led them to it, had made them able to know and understand Him who had left all He had in heaven for their sake. (J. E. Vernon, M. A.)
The shepherds mark
Edmund Andrews was a thoughtless, cruel boy. One day he was passing by Burltons farm, and saw Wilkinson, the old shepherd, busy with his pitch kettle and iron, marking the sheep with the letters J.B., for John Burlton. So you are putting your masters mark upon the sheep, are you? said he. Yes, Master Edmund; but God, the Almighty Maker, has put His mark upon them before. What do you mean? asked Edmund. I mean that our Heavenly Father, in His wisdom and goodness, has put marks upon the creatures He has made, and such marks as none but He could put upon them. He gave wings to the cockchafer, spots to the butterfly, feathers to the bird, a sparkling eye to the frog and toad, a swift foot to the dog, and a soft furry skin to the cat. These marks are His marks, and show that the creatures belong to Him; and woe be to those that abuse them! Thats an odd thought, said Edmund, as he turned away. It may be an odd thought, said the shepherd, but odd things lead us to glorify God, and to act kindly to His creatures. The more we have, Master Edmund, the better.
How Christ knows His sheep
Suppose one of the sheep in a fold were to go to the shepherd, and say, I think Im your sheep, because you get six pounds of wool off me; and another should say, And I think Im your sheep, because you get four pounds of wool from me; and a third, I hope I am your sheep, but I dont know, for you only get three pounds of wool from me; and sometimes it is but two. Finally, suppose one poor scraggy fellow comes who dont know whether he is a sheep or a goat, and makes his complaint; the shepherd would say, I know who are the best sheep, and who are the worst. I wish you could all give me ten pounds of wool; but whether you give me ten pounds or one, you are all mine. I bought you, and paid for you, and you are all in my fold, and you every one belong to me. It is not how much a sheep brings his owner which proves him his. The proof that the sheep belongs to the shepherd is, that the shepherd bought him and takes care of him. (H. W. Beecher.)
Christs knowledge of His sheep
The most fearful attributes of the Godhead turn to the sweetest comfort of a believer. His justice, to the natural man so awful, requires Him to forgive those whom He has punished in our Substitute. His power so tremendous when turned against us is assuring in the same proportion, when it is for us. So with omniscience, a terror to the wrongdoer, but a comfort to the penitent believer.
I. CHRIST KNOWS WHO ARE HIS SHEEP. Leave it then to Him to pronounce who are so. We seldom make a greater mistake then when we attempt to trespass on this province of Deity. I know, almost as much as to say, You do not. And there are times when it will be best not to form the judgment respecting ourselves. Leave it thus. He knows whether I am His; and if not, that I wish to be, and therefore will make me. If I am, He will keep me.
II. HE KNOWS THEM AS A WHOLE. As all one, gathered out of the same desert, washed in the same fountain, etc. In this collectiveness He expects concert of action, sympathy, unity among His people. We are accustomed to regard ourselves as separate individuals, families, churches. Hence our narrowness, selfishness.
III. HE KNOWS THEM AS INDIVIDUALS. Each stands out known and loved as if He cared for none else. He knows
1. You, and not merely about you.
2. How long you have been in the fold, and expects accordingly.
3. Your natural temperament, what you can and cannot bear, how much exposure, liberty, etc. What kind of pasture you require.
4. Your future, and is always working up to it.
IV. HE KNOWS HIMSELF IN THEM AND THEREFORE HIS FATHERS MIND ABOUT THEM. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
I lay down My life for the sheep
Christ died to save men
At the time of the gold fever in California, a man went from England to the diggings. By and by he sent money for his wife and child to follow him. They arrived safely in New York, and there took a passage in one of the beautiful Pacific steamers. A few days after sailing, the terrible cry of Fire! fire! rang through the ship. Everything that the captain and sailors could do was done, but it was of no use; the fire rapidly gained ground. As there was a powder magazine on board, the captain knew that the moment the flames reached it the vessel would be blown up; so he gave the word to lower the life boats. These were got out, but there was not room for all; so the strong pushed in and left the weak to their fate. As the last boat was moving off, a mother and her boy were on the deck and she pleaded to be taken. The sailors agreed to take one but not both. What did the mother do? Did she jump in herself? No! Kissing her boy and handing him over the side of the ship, she said If you live to see your father, tell him I died to save you. That was great love, yet it is but a faint type of what Christ has done for us. (J. L. Nye.)
Damon and Pythias
Damon, being condemned to death by Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, obtained liberty to visit his wife and children, leaving his friend, Pythias, as a pledge for his return. At the appointed time Damon failed in appearing, and the tyrant had the curiosity to visit Pythias in prison. What a fool you were, said he, to rely on Damons promise! How could you imagine that he would sacrifice his life for you or for any man? My lord, said Pythias, with a firm voice and noble aspect, I would suffer a thousand deaths rather than my friend should fail in any article of honour. He cannot fail. I am as confident of his virtue as I am of my own existence. But I beseech the gods to preserve his life. Oppose him ye winds! Disappoint his eagerness, and suffer him not to arrive till my death has saved a life of much greater consequence than mine, necessary to his lovely wife, to his little innocents, to his friends, to his country! Oh! let me not die the cruelest of deaths in that of Damon! Dionysius was confounded and awed with the magnanimity of these sentiments. He wished to speak: he hesitated, he looked down, and retired in silence. Pythias was brought forth, and with an air of satisfaction walked to the place of execution. He ascended the scaffold and addressed the people. My prayers are hoard; the gods are propitious; the winds have been contrary. Damon could not conquer impossibilities: he will be here tomorrow, and my blood shall ransom that of my friend. As he pronounced these words, a buzz arose; a distant voice was heard; the crowd caught the words, and Stop, stop, executioner! was repeated by every person. A man came at full speed. In the same instant he was off his horse, on the scaffold, and in the arms of Pythias. You are safe! he cried, you are safe, my friend! The gods be praised, you are safe! Pale and half speechless in the arms of Damon, Pythias replied in broken accents, Fatal haste! cruel impatience! What envious powers have wrought impossibilities against your friend? But I will not be wholly disappointed. Since I cannot die to save you, I will die to accompany you! Dionysius heard and beheld with astonishment. His eyes were opened, his heart was touched, and he could no longer resist the power of pity. He descended from his throne and ascended the scaffold. Live, live, ye incomparable pair! Ye have demonstrated the existence of virtue, and consequently of a God who rewards it. Live happy, live revered; and as you have invited me by your example, form me by your precepts to participate worthily in a friendship so divine.
