The Fourth Sunday of Easter, just past, is always one of the most idyllic Sundays of the year. Every year, we read one of the portions of Jesus’ “Good Shepherd” discourse, hearing those tender words, “I am the Good Shepherd.” We read the beloved 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd,” and sing favorite hymns like “Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless” or “My Shepherd will supply my need.” And in a world in which many of us feel as though we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” it’s comforting to be reminded that we need “fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
Even in a society in which most of us couldn’t shear a sheep to save our souls, many of us find this pastoral imagery deeply moving. And falling as it often does in mid-April, with flowers beginning to bloom and greenery returning to a mud-brown world, Good Shepherd Sunday celebrates the joyful fulfillment of Easter’s promise of new and abundant life.
But all of that is assuming one of the two possible readings of Jesus’ words. The pastoral imagery is what we get from Jesus saying, “I am the Good Shepherd.” But what would it mean if we switched the emphasis around? What would it mean to say, “I am the Good Shepherd,” instead?
“Shepherd,” in the ancient Near East, was not just a pleasant pastoral image evoking rolling green hills, nor was it merely the less-romanticized daily occupation of a large portion of the population.
“Shepherd” was also one of the most common images for kings and earthly rulers. For thousands of years, kings of Sumeria, Assyria, and Babylonia described identified themselves as the shepherds of their people:
•Gudea (Sumerian ensi; 2144–2124 BC) was a “shepherd who leads the people with a good religious hand.”[38]
•Lipit-Ishtar (Isin; 1934–1924 BC): “Lipit-Ishtar, the wise shepherd, whose name has been pronounced by the god Nunamnir.”[39]
•Hammurabi (Babylonia, 1792–1750 BC): “I am Hammurabi, the shepherd, selected by the god Enlil, he who heaps high abundance and plenty . . . [the one] who gathers together the scattered peoples.”[40] “I provided perpetual water for the land . . . [and] gathered the scattered peoples. . . . In abundance and plenty I shepherded them.”[41]
•Amenhotep III (Egypt; 1411–1374 BC): “the good shepherd, vigilant for all people.”[42]
•Seti I (Egypt; 1313–1292 BC): “the good shepherd, who preserves his soldiers alive.”[43]
•Merneptah (Egypt; 1225–1215 BC): “I am the ruler who shepherds you.”[44]
•Merodach-baladan I (Babylonia; 1171–1159 BC): “[I am] the shepherd who collects the dispersed (people).”[45]
•Adadnirari III (Assyria; 810–783 BC): “unrivalled king, wonderful shepherd . . . whose shepherdship the great gods have made pleasing to the people of Assyria.”[46]
•Esarhaddon (Assyria; 680–669 BC): “the true shepherd, favorite of the great gods.”[47]
•Assurbanipal (Assyria; 668–627 BC): “those peoples which Ashur, Ishtar and the (other) great gods had given to me to be their shepherd and had entrusted into my hands.”[48]
•Nabopolassar (Babylonia; 625–605 BC): “the king of justice, the shepherd called by Marduk.”[49]
•Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonia; 604–562 BC): “Marduk . . . gave me the shepherdship of the country and the people,” and “the loyal shepherd, the one permanently selected by Marduk.”[50]
The prophets condemn, again and again, the incompetent and unjust “shepherds” who have led their people:
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:1-2)
“Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?” (Ezekiel 34:2)
“The diviners see lies;
the dreamers tell false dreams,
and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer for lack of a shepherd.
My anger is hot against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock.” (Zechariah 10:2-3)
And it’s easy enough to connect the dots: It would be odd to prophesy against the literal shepherds among the people of Israel, as if agricultural mismanagement were their concern. God is speaking to the self-proclaimed and metaphorical shepherds who lead the human flock.
The situation has gotten so bad that in the end, God gives up hope that human shepherds will take care of God’s sheep. Enough time has passed, and enough evidence has been gathered: God’s people have been led by too many shepherds who act like the hired hand, who runs away at the first sign of trouble. So God finally announces: “Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out…I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 34:11, 15)
And so it is that Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” I am the one who will lead you in a way your kings have not.
Two thousand years later, in a world still torn apart by war and violence, exploitation and mismanagement, it should be clear that there are still plenty of shepherds who “destroy and scatter the sheep.” We can follow them, if we’d like. We can set our hearts on anger and vengeance, we can follow the paths of destruction. Or we can wait, and search, and seek out the Good Shepherd who leads us beside stiller waters. We can look for God our Shepherd leading us in the paths of peace. We can wonder what it means to follow Jesus, and to let him seek us out, when the world is darkened by the shadow of death. And we can find comfort in the relief he brings. Because Jesus is not only the good shepherd who cares for each of our souls, and not only the good shepherd, unlike all our mighty kings. He’s both; and that is a good shepherd, indeed.