NOTES:
1] In Jesus'day, shepherds had a bad press. Like bikies today! It was illegal to buy milk, cheese, or meat from a shepherd, the presumption being they would be stolen from the owner! 2] Jesus 'borrows' the shepherd imagery from EZ 34, a bitter attack on the monarchy of the time, 'bad shepherds'. 3] v.16 is applied to relationships between churches, but Jesus seems to mean those who are not part of Judaism. 4] Though there were various words for 'love' in the Greek of Jesus' day, the one used to translate what he says is 'agape' (agarpay) a rare word meaning totally self-giving love, with no self interest.

WARMING UP: When did we last see or touch a sheep?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
11-15    Do we think much about Jesus being our 'good shepherd', or more in other ways? How relevant does his shepherd imagery seem to us today? Do we have any particular reaction to the way Jesus is portrayed as the good shepherd in many stained glass windows? Can we think of any that have really 'captured' Jesus in that role, or are they all soppy?
             What exactly is it that makes Jesus the 'good' shepherd? Are these qualities recognizable in whoever shepherds us? What about in our shepherding of others? Or isn't that our job? Within our church how conscious are we of people exercising Jesus' kind of shepherding towards each other, or do we leave that to the 'professionals'? If the latter, isn't that exactly what Jesus is on about?
             How well do we actually know Jesus as our shepherd? (Not know about him, but know him?) How well do we believe he knows us? (Not knows about us but knows us?) Does the difference between knowing about someone & actually knowing them matter much? At what level? When Jesus says he knows the Father, do we think of that more as him knowing about the Father, or really knowing God? Can we only ever know God from the outside, or can we somehow get to know God from the inside like Jesus? Does the difference between the kinds of knowing affect the care of the sheep - God's for us, ours for someone else?
             Does Jesus being prepared to give his life for his sheep set too high a standard for 'sheep' like us to follow in how far we'll go for each other? Can we really try to reach such a level of care for each other? How?

16        How do we make most sense out of what Jesus says here? (See N.3 above) Are inter-faith, as well as inter-church relationships on our agenda? Do they need to be? Can Jesus be the shepherd, in a meaningful way, of people who don't believe like us, live like us, worship like us?

17-18   Is Jesus' emphasis on the fact that he lays down his life voluntarily a necessary corrective to any impression that he is arrested, tried, flogged, crucified, all on the initiative of his enemies - or of God? Is the fact that Jesus  hands himself over & thus changes from being in control of events to becoming their victim something we understand well enough?
            When Jesus says he has authority to lay down his life, & also to take it back again, what light does this throw on: a) his identity? b) his resurrection? c) his continuing authority? d) how we believe in him? e) how he shepherds us today?