He Who Does Not Enter the Sheepfold by the Door Art
The Good Shepherd John 10: 1-21
"Very truly, I tell yous, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold past the gate but climbs in past another way is a thief and a bandit. The 1 who enters past 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 alee of them, and the sheep follow him considering 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, merely they did not empathise what he was saying to them. Then over 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 past me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes merely to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may accept life, and have it abundantly. "I am the proficient shepherd. The good shepherd lays downwardly his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does non ain 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 abroad because a hired hand does not intendance for the sheep. I am the practiced 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 practice not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my phonation. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay downwardly my life in society to have information technology up once again. No one takes information technology from me, but I lay it down of my own accordance. I have power to lay information technology down, and I take power to take it upward again. I have received this command from my Father." Once more the Jews were divided because of these words. Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?" Others were proverb, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
The Good Shepherd
Against the background of Ezekiel 34, Jesus presented himself as the 'shepherd' of God'due south flock and the 'door' of access to God. In a Palestinian setting the sheepfold was a courtyard or a walled enclosure in a field. At night the sheep of various shepherds were gathered inside.
At that place was a proper manner of budgeted sheep herded in a sheepfold: through the gate opened by the keeper. Any other fashion of entry was the conduct of a thief. So there is the shepherd. He knows his sheep by proper noun; when he calls them they follow him confidently. They volition not follow a stranger; they practise non recognise his voice. The parabolic class wears thin as Jesus reveals his own part in the picture. It is because the parable is really about him that the same person tin fill up the function of shepherd, and also of gate giving access to the fold. The Lord non simply gives and sustains life only is himself the way, or means of entry, into life. As the proficient shepherd, Jesus contrasted himself with the Pharisees who had just expelled from the synagogue the homo built-in blind (9: 34). Jesus 'leads out' and 'goes ahead of' his sheep as their leader and guides them to the pasturage of his word. And he calls each 'by name' -- there is a close personal relationship betwixt the Christian and Christ.
Jesus also described himself as the gate of the sheepfold: he is the way of life (come across 14: six). In and through him lonely do Christians enter into 'life' -- a gift bestowed with lavish generosity. Here there is the same loving care as before and the same intimate familiarity -- they 'get in and go out' equally they please. While Jesus spoke of himself as shepherd and way, the passage must be a challenge to all who hold pastoral responsibility. They will practice well to contemplate the motion picture of caring vigilance and patient love that the good shepherd presents, and marker his respect for the liberty of his disciples (vv. 1-10).
Jesus alleged himself to be the good or ideal shepherd. Again, Ezekiel 34 is the groundwork. God promises his people, in the first place, that he would become their shepherd, and then that he would choose a shepherd for them in the messianic age. Jesus' assertion that he was the good shepherd indicates that this age has come, and that he is that promised shepherd. He is a shepherd then very dissimilar from those castigated by Ezekiel: 'You have non strengthened the weak, you take not healed the ill, you have not bound upwardly the injured, yous take non brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them' (Ezek 34; 4). On every point Jesus stood in abrupt contrast.
The 2nd feature of the truthful shepherd is that he knows his sheep intimately and that they know him. In John the mutual knowledge of Jesus and those who belong to him is an extension of the mutual knowledge of Father and Son (see Jn 17: 26-27). Knowing Jesus and the Father ways existence of 1 heed and heart with them. But the shepherd concern of Jesus reached out to other sheep -- the Gentiles -- to bring them besides into the fold of eternal life. Jesus declared that the Male parent loved him considering he was prepared to cede himself in faithfulness to the task entrusted to him. Considering he was so fully i with the Father, source of life and life-giver, he had power not only to lay downwards his life, just power to take it up again. 'I accept received this command from my Male parent'; equally always in John, it is the Father who initiates activity.
'The Jews' did not know what to make of Jesus' words. Some declared flatly: 'He's a raving lunatic!' Others observed more thoughtfully: 'These are not the words of a madman -- and no power of evil could open the eyes of the blind.' The question of who Jesus is will non go abroad.
Wilfrid Harrington.
Source: https://www.goodnews.ie/goodshepherd.shtml
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