The Good Shepherd Chose Calvary's Loving Sacrifice
Daily Scripture
John 10:11-18
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him.
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd.
17 “This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
John told his readers Jesus chose the path that led to his crucifixion (verses 17-18). Calling himself a shepherd, Jesus “declares that violent death is not just a dangerous possibility; it’s his vocation. The best explanation of why is found in… this very down-to-earth picture of the shepherd and the sheep. The sheep are facing danger; the shepherd will go to meet it, and, if necessary, he will take upon himself the fate that would otherwise befall the sheep. In Jesus’ case, it was necessary, and he did.” *
- All four gospels pointedly noted that Jesus intentionally went to Jerusalem before that fateful Passover (Matthew 16:21, Mark 10:32-33, Luke 9:51, John 12:12). John even showed that the disciples knew that, humanly speaking, this wasn’t a good idea (John 11:8, 16). But Jesus went, not for himself but for the sake of his “sheep,” the ones already in his flock and all the others he wanted to reach (verse 16). When have you sensed that you matter that much to Jesus?
- But going to Jerusalem with a cross waiting was not an act of bleak pessimism. Jesus said his death would not be the end of the story. He linked dying and rising: “I have the right to give [my life] up, and I have the right to take it up again.” That’s why, shortly after in John, he would make this powerful statement: “I AM the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Can you see why only the Creator of life would be able to voluntarily give life up and take it up again?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, I choose to trust you to be my shepherd. Shelter me, care for me, and guide me to the truly good life, a life shaped by your self-giving love and example. Amen.
GPS Insights
Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at Leawood's modern worship services, as well as at the West and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
I studied this passage in a Bible study in college, and we performed an interesting activity. We made a list of the “characters” in this story:
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The hired hand
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The good shepherd
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The sheep under the hired hand
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The sheep scattered by wolves
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The sheep protected by the good shepherd
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The sheep in other flocks, separated from the good shepherd’s flock
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The lost sheep
We spent the evening talking about which of those groups we belonged to. Some were fortunate to be the safe sheep protected by the good shepherd, but others found themselves in different groups. Some had been burnt out from bad church experiences, resembling the sheep under the hired hand or scattered by wolves. Some felt excluded from mainstream groups like faithful sheep waiting outside the flock for the good shepherd to bring them into the fold. As the small group leader, I confessed that some nights I was the good shepherd and others I was the hired hand. One girl opened up and told us that she was one of the lost sheep—she had a falling out with her religious family and was keeping her distance from the church.
We all got closer that evening because the story made us think about and discuss where we were in relation to the good shepherd. Our role in that story can change from year to year or even week to week. It was eye-opening to learn that, while we all looked more or less the same walking into the study that night, we were in vastly different places, some of us fighting silent battles and struggling.
The point of the exercise, though, wasn’t to examine our differences; it was to talk about how we all needed the good shepherd to draw us into his flock and protect us. The sheep safely in the shepherd’s flock, even the ones who had been there their entire lives, needed the good shepherd just as much as the lost sheep who had been struggling in isolation for years. We also needed to recognize that the safety and familiarity some of us felt with religious communities wasn’t shared by all, and we needed to provide a safe environment for new sheep to enter our community.
This Easter, I have no doubt that people from all of those groups will attend our church services and family gatherings. The people sitting next to us, the people having polite conversations, and even the people under our own roofs may be in different spots than we think they are. We may be in different groups than the people around us realize. But Jesus died to be the good shepherd for all of us. Easter is a time to think about which of those groups we’re in, which group we want to be in, and how the good shepherd can help all of us. In the chaos of Easter services and family gatherings, take some time to meditate and think about this. It’s OK to be safe or lost, but it’s always good to be safer and more secure and to take steps to get there.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Wright, N. T., John for Everyone, Part 1 (p. 151). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
