I Am the Good Shepherd

The fourth I AM that Jesus claimed of himself is “I am the good shepherd.” This is also found in John 10: “¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:11, 14 – 15 ESV).

In Mark 10:17 - 18 the rich young ruler called Jesus a “good teacher” but Jesus stopped him and asked him “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God.” Applying this definition to “good shepherd” implies Jesus saying that he is God the shepherd, the one who will guide, protect and nurture his flock. He is the one who will lay down his life for his sheep. Jesus lived to die in our place and then by the power of God he rose from the dead so that we “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1 – 2) can be given eternal life by the Son (John 17:2). Those chosen and given eternal life are his flock that Jesus shepherds. They are his and he knows them and they know him, just as the Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father.

In John 17 we find Jesus praying not for the world but for those whom the Father has given to him. While we are in the world he will guard us and will not lose one of us. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil because Jesus our shepherd is with us (Psalm 23:4). Even if we face physical death, as many in the world do for their faith, he will deliver us safely to the realm of eternal life.