The Good Shepherd

 

I always thought the “Jesus the Good Shepherd” story in John 10 was a story of separating who was in and who was out—

A judgement of sorts, 

With Jesus as the ultimate judge. 

Believe in Jesus and you’re in. 

Don’t believe in Jesus and you’re out. 

But I was wrong. 

 

Sheep enclosures provide boundaries. 

And boundaries are good. 

Boundaries provide safety and a place to be held. 

They provide comfort and healing, 

familiarity and rest. 

Yet the pasture is where the green grass is, 

The nourishment, 

The joys of life, 

The freedom to roam. 

 

Jesus invites us to both. 

And Jesus positions himself as the gate that both draws sheep into safety and guides them out to live. 

 

This is not a you’re in, you’re out story. 

It  is not a story to use to draw lines of judgment, and 

It is not a story about eternity. 

 

This is a story about Christ’s love for all who will hear it and follow it to safety and rest and comfort and healing 

SO THAT they can follow him back out into the world and live. 

It is a story about the here and now, 

And listening to and following the one who laid down his life for us so that we might “have life and have it abundantly.”

 

Amen.