View source for Good Shepherd

{{Short description|Epithet of Jesus}}
{{hatnote|For [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s cantata, see [[Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85]]}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Rom, Domitilla-Katakomben, Der gute Hirte.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Statuette of the Good Shepherd|Good Shepherd]], made {{circa|300–350}} and discovered in the 18th century at the [[Catacomb of Callixtus]], Rome.<ref name=Lowrie>{{cite book |title= Christian Art and Archaeology |first= Walter |last= Lowrie |date= 1901 |publisher= The MacMillan Company |place= New York |pages= 289–290 |url= https://www.academia.edu/38962935 |quote= Figure 117 illustrates a statue of the Good Shepherd belonging to the third century, found in the catacomb of Callistus; it is altogether the most gracious representation of this symbol which exists, though a number have been found at Rome and even in the Orient.}} </ref><ref name=Vatican>{{cite web |title= Statuette of the Good Shepherd |publisher= Vatican Museums |url= https://catalogo.museivaticani.va/index.php/Detail/objects/MV.28590.0.0?lang=it_IT |quote= Origin: from Rome, cemetery of S. Callisto on the Appian Way}}</ref>]]

The '''Good Shepherd''' ({{langx|el|ποιμὴν ὁ καλός}}, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the [[pericope]] of {{bibleref2|John|10:1–21}}, in which [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]] is depicted as the Good [[Shepherd]] who lays down his life for his [[sheep]]. Similar imagery is used in [[Psalm 23]] and [[Ezekiel 34|Ezekiel 34:11–16]]. The Good Shepherd is also discussed in the other [[Gospel|gospels]], the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]], the [[First Epistle of Peter]] and the [[Book of Revelation]].

==Biblical references==
In the [[Gospel of John]], Jesus states "I am the good shepherd" in two verses, {{bibleref2|John|10:11}} and {{bibleref2-nb|John|10:14}}.

{{quote|I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father|source={{bibleref2|John|10:11–18}} }}

This passage is one of several sections of John's Gospel which generate division among Jews.<ref>{{bibleverse|John|10:19–21}}</ref>

Jesus Christ is also compared to a shepherd in {{bibleref2|Matthew|2:6|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|Matthew|9:36|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|Matthew|25:32|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|Matthew|26:31|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|Mark|6:34|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|Mark|14:27|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|John|10:2|NIV}}, {{bibleref2|Hebrews|13:20|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|1|Peter|2:25|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|1|Peter|5:4|NIV}}, and {{bibleref2|Revelation|7:17|NIV}}.

==Parable or metaphor?==
[[File:Good shepherd 02b close.jpg|thumb|[[Allegory]] of Christ{{sfn|Grabar|1980|p=|ps=:The figure (...) is an allegory of Christ as the shepherd}} as the [[The Good Shepherd (Christianity)|Good Shepherd]], 3rd century. The pail (of milk?) carried by the Shepherd has been seen as symbolizing the [[w:Eucharist|Eucharist]] by some.<ref>{{cite book |title= Monuments of the early church |last= Lowrie |first= Walter |place= New York |publisher= The Macmillan Company |date= 1906 |pages= 220–221 |url= https://archive.org/details/monumentsofearly00lowruoft/page/220/mode/2up |quote=another trait of symbolism which was associated with the Good Shepherd in its earliest representations. I refer to the milk with which the shepherd nourishes his sheep. This was represented by the jug or pail which he carries sometimes at his side...the Acts of S. Perpetua, which was written in the early years of the third century...describes a vision of the saint in these words: "I mounted and beheld a garden of vast extent, and in the midst of this garden a man seated, having white hair and the dress of a shepherd, milking sheep : and standing round about him thousands of men clothed in white. And he raised his head and looked at me, and said to me: Thou art welcome, my daughter. And he called me and he gave me some of the warm milk which he had just drawn, and I received it with folded hands and I ate it : and all about me said, Amen. And at the sound of the voice I awaked, with an indescribable taste of sweet in my mouth." From this it is evident that the jug of milk carried by the Good Shepherd is a mystic symbol of the Eucharist.}}</ref>]]
Several authors such as Barbara Reid, Arland Hultgren or Donald Griggs comment that "parables are noticeably absent from the Gospel of John".{{sfn|Reid|2001|p=3}}{{sfn|Hultgren|2000|p=2}}{{sfn|Griggs|2003|p=52}} According to the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' article on Parables:{{sfn|Barry|1911}} "There are no [[parables]] in St. John's Gospel" and according to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' article on Gospel of St. John:{{sfn|von Hügel|1911|pp=452–458}} "Here Jesus' teaching contains no parables and but three allegories, the [[Synoptic Gospels|Synoptists]] present it as parabolic through and through."

