I Know Mine

 

John 10:11-18

The Good Shepherd

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ 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. This command I received from my Father.”

Not many of us today are familiar with raising or caring for sheep, yet this image of the Good Shepherd continues to captivate us because it  gives us a vivid picture of a caring, loving protector who will stop at nothing, even to laying down his life, to assure our well-being and safety. What comfort this brings to us when we are seeing more and more disconnect between people, as the isolation of the Pandemic takes its toll on our ability to BE with one another.  We need to re-learn the lesson of the Good Shepherd:  to know and care for others selflessly, to be willing to sacrifice our time, use our talents, or share whatever we have that they may know through our gestures how much our God loves them, loves US.  Let's use this Sunday to Be good to one another, to be Good Shepherds.

Bro Rene