One of the great mysteries about God, is how he can be mighty, supreme, and all-powerful; but at the same time, perfectly merciful, gentle, and compassionate.  We call Christ our King.  But what sort of King is he?  How can we understand the power that he exercises?  He’s a king who reigns from the throne of the cross.  His greatest act of leadership and sovereignty is his act of self-sacrifice: the sacrifice he makes for all of us, his subjects, his children.  His kingship is that of a good shepherd: this ancient and beautiful image for God that we encounter in today’s Gospel.  “Pasturing sheep” is the image given to us to help us understand the kind of ruler that Christ is, a ruler who cares for the weak and the lost. 

This image of the Good Shepherd is ancient and is found even in the Old Testament, where God appears as the Shepherd of Israel.  We’re so familiar with the beautiful 23rd Psalm: The Lord is my shepherd…Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me.”  This image also appears again and again in the words of the prophets: the prophet Zechariah even foretells a Shepherd who saves his sheep from danger, but must give up his life to do so.  A truly remarkable thing, that a farm-hand would love the creatures entrusted to him so much, that he would die for them.  Of course, Christ fulfills this prophecy: he is the perfectly good shepherd, who comes to lay down his life for us, poor unworthy creatures that we are.  The hired man that the Gospel describes, doesn’t really care about the sheep.  He regards the sheep as property, which he exploits for his own benefit.  The Good Shepherd does the opposite.  He doesn’t exploit life: he gives life.  Christ says, “I have come to give life, and life abundantly.”  If we will let Christ lead us, if we trust in the goodness of his shepherding: then he will lead us to the fullest life we could possibly live.  A selfish shepherd would lead his flock around in whatever way seemed best for his own advantage.  The good shepherd will always lead the sheep to the place of true safety and fulfillment.  Our Good Shepherd doesn’t want anything for us but our good: and the places he asks us to go; the ditches and cliffs he asks us to avoid: his gentle hand is always at work there guiding us, guiding his sheep, into the places of safety and true joy.  And so, the moral law, the Ten Commandments, the teachings of the Church, shouldn’t make us feel restricted or hemmed in: they should make us feel safe and free: because in these things, the gentle hand of the Good Shepherd is leading us away from danger and towards the place of refreshment and peace.  

And we can trust the commandments the Lord gives to us: because he will stop at nothing to protect us and guide us to salvation.  He even gives up his own life: what greater proof do we need that there is nothing selfish or arbitrary in the motives of our Shepherd.  He cares for nothing but our salvation: the Good Shepherd even lays down his life for his sheep, willingly.  The true Shepherd, who guides his flock, is the Eternal Word, the Son of God himself.  The flock that he guides is our human family.  In his coming to earth to live as one of us, and especially in his Cross and Resurrection, he brings home the stray sheep: he brings us home.  Christ is the true “Sheep-Bearer,” the Shepherd who follows after us even when we wander into the thorns of life.  Carried on his shoulders, we come home.  He gave his life for us.  He himself is life.  He is our shepherd, he is our salvation, and he is our peace.