Other sheep I have which are not of this fold
Outsiders
The grace of God is no mans little property, fenced off all for ourselves. It is not a kings park, at which we look through a barred gateway. It is a Fathers orchard with bars to let down and gates to swing open. There are Christians who keep a severe guard over the Church, when God would have all come and take the richest and ripest of the fruit. Then, again, we have those who get up statistics and say so many Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., there, that is the number of Christians. Christ comes and says No! you have not counted rightly, other sheep have I which are not of these folds.
I. The heavenly Shepherd will find many of His sheep, among those who are NON-CHURCH GOERS. I do not think that the Church gains when you take sheep from one fold and puts them into another. It is the lost sheep on the mountains we want to bring back.
II. The heavenly Shepherd will find many of His sheep among those who are now REJECTORS OF CHRISTIANITY. I do not know bow you came to reject Christianity: but I want you, before you finally discard it, to give it a fair trial. You want what it alone can give--if it does not give that to you then you may reject it. But it will. Take not the word of a clergyman, who may be speaking professionally, but that of laymen who have never preached--Milton, Wilbcrforce, Newton, Boyle, Locke, Morse.
III. The heavenly Shepherd will get many of His sheep among THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FLUNG OF EVIL HABIT. The way Christian people give up the prodigal is outrageous. They talk as though the grace of God were a chain of forty or fifty links, and, when they had been run out, there was nothing to touch a mans iniquity. But there is only one class about whom we may be despondent: those who have been hearing the gospel for twenty, thirty, forty years, and who are gospel hardened. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Other sheep and one flock
I. OUR LORD HAD A PEOPLE UNDER THE WORST CIRCUMSTANCES. This fold was not the Jews, but His handful of disciples.
1. Doubtless these times are exceedingly dangerous, and some brethren never allow me to forget it, for they play well on the minor key. But I heard it thirty years ago, and the times have been bad ever since, and always will be. This is better, perhaps, than living in a fools paradise; but certainly the days of Christ were terrible days in the point of
(1) Utter ungodliness. A few godly ones watched for the coming of Christ, but the great mass were altogether gone out of the way.
(2) Will worship; the commandments of men were taught for the doctrines of God.
(3) Fierce opposition, as seen in the treatment Christ received. Yet He had a chosen company, and however guilty our age may be in these points, there is an election of grace still.
2. This company was a fold. Afterwards they were to be called a flock; but as yet one glance was sufficient to embrace them all.
(1) They were distinct from the world Ye are not of the world, etc.
(2) In that fold they Were protected from ill-weathers, and from the wolf and the thief.
(3) Even there were goats--One of you is a devil.
(4) They were being strengthened for future following of the Great Shepherd.
3. When Jesus had thus shut them in He would not allow them to be exclusive, but opens wide the door of the sheepfold and cries, Other sheep I have. Thus He checks a common tendency to be forgetful of outsiders. Seeing that He has those who would be found by Him through His faithful people, let us rouse ourselves to the holy enterprise,
4. Never despair. The Lord is with us. We may be poor, but we are Christs, and that makes us precious. There were three men who had to carry on a college when funds were running short. One complained that they had no helpers and could not hope to succeed. Why, said another, we are a thousand. How is that? I am a cipher, and you and our brother; so we have three noughts to begin with. But Christ is ONE. Put Him down before the ciphers, and we have a thousand directly.
II. OUR LORD HAS OTHER SHEEP NOT YET KNOWN TO US. I have, not shall have. The apostles never dreamed of His having sheep in Britain or Rome. Their most liberal notion was that the scattered seed of Abraham might be gathered.
1. Who are these sheep?
(1) Christs chosen--Ye have not chosen Me, etc.
(2) Those whom the Father had given Him.
(3) Those for whom He laid down His life that they might be the redeemed of the Lord, Ye are not your own, etc.
(4) Those on whose behalf He had entered into suretyship engagements even as Jacob under took the flock of Laban that he should lose none.
2. What was their state? People without a shepherd--lost, wandering, ready to be devoured by the wolf. Bad as the world is today it must have been far worse in the vile Roman world.
3. This thought gave Christ great encouragement when confronting their adversaries, and should be a great comfort to Gods people now. I have much people in this city. This is our authority for seeking the lost sheep in whoevers preserves they may be.
III. OUR LORD MUST LEAD THOSE OTHER SHEEP, not bring; Christ must be at their head, and they must follow.
1. It is Christ who has to do this, even as He has done it hitherto, also. As Jesus has done it for us He must do it for others.
2. He must do it. Subjects are usually bound by a must; this must binds the sovereign. Who can resist it? Clear out all enemies!
3. How He must do it? They shall hear my voice. Christ is going to save people still by the gospel, and we must not look for other means. Go ye into all the world.
IV. OUR LORD GUARANTEES THE UNITY OF HIS CHURCH. One flock.
1. We hear a great deal about the unity of the Church. We are to have the Roman, Greek, and Anglican all one. God has chosen people in each, but their union would be a dire mischief.
2. This has been carried out as a matter of fact. There never was but one Shepherd and never will be but one flock. All the visible Churches contain parts of it.
