As we reflect again upon the beautiful love of Christ for us in the "Good Shepherd" passage of St. John 11, let us recognise the very heartbeat of the passage: "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep" (1928 BCP). We focus on the laying down of the life of the Shepherd, for a number of reasons; it is surely the Great Act of divine love (Rom. 5:8). But in these words above, Christ communicates the intimate relationship to which He invites His sheep, which loving communion inspires His willingness to lay down His life for us, sheep going astray. He compares the degree of intimacy He has with His sheep to the degree of "knowing" intimacy He has with His Father.
Bishop Westcott writes: The relation of Christ to His people corresponds with that of the Son to the Father. Comp. vi. 57, xiv. 20, xv. 10, xvii.21. The words are not simply a comparison, but the one relation is (so to speak) a measure of the other. Christ first took our nature that we might afterwards receive His. Such mutual knowledge as is described involves sympathy, love, community of nature: I John iv. 7 f.; Gal. iv. 9 ; I Cor. viii. 3 ; ch. xvii. 3, 25.
This is why He cares so for His sheep and is willing to lay down His life for them. Behold the beauty of the love of Christ for us!
Note: The KJV translation (followed by the 1662 BCP) which alters the way the comparisons are made between verses 14 & 15, so that it is limited to the Father and Son relationship only, is, according to Westcott, not according to the most ancient authorities. Bishop Wright translates it in the same way as Westcott: "just as the father knows me and I know the father."
Bishop Westcott writes: The relation of Christ to His people corresponds with that of the Son to the Father. Comp. vi. 57, xiv. 20, xv. 10, xvii.21. The words are not simply a comparison, but the one relation is (so to speak) a measure of the other. Christ first took our nature that we might afterwards receive His. Such mutual knowledge as is described involves sympathy, love, community of nature: I John iv. 7 f.; Gal. iv. 9 ; I Cor. viii. 3 ; ch. xvii. 3, 25.
This is why He cares so for His sheep and is willing to lay down His life for them. Behold the beauty of the love of Christ for us!
Note: The KJV translation (followed by the 1662 BCP) which alters the way the comparisons are made between verses 14 & 15, so that it is limited to the Father and Son relationship only, is, according to Westcott, not according to the most ancient authorities. Bishop Wright translates it in the same way as Westcott: "just as the father knows me and I know the father."
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