Thus says the Lord God:
I myself will look after and tgend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.
I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign lands...
I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal ... shepherding them rightly. (Ezek. 34:11-13.15-16)
In the Gospels, Jesus is the good shepherd. In Mt. 9:36, we find the evangelist describing the "gaze" of Jesus on the "objects" of his ministry
At the sight of the crowds
his heart was moved to compassion for them
because they were troubled and abandoned
like sheep without a shepherd.
Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on this passage comments:
Even now, the compassionate gaze of Christ continues to fall upon individuals and peoples. He watches them, knowing that the divine plan includes their call to salvation. Jesus knows the perils that put his plan at risk and he is moved with pity for crowds. He chooses to defend them from the wolves even at the cost of his own life. The gaze of Jesus embraces individuals and multitudes and he brings them all before the Father offering Himself as a sacrifice of expiation. (Benedict XVI, Lenten Message 2006)
"He chooses to defend them from the wolves even at the cost of his own life." With this phrase, the Pope connects the gaze of Christ to the "I Am" pronouncement in John 10:11-18: "I am the Good Shepherd; the good shepherd layss down his life for his sheep" (Jn. 10:11)
The whole of John 10 is about sheep and shepherd. The first part -- Jn. 10:1-21 -- Jesus presents himself as "Gate of the Sheepfold" at one time, and then as the "Good Shepherd". He is both the entrance to the sheepfold and the shepherd who calls the sheep by name (v.3). In both these passages however, the false and true shepherds are compared and contrasted. Where Jesus is the "Gate", the false shepherd is the one who enters by another passage. In vv. 11-18, the false shepherd is one who runs away at the approach of danger.
In Jn. 10:11-18, Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd. He is good because he lays down his life for his sheep. What he does for his sheep is done voluntarily; he is not paid to take care of them. Only the good shepherd can die a thousand times for his sheep if needed.
Within this discussion of the Shepherd who offers his life for the sheep is the mention of the "other sheep" (v.16). The original flock of sheep are the Israelites. In the New Dispensation, the Gentiles are also included among the "flock". Paul speaks of the coming together of Jews and Gentiles as the secret plan of God made known in Christ. In John this is made clear in the declaration of Jesus being able to satisy the Father's command to lay down his life for his sheep. (v. 18)
Raymond Brown writes that while other NT texts speak of "men" as shepherds of the sheep, in John, Jesus is identified as the true shepherd, the model of all human shepherds. Thus, the commissioning of Peter in Jn. 21:15-19 also includes an invitation to agapic-love, that love that lays down one's life for one's friends. (cf. Jn. 15:13)