3. As a matter of experience this is carried out in believers. A spiritually minded man is at one with all spiritually minded men. Set a Calvinist and an Arminian at prayer: let the Spirit work on Baptist and Paedo-Baptist. What Protestant but loves Bernard?
4. The external Church is needful, but it is not the one and indivisible Church of Christ.
5. This Church is known by its obedience to Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
This fold and the other sheep
I. THIS FOLD: the seed of Israel. By His personal ministry our Lord founded the kingdom in Israel and some of the seed of Abraham were gathered in.
II. OTHER SHEEP NOT OF THIS FOLD. Here the expansive love of Jesus breaks forth. He began at Jerusalem, but the longings of His heart go forth to the end of the earth.
III. I HAVE. Mark the all encompassing sovereignty of His love. They were His in the covenant from the beginning. At a time when they were neither born nor born again He counts them His.
IV. THEM ALSO. There is no respect of persons. No poor slave will be left out because he is black; no servant pushed aside to make way for his master; no rich or powerful man is kept out at the cry of the envious mob. If any were kept back the Lord would say, them also; gather up the fragments, etc. What a cheering word l It embraces the prodigal, the dying thief, Saul of Tarsus.
V. I BRING. He sends none forward to make or find their own way. In all their afflictions He is afflicted. They shall not traverse the valley of the shadow alone. None shall stand at the Judgment to make the best of his own case. I am the Way. He brings them through the regeneration into the fold on earth. It often takes much bringing; but all power is given to the Captain of our salvation. The drunkard, miser, etc., are made willing in the day of His power. And that same bringing power shall rend the gates of death.
VI. I MUST. He commands the winds and the sea and they obey; who then can command Him? His own yearning love. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The missionary's warrant
We have a right to go anywhere to seek after our Masters sheep. If they are my Masters sheep who shall stop me over hill and dale inquiring, Have you seen my Masters sheep. If any say, You do intrude in this land, let the answer be, We are after our Masters sheep which have strayed here. You have a search warrant from the King of kings, and, therefore, you have a right to enter and search after your Lords stolen property. If men belonged to the devil we would not rob the enemy himself; but they do not belong to him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Them also I must bring.--They must be brought
1. To realize the visions of ancient prophecy.
2. To accomplish the promise of the Father (Psa_2:3).
3. To secure the object, and to recompense the suffering and the toil of the Redeemers mediatorial undertaking.
4. To answer the prayers, fulfil the expectations, and crown the prayers which He has animated and inspired. (T. Raffles, LL. D.)
One fold and one shepherd
I. CHRISTS PROPERTY IN HIS SHEEP.
1. How acquired.
(1) By donation. Thine they were and Thou gavest them Me. Ask of Me, etc.
(2) By purchase, Ye are bought with a price.
(3) By the sanctification of the Spirit; after which He gives them back to the Father to be glorified.
2. There are but three possessions to which the word property really belongs.
(1) The sinners possession of his own sins.
(2) The believers possession of his own Saviour.
(3) Christs possession of His own people.
3. Possession is an endearing thing. If you possess a thing you love it; and that feeling is a faint copy of the mind of Christ.
4. Concerning this possession, Christ declares that He holds it not only over those He was then addressing, but over others separated from them--perhaps other worlds, certainly Gentiles, of whose admission Jews werejealous.
5. Note, then, that Christ said this of those who were then unconverted. Paul (Act_13:1-52) was almost driven from Corinth by opposition, but was stopped by I have much people in this city; and yet, with the exception of two or three persons, all were locked in unbelief. But it was not so eighteen months after. What a joy to the Christian worker to be able to think that any man may be among Christs other sheep!
II. CHRISTS ENGAGEMENT FOR HIS SHEEP. Them also I must bring.
1. The imperative obligation. God permits Himself to be ruled by His own covenant.
2. This certified engagement is this: They shall hear My voice.
(1) When a soul just awakened hears Thou art the man.
(2) When the stricken conscience hears Go in peace, etc.
(3) When the soul, better knowing now Christs accents, hears It is I; be not afraid.
(4) When the heart, better ordered, always hears and says, Speak Lord, etc.
(5) When the ear shall drink in Come ye blessed, etc.
3. Your corresponding duty to this pledge is to hear--obey. This is happiness here and glory by and by.
III. CHRISTS INTENTION WITH HIS SHEEP. One fold, etc.
1. This will be literally fulfilled in heaven.
2. It is spiritually fulfilled herein
(1) Unity of condition.
(2) Unity of Spirit.
(3) Unity of action.
(4) Unity of headship--One Shepherd. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christs collected flocks
I. WHAT THINGS ARE TO BE DONE FOR THE COMPLETION OF THIS END? I observe
1. The views of mankind concerning religious subjects are to be extensively changed.
2. A mighty change, also, must be wrought in the disposition of man.
3. The change will not be less in the conduct of men.
II. IN WHAT MANNER ARE THESE THINGS TO BE DONE? I answer, they are to be accomplished not by miracles, but by means.
III. BY WHOM ARE THESE THINGS TO BE DONE? Solitary efforts will here be fruitless; divided efforts will be equally fruitless; clashing efforts will destroy each other. Learn
1. The work to which you are summoned is the work of God.
2. The present is the proper time for this glorious undertaking.
3. The necessity of this work irresistibly demands every practicable effort. The whole world, says St. John, speaking of his own time, lieth in wickedness (1Jn_5:19). Lieth--for such is the indication of the original--as a man slain lies weltering in his blood.
4. The day in which these blessings are to be ushered in has arrived. The day in which the mighty work will be seen in its full completion is at hand. We must labour, that those who come after us may enter into our labours. (T. Dwight, D. D.)
Unity the final purpose of God
An old Scottish Methodist, who had clung vehemently to one of two small sects on opposite sides of the street, said, when dying: The street I am now travelling in has nae sides, and if power were now given me I would preach purity of life mair and purity of doctrine less. Since I was laid by here I have had whisperings of the still small voice telling me that the wranglings of faith will neer be heard in the kingdom I am nearing; and, as love cements all differences, Ill perhaps find the place roomier than I thought in times past. (Dean Stanley.)
