Hi Everyone,
I was recently reading again the ‘Good Shepherd’ discourse in John 10. This passage is a favourite for many Christians because of the comfort and strength it gives to Christians in their daily life. It is a very personable passage.
Knowing that God guides us, cares for us, walks with us, as individuals, each day of our lives is comforting and amazing. We truly have a lot for which to praise God. The same God who holds each star in place, the same God who turns the hearts of Kings, calls me by name and guides me through each step of my day.
The picture in John 10 is about a sheepfold. Sheep were farmed differently in the Middle East in the first century than they are in Australia today. Many shepherds in a town would look after their own sheep during the day and lead the sheep to the green pastures and still waters around the countryside etc. During the night they would all bring their sheep to a sheepfold and sometimes hire a ‘hireling’ to look after the sheep. The sheepfold would be like a pen or a barn (depending on the weather) and all the town’s sheep would mingle together in the pen while the hireling (or a shepherd) watched them. In the morning the shepherds would return and call their sheep. The sheep would hear the voice of their shepherd and go out of the sheepfold with him. The shepherd knew all his sheep and he would call them by name. It is a beautiful picture.
Joh 10:3-4 The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (4) And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd and his people are his sheep. The picture is about Jesus’ relationship to his people.
But when I read this passage I always have a problem.
The disciples who walked on the earth with Jesus heard his voice every day. They knew the sound of his voice and could respond to it just as we respond to the voice of our friends. But we live 2 thousand years after Jesus – We don’t know the tones of His voice. So how do we hear his voice?
Primarily – we hear his voice through reading the Bible. John tells us that the Bible is the “Word”. Hence we know God through reading and ‘listening’ to what He has said. What He has said is written in the Bible. It is not exactly like listening to his voice – to us. We are used to telephones and mobiles and skype. We don’t often have to go without hearing the voice of a friend but before phones and computers etc people did “listen” to letters and cherished the written word because it was the expressed thoughts of their friend.
So how can we hear Jesus’ voice? By reading the Bible and ‘listening’ to what is written in the Bible. That is – obeying his commands, noting and watching out for his warnings, believing his wisdom and his explanations, acting on the knowledge we receive.
The aim of our listening to Jesus is so that we will ‘know’ our ‘Good Shepherd’. He knows us and ‘his sheep’ know him. As we listen to someone we know and understand them better and better. Jesus already knows us perfectly. We have a responsibility to know the shepherd who cares for us, guides us, protects us and walks with us.
Recently I was at the shopping centre and watched some children at the indoor playground in the middle of the shopping centre. These playgrounds are very similar to sheepfolds. All the kids play together in the playground and all the mums sit chatting together on the lounges strategically placed around the door of the pen while they keep watch over the kids. At intervals a mum would stand up and gather her belongings and call a few kids to come with her. As you would expect there were differing responses from the kids.
Some kids ignored the parent and just kept playing – even after multiple calls, some kids immediately started crying and complaining, getting louder and louder with arguments, some kids started on their journey towards the parent only to be distracted by a new toy, and yet a few kids came happily to their mothers side on the first call.
Most kids were not really very sheep-like. I guess that we are not by nature very sheep-like either- especially when it comes to obeying God’s call.
Thoughts to Consider
- How often do you actively and attentively listen to God?
When you read your Bible do you take note of the
· Commands in the passage
· Warnings in the passage
· Believe the wisdom and knowledge expressed in the passage
Do you draw near in praise and adoration to your Good Shepherd for His protection and guidance and care for you that is shown in the passage and consider how much more you know Him?
- What is your usual response to reading God’s Word? Can you think of times when you have ignored God’s Word? Or have complained and argued with God’s Word? Or have got distracted when obeying His Word?
- How heartily do you obey God’s word with zeal and delight and rejoicing?
- Consider the characters of the Bible and identify examples of God’s people responding to God’s word in these different ways (Jonah, Solomon, Lot, David, Daniel may be a good place to start). How did God shepherd these ‘sheep’?
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