Perhaps one of the most cherished images of Jesus is that of the Good Shepherd, and though many of us likely live in a culture far removed from this agrarian vocation, the image of a shepherd is still familiar to us. After His birth the magi came from the East, saying to Herod, “…for thus it is written through the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel” (Matthew 2:5-6). It was, we recall year after year, the night shepherds who first heard the announcement of Jesus’ coming into the world. The song the angels sand to them is the song we echo at nearly every Sunday Mass and solemnity: “Glory to God in the hightest!” (Luke 2:8-14) These shepherds were the first to come and adore the tiny Son of God, and we are told that “…Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (vv. 15-20).
Abel was a shepherd; King David was a shepherd. Shepherds abound in salvation history; Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law when he saw the burning bush (Exodus 3:1), and then he became a shepherd of the people of God, leading them to the edge of the Promised Land. And now Our Lord, the “Son of David” (Matthew 21:9), identifies Himself not merely as a shepherd, but the Good Shepherd, who “lays down his life for sheep.” The hired man runs from the wolf because his life is worth more to him than his sheep yet the good shepherd fights the wolf, because the sheep belong to him; they are his very purpose and, in the case of a purely human shepherd, his livelihood.
We are His one flock, His sheep, which He desired to have under one shepherd; after His Resurrection He gave charge of His flock to Peter, there on the seashore, commanding Him to feed His lambs, to tend and feed His sheep (John 21:15-17). This Good Shepherd ascended into Heaven, to go ahead of His flock in the hope that we would follow Him to that pasture, and in the meantime He has left shepherds after His own heart to watch over and guide us, shepherds that are not hired men, but men to whom He has entrusted His own sheep; hence why often we call our priests “pastors.”
“This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.”Our Shepherd is not satisfied simply to lead us to good grass and clean water; no, at the bidding of His own Father He lays down His life for us, His sheep. What’s more is He does this not merely to save us from the wolf, but so that we might receive life from Him. Peter gave his life for Christ’s flock, as did many popes after him, but the flock of Jesus did not receive life from them. Our Pope, our pastors lead us to the pasture that is the Lord Himself, who died that even the least of His lambs may live.