What if you knew a person, a friend or neighbor, who had lived his whole life—from birth to adulthood—blind, unable to see and enjoy all the visual beauties and pleasures of life, but then, suddenly and unexpectedly, a very special person came along and gave sight to your friend? Imagine how excited and grateful he would be and you for him! But when Jesus healed such a man in the temple, the Jewish religious leaders, rather than rejoicing, were filled with envy, hatred, and jealousy.
In that very setting, with the healed man and the hostile enemies gathered around, Jesus taught a most revolutionary lesson. Unlike those false shepherds of Israel, he is the truly Good Shepherd who came that his sheep may have life fully and abundantly.
What makes Jesus so uniquely special? Jesus describes himself in four ways as our very own shepherd, beautiful and good beyond compare: He is a self-sacrificing shepherd, our own personal shepherd, the shepherd of all his flock, and the shepherd with God’s authority.