==Early Christian art==
The image of the Good Shepherd is the most common of the symbolic [[Depiction of Jesus|representations of Christ]] found in [[early Christian art]] in the [[Catacombs of Rome]], before Christian imagery could be made explicit. The form of the image showing a young man carrying a lamb around his neck was directly borrowed from the much older pagan [[kriophoros]] (see below) and in the case of portable statuettes like the most famous one now in the [[Pio Cristiano Museum]], [[Vatican City]] (right), it is impossible to say whether the image was originally created with the intention of having a Christian significance.  The image continued to be used in the centuries after Christianity was [[Edict of Milan|legalized in 313]]. Initially, it was probably not understood as a portrait of Jesus, but a symbol like others used in Early Christian art,{{sfn|Syndicus|1962|pp=21–23}} and in some cases may also have represented [[the Shepherd of Hermas]], a popular Christian literary work of the 2nd century.{{sfn|Jensen|2002}}{{sfn|Jensen|2000|pp=37–41}} However, by about the 5th century, the figure more often took on the appearance of the conventional depiction of Christ, as it had developed by this time, and was given a [[halo (religious iconography)|halo]] and rich robes,{{sfn|Syndicus|1962|pp=130–131}} as on the [[apse]] [[mosaic]] in the church of [[Santi Cosma e Damiano, Rome|Santi Cosma e Damiano]]  in Rome, or at [[Ravenna]] (right). Images of the Good Shepherd often include a sheep on his shoulders, as in the Lukan version of the [[Parable of the Lost Sheep]].{{sfn|Lowrie|2007|p=69}}

==Interpretation==
According to German theologian [[Friedrich Justus Knecht]] a number of doctrines are put forward in this parable. 1) ''The Sacrifice and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.'' As Jesus "distinctly foretells His Sacrifice and Death in the words: 'I lay down My life for My sheep.'" 2) ''The one, united, catholic Church.'' As Jesus "foretold that the Gentiles also would believe in Him, and that all the faithful, both Jews and [[Gentiles]], would be united in one fold, under one Shepherd." 3) ''The Love of Jesus for sinners.'' "The touching parable of the lost sheep shows our Lord’s compassionate love for individual sinners. The lost sheep signifies a sinner who, obeying his own evil inclinations and the allurements of sin, has separated himself from Jesus, and is shut out from the number of the faithful. But the Saviour does not withdraw His love from this wanderer. Even as, during His sojourn on earth, He laboured for the conversion of sinners, so does He now go after the sinner. He calls him by His grace, by His priests, and invites him to return once more to the fold, by means of the Sacrament of [[Penance]]."<ref>{{cite book|chapter = [[s:A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/XLIV. Jesus the Good Shepherd.|XLIV. Jesus the Good Shepherd]]|title = A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture|year = 1910| publisher = B. Herder |author=Friedrich Justus Knecht}}</ref>

[[Roger Baxter]] in his ''Meditations'' sees Jesus, the good shepherd, as a fulfillment of a number of Old Testament passages, writing: "This divine shepherd will visit you to-day, to feed you, and to defend you from the wolves of hell. There is no part of a shepherd's duty which He does not perform most willingly. Hence He says by His prophet, 'Behold, I Myself will seek My sheep: and will visit them as the shepherd visits his flock: I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures; I will seek that which was lost, and that which was driven away I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken; and I will strengthen that which is weak, and that which is fat and strong I will preserve, and I will feed them in judgment.' (Ezech. 34:11)" He also connects Jesus with Psalm 23:1, "The Lord rules me, and I shall want nothing; He has set me in a place of pasture." and Isaiah 53:7 "He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=[[s:Meditations_For_Every_Day_In_The_Year/From_Easter_to_Pentecost#255|Christ the Good Shepherd]]|title=Meditations For Every Day In The Year|year=1823|publisher=Benziger Brothers|first=Roger|last=Baxter|author-link=Roger Baxter|location=New York}}</ref>

== In Mandaeism ==
The image of the Good Shepherd is also used in the ''[[Mandaean Book of John]]''. Chapters 11–12 of the ''Mandaean Book of John'' are about "a shepherd who loves his sheep" who leads them on to the [[World of Light]].<ref name="Haberl2020">{{cite book|last=Haberl|first=Charles and McGrath, James|title=The Mandaean Book of John: critical edition, translation, and commentary|publisher=De Gruyter|publication-place=Berlin|year=2020|isbn=978-3-11-048651-3|oclc=1129155601}}</ref>

== Pagan symbolism ==
{{main|Kriophoros}}
[[File:Hermes crioforo.jpg|thumb|upright|Late Roman marble copy of the ''[[Kriophoros]]'' of [[Calamis (5th century BC)|Kalamis]] ([[Museo Barracco]], Rome)]]

In ancient Greek cult, [[kriophoros]] or ''criophorus'' (Κριοφόρος), the "ram-bearer" is a figure that commemorates the solemn sacrifice of a [[Sheep|ram]]. It becomes an [[epithet]] of [[Hermes]]: ''Hermes Kriophoros''.