United in anticipation of death
When seven men imprisoned in a Pennsylvania coal mine were rescued after five days imprisonment they were asked if they hoped to escape. We prayed for it, was the reply; we prayed together. Some were Protestants and some Catholics, but when death is as close as that you only think of God.
Unity defined
I distinguish the unity of comprehensiveness from the unity of mere singularity. The word one, as oneness, is an ambiguous word. There is a oneness belonging to the army as well as to every soldier in the army. The army is one, and that is the oneness of unity; the soldier is one, and that is the oneness of the unit. There is difference between the oneness of a body and the oneness of a member of that body. The body is many, and a unity of manifold comprehensiveness. An arm or a member of a body is one, but that is the unity of singularity. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Therefore doth My Father love Me
The Fathers love of Jesus
Observe what Christ says
I. OF LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE.
1. No mere man could have said this. Power over life is Gods prerogative. To none but the Son has He given to have life in Himself; and power to take it again is manifestly not ours. But we must not separate this claim from His obedience. Christ knows no power but to do the Fathers will.
2. Much of our metaphysics is here silenced. Is obedience free if we are not also free to disobey? The truest liberty is voluntary restraint. The freedom of obedience is learned as we love to obey. The fullest consciousness of power is that of power to do Gods will.
3. Christs assertion of power is intended to illustrate His obedience. I lay down My life of Myself. He could have withdrawn Himself from the people, or by yielding to their prejudices have won them. He could have awed them, as He did the soldiers, by His majestic presence. He had power over mens consciences, as was seen in the case of the Pharisees who brought the woman taken in adultery, and in the case of Pilate. The concealed aid of heaven was at His bidding. But more than all this was the strength of His submission. He speaks of His power to show how full was His obedience.
4. We have here an awful revelation of the powerlessness of sin. The Jews were simply tolerated, ignorant of the power that restrained itself. So with all sinners. But Christ was thus patient that when they had done their worst He might be their Saviour.
5. The chief truth here is the fulness of Christs obedience. The consciousness that we might escape would be to us a motive for disobedience. We are kept submissive by weakness. He speaks not of power to avoid the sacrifice but to make it.
II. OF THY FATHERS LOVE.
1. We see the reason of this partly in Christs obedience. Here is the oneness of the Father and the Son; the Son rejoices to obey; the Father commits His whole counsel to the Son that He may accomplish it.
2. The commandment was that Christ should lay down His life for the sheep. The Fathers love for the Son is not one in which all others are shut out. We read that God did not rest in Creation till He had made man in His own image. His love is so bountiful that it forms objects on which to lavish itself. Here we have something more surprising--the pity for lost man which is in the Father, and that pity finding response in the Son. Well was it said that God is love.
3. Christ tells us why the Father loves Him.
(1) That we may know the men who are dearest to God--not as with us the learned, wealthy, powerful, but the obedient and loving.
(2) That we may understand Christs life and death. Neither Jews nor disciples could understand the Man of Sorrows. Hence the double proclamation, This is My beloved Son. How many a reason has been given why Christ must die! But how poor all reasons beside the simple one that He loved us.
(3) In order that we may know God. The object of our affection reveals ourselves. If the man of force be our hero, we show ourselves worshippers of power; if a good man, we prize goodness. Christ is dear to the Father because He loves us. What a witness to the love of God.
III. OF THE ISSUE OF LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE. Christ is to reap the reward of His sacrifice, and we of the travail of His soul.
1. This alone renders His sacrifice lawful or possible, and distinguishes between sublimity of sacrifice, and scornful waste of self. The Fathers commandment is not that the Son should perish. The life which is yielded up for the ends of love is restored in the triumph of love.
2. This illustrates the true character of trust in God--the assurance that He is righteous to vindicate fidelity and loving to reward it.
3. It is not love for men which is indifferent about sharing with them the joy of their restoration--this makes any sacrifice an affront. Christ anticipates the joy of leading many sons to glory.
4. Heaven would lose its value if Christ perished to secure it for us. We should feel that our salvation had been too dearly purchased, and the bitter sorrow that He was absent whose joy it would have been to meet His redeemed.
5. To labour in hope of reward is not always selfish. We need the triumph to vindicate the suffering.
6. We learn how to sustain ourselves in Christian struggle and endurance. If we suffer with Him, etc. The sacrifice and resurrection of Christ is a rebuke to all despondency. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
God loving His Son
The assertions of Christ as to His relation to God are very different from those of Old Testament saints. Not once did they call God Father--this Jesus always does; and the Father acquiesces. This is My beloved Son. Here Christ seems to found His Fathers love on something He is about to accomplish on earth. But a stranger having rescued a child from drowning and restored it to its parent might say, Therefore doth the Father love me. And so some infer that Christ was related to God only in virtue of His obedience to death. Not so. God is love; but love cannot exist without an object, and this object must be coexistent with the eternal affection. So Christ is the eternal object of an eternal love, and the text only states an additional reason for that love. A king has a beloved son and a revolted province. The latter he could crush, but prefers to accept a voluntary mission of the former to win the rebels by privation, forbearance, and kindness. This succeeds. The king expresses his satisfaction, and the son says, Therefore doth my father love me. The idea of the text is similar. What were the elements in Christs death which drew forth the love of Christ?
I. PERFECT SPONTANEITY IN THE OBEDIENCE HE RENDERED. Not that His sufferings or death were in themselves well pleasing to the merciful Father. All men die, and by Divine appointment; but God does not love them for this, else the wicked would be loved as well as the righteous. It was the Divine principle that prompted it--obedience. It was not snatched from Him, nor did He yield it in idle passivity; He laid it down of His active free will, and so revealed the Fathers will, developed the plan of redemption, and is therefore the object of Gods intensest love.
