Today’s Scripture: John 10:1-5; 14-15
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
Today’s Devotional
In this passage we have another one of Jesus’ “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John. In this case Jesus tells us “I Am the Good Shepherd”.
We don’t have a lot of sheep running around Fairfax County and therefore not a lot of shepherds. However, we can still get a pretty good picture of what Jesus is talking about here. In fact, I’m not sure what modern example we can give that better describes what Jesus is to us than “shepherd”.
If we were to summarize this passage, I think it would be this: Jesus knows us.
On some level being “known” is a scary proposition. I’m not sure I want to be known exactly. There are parts of myself that I’ve worked hard at to keep UN-known! But if we think about it, we all have a desire to be known for who we are. To be loved even though we are known. And to relax into a relationship in which nothing is hidden, nothing is fake, no games are being played. We are just known.
Once we realize that we Jesus knows us and loves us in spite of that, we start to follow his voice more readily and with greater abandon. We can let our guard down because we know that we are going to be safe in his care.
Today you might be needing to hear that despite everything you are going through – Jesus cares for you. You are his and he will not abandon you. Or maybe you need to fully embrace being known by Jesus – even though that scares you a bit. Or perhaps you need to re-tune your ears to the voice of Jesus and commit to following that voice once again.
Here’s the bottom line: Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He’s got you.
Today’s Prayer
God thank you for sending your son to be our shepherd. Help us to open ourselves up to being known by him. Help us to learn to follow his voice and his voice along. Help us to fully comprehend that he is our Good Shepherd.
Amen
Leave a Reply