Hirelings Need Not Apply

    The good shepherd Jesus described is not at all like a hired hand. The hired hand "administers an organization." He withholds or grants permission "in the best interests of the institution" with little feel for real, live persons. When his back is to the wall he may resort to "the organizationally expedient" thing, may even throw lambs to the wolves in order to save his own reputational skin. This kind of leader need not expect the affection and loyalty of "a following." Jesus was no hireling. Nor are true shepherds today.

Apostles as Shepherds

Not much sheep-smell rubs off from a quick Sunday handshake in the foyer.

    Jesus also charged the apostles to shepherd his flock. "Feed my lambs" (John 21:15), "Take care of my sheep" (v. 16), and "Feed my sheep" (v. 17). The apostles were to continue in the leadership style of their teacher. That was Jesus' statement to the Father: "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:18). Like Jesus their teacher, the apostles shepherded "flocks" of ministry apprentices. One even spelled out the procedure: "What you have learned from me, pass on to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). Good shepherds still do this today.

Elders as Shepherds

    Finally, Scripture describes elders of the church as "shepherds of God's flock." Paul urged elders, "Keep watch over... the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church... savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock" (Acts 20:28). Peter wrote, "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care" (1 Peter 5:1-4).

    Modern church leaders, please don't miss the point. Surely the apostles' choice of the word shepherd is quite intentional. They called elders shepherds because, across the centuries of Scripture, a massive iceberg of divine meaning had accumulated beneath the surface of the word shepherd. The apostles' elder friends knew this well. So, with the word shepherd, Paul and Peter did not merely throw in a colorful figure of speech, but invoked a whole theological paradigm of spiritual leadership. While other metaphors for spiritual leaders, such as episkopoi and presbuteroi, appear in Scripture, the dominant one is poimainoi or shepherds. Good elders are gentle, hands-on shepherds who smell like sheep!

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