Who Is the Shepherd
Who Is the Shepherd
The Shepherd is God.
He is without doubt the true Shepherd. And He said in the Gospel:
“I am the good Shepherd, and the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (يو11:10).
And He said: “I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” (يو14:10). He also said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish forever, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (يو10:27, 28).
The Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as the good Shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15), and how He searched for His lost sheep until He found it, and carried it on His shoulders rejoicing, and called the friends and neighbors to rejoice with Him…
Just as (John 10) is the Gospel of the Shepherd, so Psalm 22 (23) is the Psalm of the Shepherd.
In it the prophet David sings of the care of God, saying: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness… Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” How many things concerning God the Shepherd are found in the Book of Psalms.
The Song of Songs also presents God as the Shepherd.
There the human soul addresses Him: “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you make it lie at noon…” (Song 7:1). It also says: “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feeds his flock among the lilies.” (Song 16:2). The same phrase is repeated in (Song 6:3). It also says of Him that “He pastures His flock in the gardens.” (Song 6:2).
God Himself — in the Old Testament — said of Himself that He is the Shepherd.
He said that immortal, affecting phrase in chapter 34 of the book of Ezekiel, which is rightly considered the chapter of the Shepherd, just as (John 10) is in the New Testament, and Psalm 23 of David. He said:
“I myself will feed my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the scattered, and I will bind up the broken, and I will strengthen the weak.” (Ezekiel 34:15, 16).
He also said: “Behold, I will seek out my sheep and will visit them as a shepherd seeks out his flock… thus I will seek out my sheep and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered… I will feed them in good pasture… there they shall lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture… And you, my sheep, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep… I will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep… I will rescue my flock that they shall no longer be a prey.”
I advise all ranks of the priesthood to read (Ezekiel 34).
There is a question: since God is the Shepherd, do we call some humans shepherds?
Human shepherds:
Yes, there are human shepherds, for Scripture says of the Lord: “And He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11, 12).
And Saint Paul says to the elders of Ephesus, its bishops and shepherds: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28).
And Saint Peter says: “I exhort the elders among you, I who am a fellow elder… Shepherd the flock of God which is among you… not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” (1 Pet. 5:1–4).
So there are shepherds, and Christ the Shepherd is the Head of the shepherds.
There are very many examples in Scripture of human shepherds…
Now we ask: if God is the Shepherd, how then were some called shepherds even by God Himself?
How were humans called shepherds?
They were called shepherds for two fundamental reasons related to God Himself.
- Since God is the Shepherd, therefore he is called a shepherd who is commissioned by God for the work of shepherding, that is, God’s agent. Thus bishops were called shepherds, because the bishop is God’s agent according to the teaching of Scripture (Tit. 1:7). The Lord Jesus says: “Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his lord will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?” (Luke 12:42).
- Since God is the Shepherd, it is therefore required in the one who is called a shepherd that the Spirit of God dwell in him. Thus when the Lord gave His disciples the sacrament of the priesthood, He first breathed on their faces and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22–23). Thus being filled with the Holy Spirit was a condition for shepherding.
I hope to speak on this topic at a more extensive opportunity.
For better translation support, please contact the center.
