The Real Deal

When is the last time you stood and watched a shepherd tending his sheep? I can’t say I ever really did. But it is a theme that we see over and over in the Bible. Here Jesus is telling us a little bit about sheep.

1. The shepherd knows his sheep by name (Intimacy)

2. The shepherd goes ahead and the sheep follow (Leadership)

3. Sheep won’t follow a stranger, but will instead run away from the stranger because they do not know the voice of the stranger (Discernment)

Jesus calls himself the gate – the way into and out of the sheep pen and the pasture. Staying close to him brings safety and nourishment. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 Sometimes, I think the ‘wolf’ dresses up like a sheep and tries to talk other sheep into going with him to the ‘greener pasture out there’. Or worse yet, he dresses like a shepherd trying to disguise his voice to get the sheep to follow him. But he has only one mission – the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. If we follow him into his sheep pen, in the end we will die.

It seems that I need to spend much time listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd and memorizing it so that I have the discernment to only follow the Good Shepherd and not be mislead by the ‘thief’ or ‘wolf’ that is out to get me. If I listen to too many other ‘shepherds’ I may become confused and forget the voice of my shepherd and wander off after the wrong one. But I have this picture in my mind of a young sheep bleating for help when they realize they are lost and can’t see or hear the Good Shepherd. And I see the Good Shepherd coming and reaching down and gathering the bleating sheep into his arms and carrying him gently back to safety.

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” John 10:17-18 Leadership with authority is a good thing. And leadership with authority and love is better yet. He is going to kill the wolf before it gets me because he loves me and is committed to taking care of me.

That is what the cross was all about – Jesus laying down his life (funny, the religious leaders, their followers, and the Roman government thought they were in control here!) in order to ‘kill the wolf’ that is after the sheep. Jesus is gathering the sheep in the sheep pen. When we wander off, he comes after us and carries us back to safety. He constantly calls us wanting to provide safety for us.

Jesus claims to be the good shepherd not only of the Jews, but of the gentiles as well. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep 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 are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:14-16

So Jesus is not only a Good Shepherd with love and authority, he is also inclusive bringing all the sheep together into one pen and being the Good Shepherd for them all. I wonder who some of these other sheep are and how I will know that they are his sheep as well.