The man
Good Shepherd
The shepherd doesn't leave when the wolf comes.
I am the good shepherd.
Ezekiel 34:1-24 · John 9:35-41 · John 10:1-30
The scene
Jesus had just healed a man who had been blind from birth. The Pharisees questioned him and eventually threw him out.
Jesus heard what had happened and found him.
What Jesus says next reaches back to Ezekiel. God had condemned Israel's shepherds for looking after themselves while the sheep were neglected and scattered. He promised that he would search for his sheep and rescue them.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."John 10:11
Jesus compares himself with a hired hand. The hired hand runs when he sees the wolf coming because the sheep aren't his.
The good shepherd doesn't run.
"I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own."John 10:14
His sheep know his voice and follow him. Unlike the hired hand, Jesus already knows what being their shepherd will cost him.
"I lay down my life for the sheep."John 10:15
"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."John 10:18
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."John 10:27-28
The leaders had thrown one man out.
Jesus went and found him.
The point
I am the good shepherd.John 10:11
Sit with this
Do you trust the shepherd enough to follow him?