Jesus is the Good Shepherd
23/01/2011
The story of Jesus' healing of the man born blind forces us to rethink our ideas about who has God's approval and what sort of people God works through. In this story Jesus demonstrates that the people we might think of as being forsaken by God or to have little to offer Him are actually the people who He is pleased to work in and through, while those who seem to have every advantage are often blind to God and resist His work.
As Jesus goes on to describe Himself as the Good Shepherd, He contrasts rules-based religion to a living relationship with God through Himself. This was always God's intention as the Old Testament portrays in many places - Psalm 23 being a classic example. Now through Jesus this living relationship with God is made possible. However there are those who would lead us away from Christ. Jesus exposes these people as false shepherds who are in it only for their own profit and whose influence leads only to death and destruction. Many of the Pharisees were in His line of fire, but the ultimate target is Satan - the father of lies and the one who is at work in those who are disobedient to God who commands us to believe in His Son.
In contrast to these self-serving shepherds (or "hired hands") and with the thief that comes in to steal, kill and destroy, Jesus is the One who lays down His life for the sheep. He paid the price for our salvation. He did this willingly because of His love for us - this is the kind of shepherd we should follow. He is the One who will be faithful to His promise to give us life eternal, life abundant. We know this because we are confident of His love for us because He died for us; and by His resurrection from the dead we can be confident of Jesus' power to deliver on His promises.
