The Good Shepherd

Read the introduction, the Gospel passage and the accompanying

considerations. Reflect on the questions at the end, and if you so wish, share your
reflections with your group.

Introduction
SDB Const. 95: “The Salesian draws on the love of the Good
Shepherd, whose witness he wants to be.”
For us Salesians, the 10th chapter of St. John’s Gospel ought to be one of
our favourite passages of Scripture that we meditate upon with relish. For there
we have a description of the kind of shepherd we are called to be after the
heart of Jesus.

Gospel text (Jn. 10,11-18)

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees
the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away - and the wolf snatches them
and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care
for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just
as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also,
and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this
reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up
again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command
from my Father.”

Some considerations
The Jews were basically a shepherd people. Abel, Abraham, Jacob,
Moses and David were all shepherds. So, what did the shepherd represent for the
people of Israel?

Dedication. The shepherd stood for dedication. He was someone who

lived with and for his flock. Here is how the prophet Nathan described a shepherd
in the little parable he used to open the eyes of King David after his affair with
Bathsheba. He spoke of a poor man who had a little lamb. “He nourished her,” he
said, “and she grew up with him and his children. She shared the little food he
head and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom. She was like a daughter to
him” (2 Sm. 12,3).
 Courage. Secondly, a shepherd was a man of courage. He was capable
and willing to defend his sheep even to the point of a bloody fight. When David
offered himself to fight against Goliath, King Saul tried to dissuade him saying he
was only a youth and by no means strong enough to fight the giant. David
responded: “Your servant used to tend his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a
bear came to carry off a sheep from the flock, I would go after it and attack it and
rescue the prey from its mouth. If it attacked me, I would seize it by the jaw,
strike it, and kill it. Your servant has killed both a lion and bear, and this
uncircumcised Philistine will be one of them” (1 Sm. 17.34-36).

Responsibility. A third quality that stood out in the shepherd was his
sense of responsibility. In those days they didn’t have paper money as we have
today. Capital was largely invested in herds entrusted to a shepherd. And so, a
shepherd saw to it that no sheep went lost, otherwise he would be called to
account and to restitution. Since the sheep were always on the move, they were
exposed to the dangers of weather and wild animals. And so, the shepherd was
constantly alert, watchful, ready, caring and careful. He was a dependable person,
a man of responsibility.

With such a continual tradition of shepherding among the people of Israel

and shepherds playing a unique and important role, it was only to be expected that
the image of the shepherd would frequently be used as an image for God.
And so, there are many instances in the Old Testament where Yahweh is
described as a shepherd:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” (Ps. 23,1)
“For he is our God and we the people he shepherds, the flock he guides”
(Ps. 95,7)
“Like a shepherd, he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom, leading the ewes with care” (Is.- 40,10-11).
God, in turn, called certain persons to be shepherds in his name.
However, these shepherds turned out to be hirelings, caring more for themselves
than for the flock; they allowed the flock to be scattered and ravaged by wild
animals.

So, God made a promise through the prophet Ezechiel: “I shall raise up
one shepherd, my shepherd David, and put him in charge of [the sheep] to pasture
them and be their shepherd” (Ez 34, 23-24).
Jesus was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Now, it is very significant that
Jesus received many titles while he walked this earth: Good Master, Rabbi, Lord,
Son of David… But, the one title he chose for himself was: the Good Shepherd:
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
 It is also significant that the theme of Christ the Good Shepherd was a
favourite among the early Christians. In fact, one of the things that strikes a
visitor to the catacombs in Rome is the picture of the Good Shepherd on the
ceiling. The Christians were hunted by Roman soldiers. And yet, on those bare
walls they painted the figure of Christ – for whom perhaps on the morrow they
would lose their lives – and they painted him not as the babe of Bethlehem, not as
the Crucified One of Calvary, but as the Good Shepherd. It was probably the
Gospel text that filled their mind and heart: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
and no one shall snatch them out of my hand” (Jn. 10,27-30).

By describing himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus gave us a dynamic

understanding of the Christian life as a pilgrimage, a journey – with himself as
our leader and guide.
But through the Good Shepherd theme, Jesus also revealed much about
himself:

He made clear his personal care and concern for each one:
“He calls his own by name” (v. 3); “he walks in front of them, and the
sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice” (v. 4); “I know my sheep and
my sheep know me in the same way that the Father knows me and I know the
Father” (v. 14-15).
There was a common practice at the time of Jesus of several herds of
sheep being sheltered for the night in the same compound; at dawn each shepherd
would call his own sheep. They, recognizing their master’s voice, would follow
him to pasture. The mutual recognition of sheep and shepherd was so significant
that Jesus likened it to his intimate relationship with his Father!

The same personal concern turned into compassion for the sheep. In the
parable of lost sheep, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the waste land and
goes in search of the lost one (Lk 15,3-7). Mark says that when Jesus stepped
ashore, “he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them, because they were like
sheep without a shepherd” (Lk. 6,34).
That pity led him to heal their sick (Mt. 14,14), to feed the hungry five
thousand (Lk. 9,10 ff.), and to shed tears: “As he drew near and came in sight of
the city he shed tears over it… “ (Lk 19,41).

The result of his concern and his compassion was a total giving. “The
good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” In totally giving himself, Jesus
paid the price for true shepherding. He gave his life for his sheep by living for
them, dying for them and even feeding them with his own flesh.
 Today the theme of shepherding the flock of young people is at the centre
of our life and action as Salesians. We call it “pastoral love”, and it is our way to
holiness We are called to be shepherds of the young after the heart of Jesus…

Points for reflection and sharing:

1. The Old and New Testaments mention six different qualities of the
shepherd: dedication, courage, responsibility, pastoral concern for each
one, compassion, and total giving. Which of these six qualities of the
shepherd do today’s young people need most, and why?
2. How can we as Salesians develop these qualities of mind and heart in
ourselves so as to be “good shepherds after the heart of Jesus”?