II. FAITH. There would have been no merit in His death had He sacrificed Himself without assurance of resurrection. It might have been from despair. Nor could it have taken place without this assurance. The extinction of such a one could not be permitted in the government of a righteous God. Knowing that He was sinless, He must have known that death, the wages of sin, had no power over Him. Hence He never spoke of His death apart from His resurrection. The taking up was as much in the Divine plan as the laying down. He was confident of the successful issue, and God loved Him because of this. Conclusion:
1. If God finds a new reason for loving His Son in the moral qualities He displayed, He will love us if we strive to live as Christ lived. Wherever He sees men obedient and self-sacrificing He will love them.
2. We should do our duty in spite of consequences, or rather with regard to the remoter consequences. Lay down our lives that we may take them again. Whosoever loseth his life for My sake shall find it. (T. James, M. A.)
The stimulating power of the consciousness of being loved
What heat is in nature that love is in the human realm. It tends to quicken and expand and beautify those on whom it lights; it assists men to be better and stronger and more gracious than they would otherwise be. Under its influence, souls are enabled to bud and blossom more freely; and let none of us be ashamed of needing it, and leaning on it for succour. (S. A. Tipple.)
The Sons work approved of the Father
I. THE GREAT WORK IN WHICH THE SON IS ENGAGED--the salvation of His sheep
1. From danger, the curse of the law, eternal death.
2. To obedience, holiness, blessedness, heaven.
II. THE APPOINTMENT OF THE SON TO THIS GREAT WORK BY THE FATHER. This commandment. This principle holds a high place in the Bible. Christ was predicted as the servant and sent of God; gladly accepts this subordination; and His apostles teach the same doctrine.
III. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SON FOR HIS GREAT WORK.
1. To atone for guilt He must be and was free from guilt.
2. To save man He must be and was man, and yet more than man. As man He had a life to lay down; but He had no power as man to lay it down of Himself; this was Divine.
3. This Divine-human life had sufficient merit to expiate the sin of the world.
4. But redemption could not have been consummated without its resumption; and so He had power to take it again.
IV. THE SONS ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS GREAT WORK. His offering has been effectual for the purpose for which it was presented. There remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Millions are now through His expiation the spirits of just men made perfect, and millions are preparing for that blessed state.
V. THE COMPLACENCY MANIFESTED BY THE FATHER TO THE SON IN AND FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS GREAT WORK. (Php_2:9-11). (J. Brown, D. D.)
Christ comforting Himself
The people were listening with sneers and anger to Christs asservations of the union between Himself and God, and contemplating a step which would expose their emptiness. When put out of the way, His presumptuous claims would be shattered. He read this thought, and answered it calmly, with the inward consciousness that that event would only culminate His voluntary self-sacrifice, and render Him the special object of the Fathers love. Such is frequently the blindness and defeat of bad men. It is poor business trying to hurt a saint. You can never be certain that your hardest blows will not ensure him more abundant consolation.
I. CHRIST COMFORTING HIMSELF
1. With the reflection that someone loves Him. We find Him constantly doing this. I am not alone, etc.; pausing in the midst of hostility, etc., to get soothing and inspiration. He could not get on without it any more than we can. Let none of us weakly and selfishly long for this, nor stoically determine to be above it; but value it as an impulse for work.
2. With His felt possession of power. His adversaries regarded Him as their victim. He muses, they are mistaken; instead of being dragged helplessly, I shall march in might to die. We need not shrink from the thought that Jesus found solace in the consciousness of His superiority to what He looked: that while He seemed weak, He was sublimely strong. It is both natural and legitimate, when we are being estimated falsely, to feel the excellence or the gift that is not perceived. We may need this in encountering disparagement, to preserve our self-possession and keep ourselves from fainting. There are others, however, who can never have this consolation. Their reputation is the best thing they have; they are meaner than the social estimate of them.
II. THE GROUNDS OF THIS COMFORT.
1. The Father loved Christ because He lay down His life in order to take it again. The beauty of self-sacrifice lies not in the act, but in its animating purpose. There is no necessary virtue in denying yourself. Sacrifices are often made out of mere weakness, regard for the usages of society, self-indulgence, even to spite others, and in disregard of the right and the claims of other people. Christ laid down His life in order to take it again. This explanation is at first sight disappointing. What was there to charm the heart of God in surrender for the purpose of recovery? But this recovery was meant to be a great source and fountain of good, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. It is noble to sacrifice self with a view to acquiring more capacity for service.
2. The secret of Christs power was not that He had a right to elect to die, which we have not, but that He felt Himself able to make the sacrifice required of Him. He did not need to be dragged or urged into it, but was able to make it freely. What happens there then is in the sense of the power to respond at once to the call of a difficult, trying duty. But He was certain not only that He could bear the Cross, but that He should reap to the full the anticipated fruit of it. What more blessed than this--the assurance of power to do what is wholly true, and an assurance of gaining the object?
3. What was the secret of it all? This commandment, etc. What God calls one to, one will have strength to accomplish, and it will assuredly yield its due fruit. In other things you may break down or be disappointed--never in this. (S. A. Tipple.)
I lay down My life
Victim and priest
Types, like shadows, are one-sided things. Hence in the shadowy worship of Judaism Christ was brokenly seen in a variety of disconnected images. The sacrificial lamb was a picture of Him who is the first of sufferers and the only sin bearer; but the dumb brute, led in unresisting ignorance to the altar, not otherwise than it might have been to the shambles, was no picture of the perfect willingness with which He devoted His life to God. For the type of that we must go to the white-robed priest. There was need for a double shadow. But in the one real sacrifice the two are one. Jesus is priest and victim. There are certain steps we must take in comprehending Christs self-sacrificing will as expressed in the text.
