ST. JOHN X. II 453
And so it was the ordinary duty of every shepherd not only to gather and feed and watch the flock, but also to lead them, to know them and to run some risk for them. A great deal has been made out of these last three points in the application of the metaphor to Christ, showing how Christ is the Good Shepherd because He leads His flock, because He knows them, and because He runs some risk for them. But these are not characteristic points of the Good Shepherd as distinguished from the hireling. Even the hireling in the East led the sheep, as that was the ordinary custom, even he knew them to a certain extent, and it was a necessary part of shepherd life to run some risk for the flock.
If that had been all, Jesus might have said "I am a shepherd," but His words are " I am the good shepherd."
T[ A man may be a hired priest, as Demetrius was at Ephesus — "By this craft we get our living." Or he may be a paid demagogue, a great champion of rights, and an investigator of abuses — paid by applause ; and while popularity lasts, he will be a reformer — deserting the people when danger comes. There is no vital union between the champion and the defenceless, the teacher and the taught.^
2. I am the good shepherd. The shepherd's work may be done and done well by the paid servant, it may be faithfully performed and the reward honestly earned ; but our Lord's claim to be a shepherd was something essentially different.
"I am the good shepherd." Good, not in the sense of benevolent, but in the sense of genuine, true born, of the real kind — ^just as wine of nobler quality is good compared with the cheaper sort, just as a soldier is good or noble who is a soldier in heart, and not a soldier by mere profession or for pay. It is the same word as that used by St. Paul when he speaks of a good, i.e. a noble soldier of Christ. Certain pecuHar qualifications made the genuine soldier, certain peculiar qualifications make the genuine or good shepherd.
What, then, is that quality which constitutes the essential characteristic of the Good Shepherd, and without which you cannot conceive the idea of one bearing a true shepherd heart and doing a true shepherd work? The Lord tells us: "The good
* F. W. Robertson.
454 THE GOOD SHEPHERD
shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." He seeks the safety and well-being of the sheep ; and He does so at the cost of any self-sacrifice, even of life itself.
^ Out on one of the great sheep-ranges of the North-West of America, a shepherd was left in a very lonely station in charge of a large flock of sheep. He lived in a little cottage which was fitted up with the necessary comforts for all seasons of the year. There was no other house anywhere near. This man, Hans Neilson, lived there with only his dog Shep for company. After he had lived out there for two years there came a dreadfully severe winter. The sheep-sheds were old, and the shelter for the sheep was poor. New sheds were to be built in the following spring. It was hard work for Hans, but he succeeded in saving all his sheep until the last and most violent blizzard of all. The wind blew and the snow fell for three days. After it was over, help was sent from headquarters to see how Hans had fared. They found his dead body near the sheep-folds, and his dog standing on guard by his master. The sheep were all alive and well, and it was quite clear to the men that Hans had been trying to place additional protec- tion at the broken places in the old sheds when his brave battle ceased and he was overcome by the intense cold. He might have saved his life by neglecting the sheep, but he had literally given his life for his sheep.^
3. " I am the good shepherd." Why did Christ call Himself the Good Shepherd ? Many interpret this " the " as a " the " of degree, and amplify the passage thus : " There are many good shepherds, but I am the Good Shepherd, par excellence." But this is not the meaning of the text. Christ has showed us that the essence of good shepherding lies in this fact of laying down one's life for the sheep. No man has any claim at all to be called a good shepherd unless he does lay down his life for the sheep. Christ is the only one to whom the epithet "Good Shepherd" in its metaphorical sense may be applied at all. The " the " is an absolute one. Christ is not to be considered as first among compeers, but as the one between whom and others there can never be any comparison at all. Our Lord not only declares that He is the reality of which the earthly shepherd is the shadow, and that He as such is the flawless, perfect One, but that He alone is the reality. " I am the Good Shepherd ; in Me and in Me alone is that which men need."