The "E" in oEdipus

Though the complex plot of Oedipus doesn't allow for a complete metaphor, the shepherd character acts as sort of Saviour to the young Oedipus tied up by his ankles. The metaphor breaks down when one views this act as only an attempt to loosen fate's grip on the child's life. However, in an effort to "evangelize the text" one can clearly replace the lifeless, vulnerable Oedipus with any one of us. We are all lost and chained by our ankles to our sin, unable to escape it's grip without the help of an outsider. Somebody perfect and compassionate that finds us and does everything he can to save us. Jesus is our shepherd. While we all slowly die in our sins up on some faraway hill thinking we will never be found, Jesus is searching all over the countryside for that one lost sheep.

"What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:4-7