The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd is an image of God that is very familiar to all of us as Christians. Any number of organizations and institutions throughout the world are known by this particular title. The title connotes a deep dimension of care, protection and nurturing. Our ideas of the Good Shepherd are most likely informed by Psalm twenty-three from the Old Testament.

“The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”

Notions of feeding and leading, rest and long awaited refreshment come to mind. This psalm is a favorite that one many times hears at funerals and understandably so.

Treasured as our images of the good shepherd from Pslam twenty-three may be, those images don’t compare to what Jesus has to say about the Good Shepherd in the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel:

“I am the Good Shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”

With these words Jesus is telling us that we have an intimacy, a closeness, a union with God. This union is so strong that our shepherd will lay down his life for us, the sheep.

In the time of Jesus, a shepherd literally lived with the sheep on the hillsides. He fed them and led them to verdant pastures. Then at night he led them to a pen and literally laid himself down at the entrance of the pen to protect the sheep from predators who would seek to destroy the sheep.

Jesus is this good shepherd who has laid his life down for us his flock as he embraced the cross on Good Friday. This good shepherd not only laid down his life for us but was raised, drawing us to new life with himself. Ultimately, the Good Shepherd reflects a God who never lets go of us; staying with us through thick and thin, through death to new life.

On those days when life is tough let our prayer be: Jesus, the Good Shepherd, be my strength, show me the way!

Fr. James Heithoff

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church