Every fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday, and the gospel reading is always from John 10, broken up into three chunks. Each year we are invited to reflect on the good shepherd tradition, which begins with the 23 rd Psalm, and how John uses that to depict Jesus living out the character of God the good shepherd. This tradition was not a heart-warming pastoral image but a political statement about those in authority. Based on the hard and dangerous life of shepherds across the Middle East it offers an image of the God who provides, and contrasts this commitment and compassion with the failings of earthly rules who demanded loyalty and tax. It is a dangerous image. For Jesus to claim to be a shepherd implies critique of those of the ruling class who challenge him. It will get him killed. Like all the gospel writers, John describes Jesus living out this tradition. We see the compassion and commitment of God to all people in Jesus’s life and ministry. It is explicitly des...
