I found it interesting that in Eastertide we have Shepherd Sunday (John 10. 1-18). One compelling reason is that the Shepherd discourse brings to the fore the qualities of our Saviour as the One who suffers for his sheep and lays down his life for his sheep.This is the Easter message in the context of the middle-eastern shepherd who lies across the doorway of the sheepfold, who puts his body 'on the line'. By being the One who lies in the doorway, He is able to say, 'I am the door to the sheepfold' and 'I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture'.
But more than that, St John wants to impress upon us that Jesus is unique as the door in that this shepherd not only lays down his life for the sheep but then is able by the authority vested in Him by the Father to take that life up again. No one took his life away from him. He voluntarily laid it down so that he might take it up again for all his sheep. Was there ever a shepherd like this that even death was unable to hold him fast on the third day? Of course not! No holy man or woman has ever defeated death in that way Jesus Christ did! No wonder St John urgently sets him forward as the Good Shepherd.
