I am the good shepherd

Today we had our second class for Life of Christ and I was once again pierced by many deep insights from the Word; unfortunately, I cannot go through and share them all.  However, there was one truth that I feel like God opened my eyes to see today as Abner taught our class with his much anticipated passion and accuracy.  This truth has to deal with the magnitude of the Life of Christ in everything He did and said.  So often we read flippantly through the events of our Savior's life and are left unaffected, while much of this may be due to the fact that we do not know the background of what Christ is saying in relation to the Old Testament.  This can be often overlooked by us believers in the age of grace where the Jews in the time of Jesus would have had no problem picking up on what Jesus was making reference to.

The example that Abner gave us was from John 10 when Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd."  Those of us on the other side of the cross can hear this and simply say, "oh, that's nice of him to say that," when really the Jews, who had a very extensive knowledge of the Old Testament most likely had a completely different reaction.  The first time the term "shepherd" is used in the Bible is in Genesis 48:15 when Jacob says, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day..."  Another reference to this term is in Numbers 27:15-17 where Moses appeals to the Lord to implement another leader or shepherd for Israel to take them into the promised land since Moses himself was not allowed to lead God's people into the land.  

Of course, there is the obvious appearance of the term in the twenty third psalm by David whom the Jews knew plenty about.  Not only does David say, "The Lord is my shepherd," but it is interesting to note the psalms that sandwich this chapter.  There is something to be said in regard to the fact that Psalm 22 is all about the suffering and death of the Messiah, when merely six months after Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd," He is crucified.  This is of course why He says, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."  As Psalm 22 refers to the first advent of Christ and His suffering ministry, so Psalm 24 refers to Christ's second coming as the King when it says, "Life up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in."  Therefore the Jews, being well aware of David's writings, knew that Jesus in claiming to be this good shepherd was essentially claiming to be God.  Jesus was claiming to be the shepherd who would come first to suffer (Psalm 22) then again to reign (Psalm 24).

Finally, an obvious passage that should ring a bell to the Jews, as if they didn't remember Jacob, Moses or David somehow, is Zechariah 13:7, "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!' declares the Lord Almighty.  'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.'"  This is another prophecy keeping in terms with the direction that God the Father wanted His Son to walk in for His earthly ministry.  

So basically from observing these Old Testament passages that the Jews themselves were probably quite familiar with, we now see the resounding emphasis in Jesus' statement in John 10:11, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."