The Good Shepherd

     It was a cold and snowy week this week…resulting in not one, but TWO days of seminary cancellation. Knowing how sad you all must feel to have to sleep in and miss two of my lessons, I am going to put one of them on the blog so that you can get caught up!  If you read this lesson, the scriptures in the lesson,  and can answer the questions that I will have for you on Monday morning, then you will earn a makeup day!

Facts about Shepherding that you may or may not know:

"The shepherd in Palestine lived a lonely life and was noted for his faithfulness and protection to his sheep.  At night the sheep would be brought in to an enclosure called a sheepfold which had high walls to keep anything or anyone from getting in.  At the top of the walls were placed thorns which prevented wolves from leaping into the enclosure.  Proper entrance was at the door only.

 Read John 10:1,2,7

Often several flocks were brought into one fold and one shepherd, called a porter, would stand guard at the door during the night whole the others would go home to rest.  When they would return in the morning, they would be recognized by the doorkeeper, allowed to enter, and each call his flock and lead them forth to pasture. 

Read John 10:2-3

The shepherd provided food for the sheep.  The shepherd walked ahead of his sheep and led them.  The sheep knew the shepherd and trusted in him and would not follow a stranger.

 Read John 10:4-5

He generally had a name for each sheep and each knew its own name and would come when called.  If a stranger called, the sheep became nervous and stated and would not obey the voice of a stranger, for they knew their master’s voice.

Read John 10:3-4, 27

The shepherd, the owner of the sheep, was willing to give his life for the sheep if need be.  Sometimes a leopard or a panther, when driven by hunger, would leap over the walls of the fold and into the midst of the frightened sheep.  Then was the time when the nerve and heart of the shepherd was tried.  A hireling, one who did not own the sheep , might as such a crisis flee from the danger and shrink fro the duties of the shepherd. 

Read John 10 11-13

Unwatched, the hireling might not put the welfare of the sheep foremost in his life. Hirelings had been known to sell sheep and then pocket the money and account for the loss by saying that the wolves came and destroyed the sheep.   

When this is applied to the gospel, it is seen what a ‘hireling’ might do with the care of human souls.  But the true shepherd’s chief concern was the welfare of the sheep.

 Read John 21:15-17

Even the shepherd’s clothing was designed to aid him in his care of the sheep.  The shepherd’s coat generally had a large pocket inside, suitable for carrying a weak or wounded lamb to safety.  Isaiah made reference to this pocket when he ascribed to Christ the role of the shepherd.

Read Isaiah 40:10-11, John 14,15

 Jesus’ station as the Good Shepherd is complete in every detail. He is the door of the fold, by which we must enter.  There is none other. (John 10:9)  He is not a hireling but is the true shepherd of human souls, and ‘we are not our own’, but as he has purchased us with his precious blood.   

(1 Corinthians 6; 19-20, 1 Corinthians 7:23, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2 Peter 2:1, Acts 20:28) The shepherd provided the pasture on which the sheep feed. Jesus has given us his word. We are warned against the doctrines of men. Only the pasture that the Lord provides is proper food for his sheep, and no man can be saved in ignorance of his word or without his revelations. The true sheep know his voice.  The true shepherd knows and owns his sheep and he calls them.  We thus take upon us the name of Christ, for he owns us: we are his sheep: if we have his name, we can enter by the door’

(Matthews, The parable of Jesus, pp75-76; institute manual “The Life and Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles” pp 108-109)

Thought Questions:

1.  What does it mean to you when the Savior says "My sheep know my voice."? 

2. What difference does it make to you that the Savior knows your name, and that you are numbered among His Sheep?

Just for fun....a little sheep that I truly adore.