I. It was CONSTANT. The strength of ones will to suffer is tested by its deliberate formation and persistent endurance.
1. Our Saviours resolution was no impulse born of excited feeling, liable to fail before calmer thought; nor a necessity for which He was gradually prepared, and at last shut up to through circumstances; but a habitual purpose, steadily kept in view from the first, till it grew almost to a passion. How am I straitened, etc.
2. Many men are heroic only by impulse; give time, and the bravery yields to prudence. Men have ignorantly taken the first step towards martyrdom; but, having taken it, have felt bound to go forward. But when the mind can form so terrible a purpose, and calmly hold it on for years, in the face of unromantic neglect and mockery, the purpose must have its roots deep. Such will was never in any except Christ. Precious life, which carried its own death in its bosom, like a bunch of sweet flowers, filling all its days with fragrance.
II. It was ACTIVELY FREE.
1. While resignation was the habitual attitude of His soul, there was more than resignation. We underestimate His priestly act, by thinking more of His willingness than of His will to suffer. I lay down My life means that, with ardent desire and fixed resolution, He is, at His own choice, giving away His own Spiritual Person, including that which is the most personal thing of all--His will. And this active exposure to penalty accompanied Him through every stage. His was both the right and strength at every stage to free His soul; but He chose to go on deeper into the darkness till all was over. This came out very plainly when Peter put before Him the alternative; when, His time being come, He set Himself to go to Jerusalem, when He said to Judas, What thou doest, etc.; when, on His arrest, He spoke about the legion of angels; yes, and when the torment reached Him, Let Him now come down from the cross.
2. Now, it is harder to will a disagreeable lot than to consent to bear it when it is laid upon us. Many a man has piety to submit to unavoidable evil, or even to rest in it as wise, who would yet be unequal to make it a choice. Most men, therefore, aim at nothing higher than passive acquiescence in suffering; but it is nobler to seal Gods afflictive will with our own, and will not to have it otherwise. It is a further advance still to enter voluntarily into affliction for righteousness sake. Yet even the martyrs choice of death before sin is less absolute and free than that of Christ.
III. It was CROSSED BY HINDRANCES FROM THE WEAKNESS OF THE FLESH AND IT OVERCAME THEM. As you walk by the side of a deep, swift-running river, you know not how strong the current is till you reach the rapids, where its flow is broken. So on reading the smooth, constant story of Jesus life, there is little to tell us with what power He was advancing to His agony. Near the end came one or two places where this was seen (chap. 12:27-29). That was a short struggle. His will to die soon overcame the momentary perplexity, and the voice from heaven was needed not by Him, but for the bystanders. This, however, was only a foretaste of the greater strife in the garden--the weak flesh against the willing spirit; yet in the end it is divinely upborne to bear the unimaginable suffering for the worlds guilt. In that hour He sacrificed Himself--laid down His life. With what relief do we read, It is enough, the hour has come, etc. (J. O.Dykes, D. D.)
I have power to take it again
Our Lords resumption of life
I. WAS HIS OWN ACT. Nowhere is the majesty of our Lords Divine Person more manifest than here.
1. He had power to lay His life down. Could we use His words? There is much in life we can control, but not our way of leaving it.
(1) So far from laying it down, we yield it up. It is wrung from us by disease, violence, or accident. No men of this century have wielded more power than the two Napoleons; they little meant to die--the first at St. Helena, the third at Chislehurst. Bishop Wilberforce never entered a railway carriage without reflecting that he might never leave it alive. He was a fearless horseman, but he met his death when riding at a walking pace.
(2) But cannot a man lay down his life at pleasure? And did not the Stoics commend it? As a matter of physical possibility, we can; but what about its morality? It is at once cowardice and murder.
(3) A good man may find it his duty to accept death at the hands of others. Patriots and martyrs have had moral power to lay down their lives; but they could not control the circumstances which made death a duty.
(4) Our Lords act differs from that of the suicide in its moral elevation (Joh_10:11), and from that of the martyr in His command of the situation. As the Lord of Life, He speaks of His human life as His creature.
2. He had power to take it again.
(1) Here His majesty is more apparent, for He speaks of a control over His life which no mere man can possibly have. When soul and body are sundered, there is no force in the soul such as can reconstitute the body. In the Biblical cases of resurrection, the power came from without.
(2) Here barbarism and civilization are on a level. Science has done wonders in bringing the various forces of nature under control; but no scientist cherishes the hope of undoing the work of death, or of keeping it indefinitely at bay.
(3) When Christ claims to take His life again, He stands in relation to His life, which is only intelligible if we believe Him to be the Son of God.
II. WAS HIS ACT AND THE FATHERS CONJOINTLY?
1. He is repeatedly said to have been raised by the Father. This was Peters language (Act_2:24; Act_3:15; Act_4:10; Act_5:30; Act_10:40), and Pauls (Act_13:30-37; 1Th_1:10; 2Ti_2:3; Rom_4:24-25; Rom_6:4; Rom_3:11, etc., etc.).
2. On the ether hand, our Lord speaks of it as an act distinctly His own Mar_10:34; Luk_13:33; Joh_2:19, and text).
3. There is no contradiction here. The resurrection does not cease to be Christs act because it is the Fathers. When God acts through mere men, He makes them His instruments; but the power which effected the resurrection is as old as the eternal generation of the Son (chap. 5:26).
4. There is a moment when imagination, under the conduct of faith, endeavours, but in vain, to realize when the human soul of our Lord, surrounded by myriads of angels, on His return from the ancient dead, came to the grave of Joseph and claimed the body that had hung upon the cross.
III. SUGGESTS THE FOLLOWING CONSIDERATIONS.
1. What Christianity truly means. Not mere loyalty to the precepts of a dead teacher, or admiration of a striking character who lived eighteen hundred years ago. It is something more than literary taste or a department of moral archaeology. It is devotion to a living Christ. If it were a false religion, literary men might endeavour to reconstruct the history of its earliest age. This is what has been done with the great teachers of antiquity, and with Christ. But there is this difference. What Socrates, etc., were is all that we can know of them now. They cannot help us or speak to us. But in the fulness of that power which He asserted at His resurrection, Christ still rules and holds communion with every believer. A living Christianity means a living Christ.
