Scripture used the familiar images of sheep and flock and shepherd to picture Israel's people and her priesthood and her God and His promised Messiah. Many of Israel's historic leaders were shepherds: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses. Greatest of all was David, who went from shepherd boy to Israel's most beloved king. It was David who penned the lovely "Shepherd Psalm" you and I know as Psalm 23. But not every OT shepherd was a good shepherd. Israel's spiritual leaders were often false shepherds (inattentive, greedy, and predatory). Which brings us to God's sobering warning to false leaders in Ezekiel 34:2-10. That might be the most disheartening of shepherding passages in entire OT. The shepherds of Israel were focused on their own welfare at the expense of the sheep – God's people! "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves!"
With that background of contrasting shepherding texts, let's pick up Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees in 9:39 – 10:21 (today, we'll examine 10:1-10). Our text is an allegory (an extensive metaphor or word picture). Jesus used it to confront Israel's false shepherds (Pharisees, Sadducees, Sanhedrin). Jesus' shepherding allegory begins in v.1, it will end in v.21, and it wraps-up Jesus' showdown with the Pharisees from chapter 9. Jesus' message this morning is clear for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear: Jesus is the true shepherd of God's flock and the only way to the Father. In contrast, the Pharisees Pharisees seek only to exploit and destroy God's people. The True Shepherd has arrived! Predators and pretenders beware!
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