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January 06, 2013 |
| Laying it Down | ||
In this lesson we'll be looking in detail at Jesus description of himself as the Good Shepherd from the book of John. Along with that he says some other things that tell us more about him, his role, and his struggle.
Before we dig into the text of these verses we need to understand something that is different in this translation than you will not see in most others. In these verses Jesus will say "I am" four times. But he uses a form of "I am" that was reserved for God or perhaps a king. By using this form he implies that he is God or at least king. Jesus' use of this form when he was speaking with the Pharisees was part of what infuriated them with him. They and the other listeners knew what he was implying but he wasn't saying it outright.
But this "I am" does not translate completely into English because we have no equivalent to it. The closest thing we have in English is a royal "we". For example you might hear a queen say "We are not amused". When she does this she isn't referring to her and her staff but to herself only, to show that she is important. But if the translators used "we are" instead of "I am" in the translation it would just confuse most of the readers of the Bible.
In this translation the translator has chosen to explicitly say what Jesus is saying implicitly. So when Jesus says "I am the gate" the translator renders it as "I am the living God, the gate".
This translation also uses Jesus' real name, Yeshua. Because Hebrew and Aramaic at the time had no vowels, we can't be exactly sure of the pronunciation. But this is the best English approximation of the name that Mary gave him.
At the beginning of this chapter we find Jesus speaking to the Pharisees.
1 "Timeless truth I speak with you: whoever enters not by the gate to the sheepfold, but comes up from another place, is a thief and a robber. 2 He who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the flock; 3 To this one the gate keeper opens the gate and the flock hears his voice; he calls his sheep by their names and leads them out. 4 And when he has brought forth his flock, he goes before it and his own sheep go after him, because they know his voice. 5 But the flock goes not after a stranger, but flees from him, for it does not know a stranger's voice."
6 Yeshua spoke this allegory to them, but they did not know what he was speaking with them.
In the first five verses Jesus presents an allegory, a story with a symbolic meaning. In the following verses he will refer back to this story. So it's important now to understand the elements of sheep management. A sheepfold is a fenced in area where the sheep are kept during the night or during bad weather. During the night it keeps them together so the shepherd(s) can protect them against carnivores and thieves. During bad weather it keeps them from running away and getting lost.
Shepherds were the owners of their flocks. The flock was their livelihood. If the sheep didn't make it to market the shepherd didn't get paid. So, to them the sheep were as important as their life.
Shepherds hired people to help them with shepherding the sheep, but the motivation of hired shepherds was different because they got paid by the hour not when the sheep made it to market. To them, it was a job and certainly not worth their life.
The gate was the easiest way to get in to the sheepfold but it was also well guarded for that reason. Carnivores and thieves jumped over the fence, dug under the fence, or pushed their way through gaps in the fence to get in.
Jesus' audience would have been familiar with shepherds and sheep. On hearing Jesus story they would have said to themselves, "Yeah, so, that's the life of a shepherd" Unless they were looking for a deeper meaning they would have thought it was an ordinary story that told them nothing new. Because his listeners would have missed the point Jesus proceeds to explain it by placing himself in the story.
7 But again Yeshua said to them, "Timeless truth I speak to you; I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Gate of the flock. 8 And all who had come were thieves and robbers, but the flock did not hear them."
This is the first use of the royal "I am" in this chapter. Along with that he claims to be the gate from the story. This is the first hint to his audience that there was more to the story than they thought.
Jesus also says that everyone else who had come to lead the flock were thieves and robbers. By this he is saying that they were trying to steal the flock away from the shepherd or trying to steal from the flock. Of course Jesus means this spiritually, that the false leaders were trying to lead the flock away from God or just using the flock to glorify themselves.
Jesus' meaning here is deep. He is also saying that God's flock knew that the words from these false leaders were not the words of God and ran away from them.
9 "I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Gate; if anyone will enter by me, he shall live and shall go in and out and shall find the pasture. 10 But a thief does not come except to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have whatever is abundant."
Jesus repeats that he is the gate. Previously he referred to himself as the gate that kept the evil ones out. This time he refers to himself as the gate in the sense that he is the only way in. More than that, he says that he is the only way in to life and all good things. Deeper still, he uses the gate as a symbol of care and protection. Those who have entered by the gate are under the protection and provision of the shepherd.
In contrast he says that the thieves and robbers are not there for the benefit of the sheep or the shepherd, but for themselves.
11 "I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his flock. 12 But a hired man who is not a shepherd, whenever he may see a wolf coming, leaves the flock and runs. 13 But a hired man runs because he is a hired man, and cares not about the flock, and a wolf comes snatching at and scattering the flock."
