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Christ is "the Good Shepherd." He is this because —

I. He OWNS the sheep. He is the Proprietor of the flock. They are His —

1. By the gift of the Father. "Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me."

2. By creative ties. "His own" — sheep which are His even before they are called.

3. By purchase. "The Good Shepherd giveth" as a deposit, layeth down as a pledge, "His life for the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20). The blood He shed was not in His own defence, but for the sake of those whom He came to rescue.

II. He KNOWS His sheep.

1. By their faces. An ancient and convenient custom among shepherds is to put a mark upon their sheep, an ear-mark, as they call it; and by the mark they know them in years to come. Jesus Christ, too, puts a mark on His sheep, not on the ear, but on the forehead (Revelation 14:1).

2. By their names. He knows His followers, not as men and women only, but as Peter and Andrew, Mary and Martha. The saints have queer names in the Epistles. I cannot remember them, but Jesus does. He calls the stars by name too, but then the stars are very big things. The wonder is that He calls the tiny sheep by name, scattered as they are. "What's in a name?" A great deal, especially in a Christian name, given at the font, and accepted by Christ.

3. Their circumstances (Revelation 2:13). The Good Shepherd knows where you live — the town, the street, the house (Acts 9:11; Acts 10:5, 6).

4. By a thorough apprehension of their character. In the fourth and fifth verses "know" signifies outside acquaintance — that Christ and man have come within the same circle. But in the fourteenth verse it means a clear discerning insight into the springs of life and the motives of action.

III. He FEEDS His sheep (ver. 9).

1. "They go in" first to the fold. Rest after wandering. "He leadeth me beside the still waters" (services of God's House: perusal of the Bible).

2. They "go out" to graze. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures" (marg. "in pastures of tender grass"). The Bible pasture is green pasture. Every truth as fresh as if it were spoken but yesterday. Not only is the grass green, but there is plenty of it (ver. 10).

IV. He LEADS the sheep (ver. 3).

1. He leads the sheep. Exceedingly simple and helpless is a sheep gone astray. And when the Bible speaks of sinners it compares them to erring sheep (Isaiah 53:6).

2. He leads them gently (ver. 4). He is not behind them, searing them with the lashes of the law, but in front of them, drawing them with the cords of His love, and adapting His steps to theirs.

3. He leads them safely along "the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." This is, to me, one of the most cogent reasons for believing in His Divinity, that He was able to stamp His feet so deeply on the rock of history, that their prints have not yet been erased. The weight of Godhead was in His steps, the emphasis of the Infinite in His tread.

4. Not only does He lead us through life, but He goes before us through death (Psalm 23:4). Not a single sheep will be wanting, they shall all be safely folded by Divine love (ver. 16).

(J. C. Jones, D. D.)

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KJV: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

WEB: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.