2. What is the foundation of our confidence in the future of Christianity? Based as it is on a Christ who raised Himself from the dead, it cannot pass away.
(1) Mankind has lavished admiration on great teachers; but they have died and been forgotten. Their age proclaimed the dust of their writings gold; a succeeding age scarcely opens their folios. Why are we certain that this fate does not await Christ? Because mens loyalty rests not on His words mainly, but in His Person. Christ is Christianity. And why is it that, in thus clinging to His Person, Christian faith is so sure of the future? Because she has before her not a Christ who was conquered by death.
(2) Had it been otherwise Christianity might have perished more than once; by the wickedness of the Roman Court in the tenth century; by the hordes of Islam in the first flush of their conquests, or by the great Turkish sultans of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; by the accumulated weight of corruption which invited the Reformation; by the Babel which the Reformation produced; by the relation of the Church to corrupt governments: by the dishonest enterprises of unbelieving theologians. Men said the Church was killed under Decius and Diocletian, after the French Revolution. But each collapse is followed by a revival, because Christ willed to rise.
3. What is our hope for the departed? Because Christ lives, they live also; because He rose, they shall rise. (Canon Liddon.)
The mastery of life
These are the strongest words that human lips have uttered, I think; the strongest, because they give us a glimpse of what elsewhere we cannot find in man or his history--the complete mastery and control of life. Where is the man who comes to life as the workman comes to his clay or marble, and shapes out his idea precisely as he first has thought and designed it, and leaves it fulfilled without that obedient material having demanded any change in the work? How little of such mastery you and I have. Your very purpose in life, of which you speak so proudly, have you not got it by living? And when you had conceived it, when you had said I will, That is my purpose, did life flow liquidly and obediently into your mould, and stay there, and harden in it lastingly? Who has just the life he planned? And when you begin to see your purpose, or something like it, coming on:, of life, what control have you over it and its continuance? You have time to say, Yes, that is the shape of my wish, of my plan, and you or it are hurried away. But even suppose that a man cares not whether his purpose be lasting, if for a moment he reaches the place at which he had aimed; if he stands there where he had struggled through life to be; if he has made life carry him there--is he not master and victor? May he not say, as the soldier who dies in victory, I die happy? The hands that stiffen at that moment, are they not, after all, a conquerors? Oh! but think if the mastery of life does not include something else. It is not only to carry ones own purpose for a moment; it is to do it in such a way as to show that you are not indebted to lifes favour for it; that it is not a gift to you; that you will take it at your own time, as one who is completely, unanxiously master; that you will not be hurried by the thought, Now life is offering me my prize; if not now, never; but can quietly choose the time of acquisition when it is best, and then reach out the hand to take it. But stop again. Mastery of human life--is it not something vastly more than all of this? Is it not to be above counting it indispensable, to use it only as one help in the working out of the great purpose; to lay it down, and yet win the aim by other help; to lay it down as a workman puts down a tool and takes it again? But who of us is so boldly independent as that? Who can work out his human purpose without the help of human life? But I must go yet one great step farther in this description of what it is to be a master of human life. It is this: Suppose you were independent of this human life, yet you are not master of it if it can withdraw itself and you have no power to keep or resume it. If, after showing your ability to do without it, it were able to keep away from you, if you had no power to take it again, you would not be its master. That is the complete mastery of human life, not only to work out your purpose independently of it, but to really resume it, to take it again when it has been laid down … I find, in the midst of all this history of man and his life--believing himself master, and yet never so in reality--one life which has no such feature, which could never have been troubled by the thought of fate. There is One among all human existences which bears all the marks of the mastership of life, which claims from all the title of Lord and Master. First of all, Christ comes to human life with His own purpose fully formed and self-originated. He brought a Divine purpose to earth. Then see how absolutely, without change, that purpose of Christs is carried out. Not a feature is altered; not a circumstance is varied, nor any addition made. It is accomplished just according to the heavenly purpose. Life has no power to change it in the smallest particular. But this royal purpose, will not human life override it, and outgrow it, and destroy it, or gather it into itself and its own purpose, like the little rift that your hand makes in the water of the strong river? Will it remain as it was planned? How those words, the everlasting gospel, answer our question! What is there but the word of God, which endures forever? Oh! what is there today in the world which remains unchanged but the salvation of Christ? But did life give to Him the fulfilment of His purpose, as it does to its favourites, granting the prize to Him in its own time as its favour? I do not know anything more quietly grand about Jesus life than the way in which He chooses the very time when it all shall be done. My time is not yet come; I lay down My life of Myself; I must work today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected, He says, conscious of controlling the time completely. But how His Mastership grows upon us! Still let me go on to show you how His great purpose is independent of human life. Life is not indispensable to it as to our purpose. He can fulfil His purpose in loss of life, and by loss of life. I lay down My life of Myself. This commandment have I received of My Father. The Divine purpose is not lost, but won, by passing into death. I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto Me. How little is human life necessary to His purpose, who died that we might live! How little dependent on this human existence is that love of God which came from heaven, which has heavens life, which is greater than death, which survives the loss of earthly life! There is but one more addition. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. Here is the highest and last sign of the Master. Can you not see how the river of life flows from the throne of God and the Lamb, where Christ, the ascended God-man, sits, who has taken human life again? Christ would take us all into His great purpose. Follow your own human purposes alone, and then, indeed, life is your master. But become our Lords follower, have a share in His purpose, have a real part and place in the salvation of Christ, and then you, too, have a superiority to life, a mastery of life. Then you, too, are living for an aim which life did not give you; an aim which life cannot modify or destroy; an aim which will be fulfilled in its own chosen time of heavenly happiness; an aim that can survive death and the loss of human life; an aim which, in a resurrection, will be able by its power to resume life as its obedient servant. (Fred. Brooks.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 11. I am the good shepherd. This title, applied…
11. I am the good shepherd. This title, applied to Jehovah in Psa 23, and in Ezek. 34:12, Christ here applies to himself. The mark of the good shepherd is that he giveth his life for his sheep. In that unsettled country the shepherd had often to defend his flock.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Jesus the Good Shepherd:
Jesus the Good Shepherd:
v. 11. I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.
