The Good Shepherd

‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’

- John 10:1-18

So Jesus finally comes to the great analogy for his being in the world: he is the shepherd - the good shepherd - and his sheep know him. We are the sheep, those who have faith in his word.

I can't read these words without an intuitive personal response to them. I believe them. I don't quite know where that belief comes from, but I have a kind of instinctive understanding of them. I know that this good shepherd has laid his life down for his sheep; to the end he did not abandon them nor the job given to him by the Father in heaven. I know what it is to love and trust and have been fortunate to have found these things in my life, and I recognize the same in these words of the good shepherd. Love is a kind of trust, I find. It is instinctive and potent and survives what comes to it, and I have been fortunate to know that in my life.

I have also met fellow sheep, who've given me courage to go on, and most especially shared unexpected grace and mercy with me. I wonder again, about this recognition: how do we recognize fellow sheep, how do we know our shepherd that will not abandon us, who deserves all our trust? May I find a way in my life to help this process - so that others may find the same grace and love and trust. Amen.