The Good Shepherd and a Socially Just World

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Herb Montgomery

Herb Montgomery | April 19, 2024

Our reading this fourth weekend of Easter is from the gospel of John:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:11-18)

This reading lands in the center of what Jesus scholars have labelled the “I am statements” in John’s gospel. Jesus is:

The bread of life (John 6)

The light of the world (John 8)

The pre-existent “I am” (John 8)

The good shepherd (John 10)

The resurrection and life (John 11)

The way, the truth, and the life (John 14)

The true vine (John 15)

Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker do an excellent job of documenting how, before the Christian faith tradition wedded the Roman Empire and while it was still socially oppressed by the Roman Empire, a very common image of Jesus in Christian art was Jesus as the shepherd. Our world was a pastoral landscape that Jesus the shepherd was restoring to paradise.

Before Jesus is enthroned in imperial Christian theology, art, and the Christian imagination as imperial ruler or as a tortured victim of the crucifix, he was shepherd, teacher, and healer. We find this image in the canonical gospels.

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” (Luke 15:4-6)

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:12-14)

In Matthew’s gospel, the son of man of the apocalyptic book of Daniel also comes as a shepherd.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. (Matthew 25:31-33)

The gospels repeatedly imagine the people Jesus ministers to as healer and teacher as sheep without a shepherd too:

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34) “ . . . the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 10:6) “ . . . the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24)

The image of a shepherd and sheep also has deep roots in the Jewish wisdom and justice tradition of the Hebrew prophets:

“I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (Ezekiel 34:23-31)

Here in Ezekiel, this imagery is used to convey the ethics of a distributive justice for a society where the threat of violence, injustice, and oppression are no more and there is enough for everyone to thrive. The imagery of a Shepherd is used to portray our world as a paradise restored and a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.

Micah also uses this imagery for a similar purpose:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me

one who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

from ancient times . . . He will stand and shepherd his flock

in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

And they will live securely, for then his greatness

will reach to the ends of the earth.

And he will be our peace . . .” (Micah 5:2-5, italics added for emphasis)

The shepherd brings social healing and teaches us the way of life: the path of love for one another where each of us makes sure we all have what we need.

In our reading this week, John’s gospel describes Jesus as a shepherd who is personally invested in the well-being of the sheep, more than a “hired worker” would be.

This Jesus also names “sheep of other folds” who are part of the restoration of paradise. I think the immediate meaning of this label is other Jesus communities that existed at the time the gospel was written, not just the Jesus community that recognized the apostleship of John, but also those who honored the apostleships of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and Thomas. John’s gospels does a good job here and in chapter 20 of making the Jesus movement tent big enough for each community. It was a time of development in the early church when some communities were competing with others for power, deeming themselves as the genuine Jesus community and other Jesus communities as less-than. Some churches today similarly claim to be the true church with other churches being some kind of counterfeit. And some religions seek to establish themselves as the only legitimate way to access the Divine rather than looking for the universal wisdom or the unique life-giving wisdom faith traditions have to offer to all of us. “Other sheep not of this fold” who belong just as much as us and to whom we are connected is a much more life-giving way to look at others in our world.

But John’s imagery of Jesus as shepherd still ends with a cross. In true Johannine fashion, the death of Jesus is not characterized as we read in Mark, Matthew, Luke and Acts, as an unjust state execution that is overcome by the resurrection. Here it is a mere portal to life that no one forces on Jesus but that he embraces freely so he might take his life back up again.

I’ve spent a lot of time this Easter critiquing John’s version of the death of Jesus as contrasted with the synoptic gospels and the book of Acts. Here let me just say that the Johannine community’s interpretation of Jesus death, like most of the rest of John’s version of the Jesus story, is different than the synoptics’ version. (For a more detailed critique of interpretations of Jesus’ death that focus on his dying rather than the good news of the resurrection, see For God So Loved the World?)

We may all interpret the events of the Jesus story differently today. But what binds us together is commitment to the way of love, life, and justice as we perceive in the golden rule, the sermon on the mount, and the other ethical teachings and values of the Jesus of our stories. In the end, it’s not about how we read or interpret the supernatural or metaphysical elements of these ancient Jesus stories. The point of all these stories is that we learn again to relate to one another in a way that shapes our shared world into a safe, compassionate, just home for us all.

Discussion Group Questions

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s eSight/Podcast episode with your discussion group.

2. How does the imagery of Jesus as shepherd and this world as his pasture inform your own justice work today? Share and discuss with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

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My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.

As always, you can find Renewed Heart Ministries each week on X (or Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s Threads. If you haven’t done so already, please follow us on your chosen social media platforms for our daily posts. Also, if you enjoy listening to The Social Jesus podcast, please like and subscribe to the SJ podcast through the podcast platform you use and consider taking some time to give us a review. This helps others find our podcast as well.

You can watch our new YouTube show called “Just Talking” each week. Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.

And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.

Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

I love each of you dearly,

I’ll see you next week.

Now Available on Amazon!

Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.

by Herb Montgomery

Available now on Amazon!

After two successful decades of preaching a gospel of love within the Christian faith tradition Herb felt like something was missing. He went back to the gospels and began reading them through the interpretive lenses of various marginalized communities and what he found radically changed his life forever. The teachings of the Jesus in the gospel stories express a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of those in marginalized communities. This book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, and presents a compelling argument for a more socially compassionate and just expression of Christianity. Herb’s findings in his latest book are shared in the hopes that it will dramatically impact how you practice your Christianity, too.

New Episode of JustTalking!

Season 2, Episode 8: John 10.11-18. Lectionary B, Easter 4

Each week, we’ll be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

You can find the latest show on YouTube at

Season 2, Episode 8: John 10.11-18. Lectionary B, Easter 4

or (@herbandtoddjusttalking)

Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment

Announcing a New Podcast from RHM!

The Social Jesus Podcast

A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.

This week:

Season 1 Episode 2: The Good Shepherd and a Socially Just World

John 10:11-18

“This imagery was used to convey the ethics of a distributive justice for a society where the threat of violence, injustice, and oppression are no more. Where there is enough for everyone to thrive, a world that is safe for everyone. Before Jesus was the Crucified in Christian theology he was the Shepherd. And this early shepherd imagery calls us to check the kind of world we are choosing to create for each other.”

Listen at:

https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/good-shepherd-socially-just-world