In two-dimensional art, ''Hermes Kriophoros'' transformed into the Christ carrying a lamb and walking among his sheep: "Thus we find philosophers holding scrolls or a Hermes Kriophoros which can be turned into Christ giving the Law ([[Traditio Legis]]) and the Good Shepherd respectively".{{sfn|Murray|Murray|1996|p=475}} The Good Shepherd is a common motif from the [[Catacombs of Rome]] (Gardner, 10, fig 54) and in [[sarcophagus]] reliefs, where Christian and pagan symbolism are often combined, making secure identifications difficult.
{{-}}

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="200">
File:Good shepherd 01 small.jpg|At the [[Catacomb of Priscilla]], 3rd century A.D., Rome 
File:The Good Shepherd, Catacomb of Petrus and Marcellinus, , 3rd century AD, from the from the book Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms, pla cropped sharpenedmore.jpg|Christ as the Good Shepherd, [[Catacomb of Petrus and Marcellinus]], 3rd century A.D.
File:Good shepherd.JPG|4th-century depiction at the Museum of the [[Baths of Diocletian]], Rome
File:Aquileia, buon pastore, pavimento della basilica, 1a metà del IV secolo.jpg|First half of 4th century A.D., [[Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia]]
File:Ravenna — The Good Shepherd mosaic.jpg|[[Mausoleum of Galla Placidia#Good Shepherd Mosaic|Mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia]], Ravenna, Italy, c. 425
File:1750 Christus als Guter Hirte Niederbayern anagoria.JPG|Christ as the Good Shepherd, unknown artist from Lower Bavaria, 1750

File:The_Lord_is_my_Good_Shepherd.jpg|19th century by German Artist Bernard Plockhorst
File:StJohnsAshfield StainedGlass GoodShepherd Portrait.jpg|20th-century [[stained glass]] depiction, Australia
File:Emblem of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.jpg|Emblem of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
File:Oratorio-pastor.jpg|Oratorio de la Santa Cueva. Cádiz, España
File:Christ the Good Shepherd, Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania).jpg|Jesus as a shepherd boy, [[Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)]]
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Div col}}
* [[Depictions of Jesus]]
* [[I am (biblical term)]]
* [[Lamb of God]]
* [[Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament]]
* [[Parable of the Lost Sheep]]
* [[The Sheep and Goats]]
* [[Mausoleum of Galla Placidia]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

*{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Parables|first=William |last=Barry|volume=11}}

*{{cite book|last=Grabar|first=André |title=Christian Iconography: A Study of Its Origins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4a4uQEACAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul}}

*{{cite book|last=Griggs|first=Donald L. |title=The Bible from Scratch: The New Testament for Beginners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUAykz2hS10C&pg=PA52|year=2003|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-22577-3}}

*{{cite book|last=Hultgren|first=Arland J. |title=The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2UvmRVLF18C&pg=PA2|year=2000|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0-8028-6077-4}}

*{{cite book|last=Jensen|first=Robin Margaret |title=Understanding Early Christian Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBhZmu-E-H4C&pg=PA37|year=2000|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-20454-5}}

*{{cite magazine|title=The Two Faces of Jesus|first= Robin M. |last=Jensen|magazine=Bible Review|volume= 17|issue=8|date= October 2002|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/18/5/10}}

*{{cite book|last=Lowrie|first=Walter |title=Art in the Early Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0fwCGTzbMQ0C&pg=PA69|date=March 2007|publisher=Read Books|isbn=978-1-4067-5291-5}}

*{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Peter |last2=Murray|first2=Linda |title=The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lItQAAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-866165-8}}

*{{cite book|last=Reid|first=Barbara E. |title=Parables for Preachers: The Gospel of Matthew : Year A|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVV1KiFKmmkC&pg=PA3|date= 2001|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-2550-7}}

*{{cite book|last=Syndicus|first=Eduard |title=Early Christian Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3lGyAEACAAJ|year=1962|publisher=Burns & Oates}}

*{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=John, Gospel of St |volume=15 |pages=452–458 |first=Friedrich |last=von Hügel}}

{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite magazine |last=Gershon |first=Livia |date= |title=Early Christian Ring Found in Third-Century Shipwreck Off of Israel |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-christian-ring-found-in-third-century-shipwreck-near-Israel-180979282/ |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine}}

==External links==
*[https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/s/shepherd.html?hilite=shepherd Holman Bible Dictionary – "Shepherd"] for other biblical references.

{{commons category|Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd|Good Shepherd}}

{{Jesus footer}}
{{Parables of Jesus|state=expanded}}
{{Gospel of John}}

[[Category:Early Christian art]]
[[Category:Gospel episodes]]
[[Category:Gospel of John]]
[[Category:Iconography of Jesus]]
[[Category:New Testament words and phrases]]
[[Category:Sheep in art]]
[[Category:Shepherds]]
[[Category:Animals in Christianity]]