In the gospel according to John chapter 10 Jesus referred to Himself three times as the Good Shepherd. I Am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep. I Am the Good Shepherd; and I know mime own and mine own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
There are four areas in particular where Jesus is the Good Shepherd. First He is the Good Shepherd at the cross. He laid down His life for the sheep. As a Christian I can say that Jesus died for me.
In the second place Jesus is also the Good Shepherd at the empty tomb where He was raised up from the dead. In Hebrews 13 we read, “Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus Christ, make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory forever and ever Amen.”
In the third place Jesus is the Good Shepherd as He shepherds us in living the Christian life. He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
As long as we continue to hear His voice and follow Him we have security in Christ. This promise is for the sheep that continue to hear His voice and follow Him.
In the fourth place Jesus is the Good Shepherd in His Second Coming. Peter states it for us when he says in I Peter 5, “The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you exercising the oversight, not by constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of aready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
When that great day arrives, it is the Good Shepherd that will call His sheep from the grave and they will head His voice and rise to follow Him into the eternal home. So as we break the loaf and drink of the cup, let us think of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and Bishop of our souls.