Jesus, The Good Shepherd

John 10:11 – I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Yes, Jesus is indeed the Good Shepherd. In fact, He loved His sheep (us!) so much that He left the ultimate comfort of heaven in order to come down to earth for the sole purpose of dying a miserable death on the cross so that we unworthy sinners might be saved. His boundless love for you, me, and all of mankind was so great that He willingly took the sins of the entire world upon His shoulders – a process that temporarily separated Him from His Heavenly Father.

As miserable as His human pain and suffering was, it was that separation from God that hurt Jesus the most. You see, once Jesus became saddled with that mighty load of sin, God could no longer look upon His precious Son. Jesus no doubt felt abandoned by the most loving Being that ever existed, and even though He knew the state of separation would soon end it was still a tremendous burden for Him to bear.

Jesus knew all along that His earthly life would be both short and difficult. He also knew that He would eventually suffer an extremely painful and miserable death while bearing a load of sin the likes of which no other man could carry. His mission here on earth was to bear a load of sin He didn’t commit and suffer untold pain and anguish that He didn’t deserve, all so that we, the guilty parties, could be pardoned from the sentence of death that we all deserved.

Although our Saviour had no obligation to offer Himself up as the perfect sacrifice for the remission of our sins, He did it anyway. After all, He was, and still is…the Good Shepherd.