Wednesday 02 August 2023
- Bible Book:
- John
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (v. 3)
Background
The passages of Scripture we tend to know the best or love the most are the ones we turn to during times of difficulty. I wonder if this is such a piece of Scripture for you.
In John 10 we have Jesus identifying himself as the gate or door for the sheep (by which he means us) to enter eternal life. It is real, it is honest, it is grounded in the experience of the world, the word of hope is the articulated difference between the gateholder and the thief. The metaphor of sheep and shepherd acknowledges that the world is a dangerous place. A sheep’s life was precarious, especially in the ancient Middle East. Green pastures were the exception, not the rule. Most of the Middle East is desert, steep hills and shadowy valleys, desert and rock. In a desert there are occasional oases, but they are the exception and, if you don’t know where the oasis is, it is easy enough to lose your way. John 10 paints an image of a world of danger and risk: a world of dark valleys, shadows, enemies and thieves.
One day I got lost in Cornwall, when suddenly a young man stepped out and motioned the car to stop. I did. He and his companions were trying to move a small herd of sheep from one pasture, 100 feet down the road to another pasture. It was a big deal. They had assembled eight or nine men to try to move 30 or 40 sheep 100 feet. That’s, one shepherd to roughly every four sheep. And they had a hard time doing it.
The sheep were very anxious. Apparently change makes sheep anxious and irrational. Some of them insisted on going the wrong way, they were adamant and for every one of them going the wrong way, three or four others would follow. Eventually the shepherds' voices won out and the sheep were where they were supposed to be, the risk diminished. All were safe, at least for now.
To Ponder:
- If you were to think about a passage of Scripture that has helped you in a time of difficulty, which might it be?
- Whose voice is loudest in your life today?
- Whose voice speaks most often in your life?
Prayer
God among us, we pray that we might, above the noise of this world, hear the words of grace and love that will guide, lead, encourage and accompany us on our next few steps in this life. Amen.