Thinking Through the Good Shepherd Allegory

For most Christians today, Church has become primarily associated with comfort and safety. We live in a world that scares the daylights out of us, and with good reason. Sometimes it seems that our entire political and social structures are falling apart. Church is a place that people go to be comforted and told that everything is going to be okay.

The allegory of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is interpreted in most Churches in this light. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who takes care of the sheep. We are the sheep. We are surrounded by lots of dangers, which are represented by the wild animals. God is the owner of the sheep. Normally sermons on this text focus on the care of the Good Shepherd, the powerlessness of the sheep, or the danger of the wild animals.

Lets do something unexpected and actually think through the allegory. If Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep, what is the fate of the sheep? What are the sheep being cultivated for, and where are they going to end up?

In order to answer these questions, we need to consider the place of sheep in ancient Israel. Sheep, along with most livestock, are cultivated today for food. This was not true in the ancient world. Animals in the ancient world were raised primarily for religious sacrifice. It seems alien to us, but in the ancient world, every significant (and some not so significant acts) required some form of religious ritual, which typically involved animal sacrifice. For example, when we read the Torah, we see a huge number of religious rituals that are prescribed for just about everything. These animals had to come from somewhere. By analogy, if you have read the Iliad, Homer's epic of a small part of the 10 year siege of Troy, you know that the characters in the story spend a lot more time engaging in religious rituals to appease the gods than actual fighting. Modern day movies dealing with the siege of Troy (or any story set in the ancient world) have to ignore this basic component of ancient life in order to create a movie that can be sold to a modern audience.

When Jesus' ancient listeners heard that they were being associated with sheep, they would have immediately made the connection with religious ritual. And they would have been understandably shocked by the real message of the allegory. Jesus as the Good Shepherd is laying down his life for the sheep and protecting the sheep from the wild animals so that they can be prepared to be sacrificed themselves.

God's will for us is that we be formed, through God's sanctifying grace, into God's instruments to be God's ambassadors in the world. As disciples of Christ, we are called to live as Christ for others, bringing Christ's message into the world and living as servants of others, as Christ lived as the servant of all people. Jesus was God's instrument to bring reconciliation and salvation to the world. Jesus offered himself willingly as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. God wants us to sacrifice ourselves for others to continue the work of Christ and to help make this world the world that God wants it to be.