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v. 12. But he that is an hireling, and not the Shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
v. 13. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
v. 14. I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.
v. 15. As the Father ’knoweth Me, even so know I the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
v. 16. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd.
Jesus here applies the parable in still another way, from another view-point. He calls Himself the Good shepherd, with emphasis, as the only one that may bear this name with full justice. In this sense the name is applicable to Christ alone; He is the one most excellent Shepherd of the spiritual sheep. The first feature which distinguishes Him as the true Shepherd of souls is this, that He gives His life, His own soul, as a ransom, as the one complete sacrifice, for the guilt of all sinners, who have earned eternal damnation. He became their Substitute; He took upon Himself their transgressions and died in their stead. Thus the guilty, the sinners, were delivered from sin and destruction. In this respect Jesus incidentally is an example for all those that bear the name pastor as His assistants in the great work. For that purpose He also places Himself in deliberate contrast to the hirelings, the false teachers, the Pharisees. Such hirelings, whose sole concern is the money and the desire to take their ease in Zion, have no interest in the souls of men entrusted to their care. They are strictly mercenary and will work only so long as their lives and well-being seem to be safe. At the first sign of the wolf, at the first indication of real danger, of probable persecution, suffering, and even martyrdom, they turn in precipitate flight. The result is the dispersion and the murder of the sheep on the part of the enemies. But the hireling does not care; he has no worry, no anxiety for, no interest in, the sheep. "He that will be a preacher, let him love the work with all his heart, that he seek only God’s honor and the welfare of his neighbor. If he does not seek God’s glory and his neighbor’s salvation only, but thinks, in such office, of his benefit and detriment, there you need not think that he will last. Either he will flee shamefully and desert the sheep, or he will keep silence and let the sheep go without pasture, that is, without the Word. Those are hirelings that preach for their own benefit, are covetous, and do not want to be satisfied with that which God gives them daily as an alms. For we preachers should not desire more from our office than enough and to spare. Those that want more are hirelings that do not care for the herd; whereas a pious preacher will give up everything on that account, even his body and life. " The second feature that distinguishes Jesus as the Good Shepherd, in contrast to all others, is the fact of the intimate acquaintance and knowledge between Him and His sheep. Just as Jesus knows them that are His, according to body, mind, and heart, so the believers know Jesus; their heart, their mind and will, is centered in Jesus, rests in Jesus. The expression fitly pictures the intimate, cordial relation and communion of love that obtains between Christ and His true disciples. This intimacy and communion is as close and embracing as that which exists between Father and Son. Their hearts and minds are open to each other; there is a mutual interchange of thoughts and ideas, all guided by a wonderful love. Thus it is between Christ and the believers. It is due to Christ’s knowledge of the Father and His will that Jesus declares that He will lay down His life for the sheep. The ransom is paid for the sins of the whole world, but the believers alone take advantage of the mercy of the Savior, they alone obtain the grace of the Father. And Christ has other sheep, which are not of this fold; He shall gain believers in Him also from the members of other nations outside of the Jewish. For the Father has given a great number to Him, out of every nation in the world; they are His by the Father’s design and gift. Christ here declares that His voice, In the Word of the Gospel, would go out unto the people of other; descent and tongue than the Jews. It is the, obligation of the divine will resting upon Him, which is urging Him to gain also these for the Gospel. And they would listen, they would obey His voice in the Gospel, and the final result would be one dock, composed of all such as have accepted salvation through the blood of Christ, and one Shepherd, the Son of God Him! self. "But nothing is said of unity of organization. There may be various folds, though one flock. " The dreams of unionism find no support in this passage. The "holy Christian Church, the communion of saints," has been gathered in the world ever since the first proclamation of the Gospel, and all the true believers in Christ form the great invisible Church. But there is not a word here of uniting visible church organizations into one great, powerful body.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus continues his parable about the good shepherd.
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I am the good shepherd
Here "good shepherd" is a metaphor that represents Jesus. AT: "I am like a good shepherd" (See: Metaphor)
lays down his life
To lay down something means to give up control of it. It is a mild way to refer to dying. AT: "dies" (See: Euphemism)
The hired servant
The "hired servant" is a metaphor that represents the Jewish leaders and teachers. AT: "The one who is like a hired servant" (See: Metaphor)
abandons the sheep and ... does not care for the sheep
Here the word "sheep" is a metaphor that represents God's people. Like a hired servant who abandons the sheep, Jesus says that the Jewish leaders and teachers do not care for God's people. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
good
shepherd
life
ewe
servant
wolf
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:11-14 I am: See study note on 6:35. The…
10:11-14 I am: See study note on 6:35. The good shepherd leads his sheep, finds food and water, and locates paths in the wilderness (see Ps 23). The good shepherd stands between his sheep and danger (John 10:11) and fights to protect them. The Old Testament describes God as Israel’s shepherd (Pss 23; 80:1; Isa 40:10-11). The leaders of God’s people should shepherd their flock as God does (Ezek 34:23). However, the leaders of Israel in Jesus’ time were bad shepherds.
10:11-13 Small villages often created communal flocks and employed a hired hand to tend the sheep. However, an employee lacked the commitment of a true shepherd. The wilderness of Judea had many predators. When a wolf or other predators attacked, the hired hand would run rather than defend the sheep. Jesus will never do this; he will always stand between his sheep and danger.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.