Shepherds After My Own Heart

Timothy S. Laniak moves away from focusing on full time ministerial church leadership styles and returns more to the discussion of actual shepherding in his “Shepherds After My Own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible.” In place of “pastor”, “shepherd” overtakes Laniak’s deep grammar in an intentional way of recapturing the Biblical metaphor of shepherding sheep. Laniak makes his case for Biblical shepherding via thorough theological examples and patterns taken from throughout the Bible. He attempts to paint the imagery of shepherds in order that modern day leaders would embrace their role as caretakers of the flock. His work is rife with exegesis and exposition on the ancient context from which these metaphors come.

Having established the role and lifestyle of actual shepherds, he moves into the Old Testament to consider how the prophets fulfilled their roles as shepherds of God’s people and how they foreshadowed the coming of the Good Shepherd. The parallels of a lost people in the wilderness, a people provisioned by God, saved and led out by a Joshua, and the reception of an inherited promised land are numerous. Yeshua, the Good Shepherd, saves God’s people lost in sin, through God’s grace, while promising a life abundant.

Surely the role of the prophets of old were twofold: 1. to lead God’s people by constantly reminding them of God’s story and calling them to live as people of God, and 2. to rehearse the role of the coming Messiah, so that sheep would know how to follow a shepherd. We see this come to fruition in the synoptic gospels through the parables, teachings, and life of Jesus described by the writers. Even more so, John’s gospel plays on the imagery of Jesus being both our Shepherd and our Passover Lamb. In that dualistic role, John challenges Jesus’ followers to be both shepherdable and shepherding. He ends his gospel with Jesus’ litmus test of our love for him: if we love Jesus, then we will feed his sheep.

Laniak finishes his book with an exploration of the same imagery found in Revelation. Laniak suggests the book of Revelation brings the shepherd imagery full circle with its immense descriptions of a paradoxical Lion Shepherd King and Slain Lamb. It is here where we are offered a glimpse of the promised land to which we are herded by the Good Shepherd. While this analysis is brief, it is essential to round out the metaphor by matching up Jesus’ role in our exodus. In his conclusion, Laniak makes the fair observation that the name “Good Shepherd” refers to both YHWH and Jesus. We may tend to think of YHWH as the Father Jehovah third of the Godhead, while Jesus as the Son. In fact, at the burning bush, Moses is confronted by YHWH God, which is the Godhead in its entirety. Certainly roles amongst the Godhead may be debated and this piece is not a forum for such discussions. Suffice it to say that the Good Shepherd is an identity that is not unique to one part of the Godhead. Instead, it is the desire of the Triune God to see us shepherded into our abundant life.