Now Jesus says that he is also the shepherd of the story. As we covered at the start of the lesson the hired shepherds were there for the daily pay and were not going to risk their lives to save the flock. By contrast the good shepherd was prepared to risk and lose his life for the flock.
It's important to understand what is meant here by "lays down his life". It does not mean to kill himself or lay down and die. It means to choose not to protect and defend one's life. When danger came the hired shepherds would choose to protect their lives by running away from the danger. The good shepherd chooses that his life is not more important than the sheep. This will be important to understand later in these verses.
14 "I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Good Shepherd. I know mine and am known by mine." 15 "Just as my Father knows me and I know my Father, and I lay down my life for the flock's sake."
Again Jesus says that he is the shepherd of the story. Previously he spoke of the shepherd as willing to risk and lose his life for the sheep. Now he will speak of the shepherd being willing to do this because it is the will of the Father. This would have had meaning to everyone in his audience. The shepherds were usually the sons and daughters of the owner, and therefore owners themselves. If you recall the story of the calling of King David, you will remember that David was the youngest and was out tending the sheep when Samuel came for him.
Jesus draws a parallel in this verse saying just as the sheep know me and I know them, my father knows me and I know him. His point is that he knows his obligation towards the sheep and towards his father and he knows the will of his father which is to be prepared to risk and lose his life.
16 "But I have other sheep which were not from this fold; I must also bring them. They also will hear my voice, and the entire fold shall be one, and One Shepherd."
So far, the sheep Jesus has been talking about symbolically are the Jews. But now he says there is another sheepfold, by which he means the gentiles – anyone who is not a Jew. His intent is to call them so they will also know his voice as the other sheep do. Together they will become one flock with one shepherd.
17 "Because of this my Father delights in me, because I am laying down my life that I may receive it again."
This is where Jesus departs from his earlier story. His audience would have known of shepherds who had risked and lost their lives but none had received their lives again. This would have tripped them up and caused them to wonder what he was saying. We know now that he was saying that losing his life was not just a possibility but soon to be a fact – and that he would be resurrected.
We discussed earlier what was meant by "laying down my life". Here Jesus draws a parallel between "laying it down" and "receiving it'. In other translation the words used make that parallel even clearer by saying "laying it down" and "taking it up." But some misunderstand "I am taking it up" to mean that Jesus is going to resurrect himself. He is not; he is resurrected by the father. The use of "receiving it" is clearer here and better fits the parallel that is being drawn. Jesus is not killing himself and resurrecting himself. He is allowing others to kill him and the father will return his life to him. He makes that clearer in the next verse.
18 "No man takes it from me; I am laying it down of my own will, for I am authorized to lay it down, and I am authorized to receive it again; this commandment I have received from my Father."
No man could take his life from him by force. He was God and fully able to defend his life from any man. You may remember that various times the religious leaders tried to stone him but he slipped away. There was also a time when a group of men grabbed him and tried to throw him from a cliff, but he was able to free himself and walk away.
It was only because Jesus chose not to defend his life that they were able to kill him. He could have chosen to defend himself. It would have been hard to crucify him if the Roman soldiers had tried to pound in nails that became foam rubber with hammers that became tulips. That's assuming they could get him anywhere near the cross.
But that raises a very important point. By choosing not to defend himself Jesus was rejecting the natural impulses to defend himself.
I suspect that some of the drops of blood he sweat in the garden were for him, that he would not lash out in word or deed.
And there is another important point. Jesus says that he was authorized both to lay down his life and to receive it again. This authority had come to him through the commandment of his father. While we are called to use Jesus as the model for our lives we are not authorized to lay down our lives as he did. We are expected to defend ourselves by every legal means. Our evidence for this comes from apostles like Paul who pled and appealed their cases in the courts.
Jesus makes an implicit claim to be God by the words that he chooses to use. Instead of trying to understand it the religious elite were offended by it. But because his claim was implicit there was nothing they could charge him with.
Jesus describes himself as being like two things in his story.
Jesus was authorized to lay down his life and this was the commandment to him from his father. For this reason he did not defend himself when he was before the Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pilate. He also did not defend himself against the death sentence he was given and he allowed it to be carried out.
Through his death Jesus was going to bring the gentiles together with the Jews under one shepherd. Previously the shepherds of the flock had been the priests, the son's of Aaron. As a result access to God was limited to Jews. With his death the priesthood was abolished and direct access to God became possible for all men.