The Thief and the Shepherd

Read John 10.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10).

How do you tell the difference between a thief and a caregiver? If you were to pass both sorts on the street, could you tell which was which, just by looking at them? Of course not. Unless the thief is wearing an identifying sign, you wouldn't know which was which. The way you can tell the difference is in the result of their life, the outcome of their actions.

Jesus is continuing to discuss and debate his identity and his authority with the religious leaders, and to give them a mental image of who he is (an image they don't understand, according to John), he reaches back into their history and out into their culture to find the metaphor. He is the gate for the sheep, and more than that, he is a shepherd—THE shepherd, the good shepherd.

A shepherd is, in essence, a caregiver. It's the shepherd's job to care for the sheep, to tend their wounds, to make sure the sheep continue to live. A shepherd's livelihood was found in raising the sheep and in delivering them to a buyer. To lose a sheep meant to lose income, to have your livelihood threatened, especially in the subsistence economy shepherds lived in. The shepherd had to be able to protect the sheep from external threats, whether that was a wild animal or a thief who tried to steal a sheep from the sheepfold.

Jesus puts the contrast fairly starkly. The results of the thief's actions are obvious: stealing, killing and destruction. The results of the shepherd's actions are not as obvious but more important: life, abundant life. That's why Jesus claims the title of Good Shepherd: what he has come to bring is life, life lived to the full, life lived the way it was intended to be lived.

Ironically, Jesus only brings life to us once he gives his life away. The Good Shepherd, he reminds us, lays down his life for the sheep, and that's exactly what Jesus is preparing to do. Soon, the thieves of this world will take his life, but out of that theft will come the life abundant Jesus promised.

It's an upside-down world Jesus came to bring, where life comes out of death, where hope comes out of hopelessness and where the worst thing is never the last thing. Thanks be to God for this shepherd who conquers all the thieves of this world by giving his life away.