Title: The Good Shepherd
The words of comparing Israel and God to sheep and shepherds can also be found in the Old Testament. (Ezekiel 34:7-16; Jeremiah 23:1-4)
Jesus compares the Pharisees, the religious leaders of those days, to thieves or robbers, and declares himself as the Good Shepherd.
1. The Lord Who Calls My Name
10:3 The gatekeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
There are several types of sheepfolds in Palestine, where nomadic life is dominant.
There are temporary cages that you make when you are away from home or in mountainous areas.
Usually, there are many caves in nature, so a fence is built a little away from the cave to connect it to the cave, and to enter the cave during a storm or at night. A roof was made and covered. This sheep pen does not have a separate door, but rather an arched doorway to the outside. Shepherds lay in this doorway at night to watch over us. We often have sheep from several shepherds living together, so we sometimes set up gatekeepers, and sometimes the shepherds guard them themselves.
Shepherds called their sheep by name one by one to make sure there were no stragglers. Shepherds named their sheep according to their characteristics, such as ‘white nose’ or ‘long ears’, depending on their physical characteristics or personality. Giving names and calling them like this is something that cannot be done without special love and attention. Then it is said that the sheep with excellent hearing can distinguish their shepherd's voice and follow the shepherd (John 10:4-5).
As a shepherd knows his sheep, so the Lord knows all of us.
David confesses in Psalm 139:
¹You have looked on me, O LORD, so you know me For there is not one that is not ignorant of the words of the tongue.
♬ The Lord who made me~ You are in me~ From the beginning my life was in your hands.
You know my name~ All my thoughts~ He hears me when I call Abara.
You are the Lord who knows me and calls my name in the midst of the great flock.
2. The Lord Who Leads
10:4-5 When he gives out all his sheep, he goes ahead, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice, but they do not follow because they do not know the voice of others, but run away.
‘Ekbalo (?χβ?λλω)’, which corresponds to the introduced here, is a word that means ‘to forcibly drive out’, and it refers to forcibly pulling out sheep even if they do not want to come out of the cage. ‘If you go ahead after putting everything out’ After you forcefully pull out the grass to feed, the shepherd’s action is not forcibly driven, but for the shepherd to take the lead. In the West, when herding livestock on a wide plain, it is common to drive them from behind. However, since the Palestinian pastures are mostly mountainous areas, it is said that when a shepherd stands at the forefront of the flock and leads the way when passing through rough places, the sheep follow the shepherd's voice after confirming it.
Psalm 23 speaks well of the Lord as the Shepherd.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.
3 He revives my soul and leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff comfort me.
5 You have set a table for me in the sight of my enemies; you have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Goodness and kindness will surely follow me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.
The sheep who have experience with the shepherd listen intently to the shepherd's voice.
When we think of sheep, we usually associate a pure and clean image. I've seen them stand still while shearing their sheep and remain docile until they're all sheared. But the sheep are not so gentle and clean. Fleece is deeply greased with dirty oil, often burps with a disgusting smell, and runs wild and fuss. So the prophet Isaiah says: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of all of us.” (Isaiah 53:6) . If they leave the group due to lack of sense of direction, they have no ability to come back alone.
This is also how our lives are. There are fears and laziness that do not want to come out of us. Even though we look clean on the outside, when we look closer, we see that we are stained with stains, and inside we are rotten and smelly.
No matter how much we seem to live with our own strength, plans, and abilities, our life is something we cannot predict even an inch ahead. In our life, there is not always a wide plain. Sometimes there are steep thorns, there are rocks and there are puddles. Because I don't like the voice of the shepherd, I wander the other way and fall into a deep bog and weep. (Luke 15 - Parable of the Lost Sheep) The Lord, the Shepherd, leads the unpredictable and rough road ahead and guides it. He is the Lord who leads us like sheep, who do not know one step ahead and do not have the ability to protect his own life, constantly hears his voice, leads us ahead, and leads us to a place of safety and abundance.
I bless you and me who listen to the voice of the Lord.
3. The Lord is the channel of life
Even though Jesus spoke of the sheepfold in parables, he said it again when people did not understand it.
10:7 So Jesus said again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep.
There are many doors in the world. A door is the beginning and the end of a realm. When we start or finish something, we enter and exit through the door. After entering the school, graduating, entering the company, leaving the company, and passing through countless gates. Things that do not pass through a normal gate are called corruption and irregularities. The thief who wants to kill and destroy us does not enter through the door, but crosses over (John 10:1).
The sheep gate has almost the same meaning as the words “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14). In a Palestinian ranch where the door of the sheep's pen is not fitted with a door, at night the shepherd spends the night lying at the door entrance. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
10:9 I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved; and he will go in and out and find pasture.
There is universality of salvation in the expression “whoever”, but the exclusivity of the gospel appears in the word “because of me.” It says that the door of salvation is open to everyone, but the only way to the truth is Jesus Christ.
Psalm 107 says that man sat in darkness and the shadow of death, disobeying the word of the Lord, and despising the will of the Most High, leading to the gates of death (Psalm 107:10-18). The world tempts us with many doors. It seems to be a wide door at first, but it destroys and ruins our lives. We escape from the gates of death when we follow the guidance of Jesus Christ. Only through the door of Christ can we enjoy true life. If the value and perspective of our life is through Jesus Christ, who is life, we can receive life and enjoy an abundant life. We need to think about whether we are only looking at the wide door of the world today, losing our true happiness and life.
I pray that you and I will respond to the call of the Lord who knows me and calls on my name. I hope that you and I will listen to and obey the tender voice of the Lord who guides me. I hope that you and I will enjoy abundant life through Jesus Christ, who is the channel of our life.