Weather Alert:

Church programs for Monday, Jan. 22 will resume their normal schedule at all locations this evening.

Programming Note:

Leawood’s Sunday night in-person worship has been moved to 4 pm for Sunday, February 11. 

Search
Close this search box.

Our shepherd wants us to be “one flock”

August 8, 2023
SHARE

Daily Scripture

John 10:7-10, 14-16

7 So Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and outlaws, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.

14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

Jesus chose a bold metaphor when he called himself “the good shepherd.” Shepherds occupied one of the lowest Israelite social rungs in Jesus’ day. But his words drew deeply from the prophet Ezekiel (cf. Ezekiel 34:1-16) in which God promised Israel that he would shepherd them himself. Jesus came as “the good shepherd” who would safely guide and protect all who trusted him. He called all “sheep” to join his “flock,” and offered all of them together “life to the fullest.”

  • Sheep can’t care for themselves—a lone sheep is among earth’s most vulnerable creatures. Their shepherd must be wise and dependable, seeking the well-being and safety of all the sheep in the flock. Humans aren’t sheep—we have to choose to trust. What influences and events have moved you toward trusting Jesus, and people who genuinely follow Jesus? When have you experienced Jesus’ and his people as your shepherd(s)? In what ways do you most need shepherding today?
  • Scholar William Barclay noted, “The Greek phrase used for having [life] more abundantly means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who he is and what he means, is to have a superabundance of life.” * Have there been times when following Jesus led you to experiences that made you feel deeply, fully alive? How can you continue to live out the joyous “superabundance” of life Jesus offers, encouraging and encouraged by others in that life?
Prayer

Dear Jesus, I choose to trust you to be my shepherd. Shelter me, care for me, and guide me to the truly good life—a life shared with your people and enfolded in your love. Amen.

GPS Insights

Picture of Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at Leawood's modern worship services, as well as at the West and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.

There’s a Bible study technique I learned in college that can be used with any of Jesus’ parables, but applies especially well for this one. Read through the parable and identify the characters. In this parable, there are a lot of characters: the sheep in the pen, thieves and outlaws, the gate, the good shepherd, and the sheep outside that sheep pen—maybe even some sheep that don’t belong to any pen. Like many of Jesus’ parables, this one works on several levels.

There’s a general level of understanding where the sheep represent Christians and the thieves and outlaws represent people who would want to hurt us. Jesus protects us from harm and keeps the bad folks away from us. But this one also works on a personal level. On this level, each of us is not necessarily a sheep in the pen—we can also be the sheep outside the pen, or even the thieves and outlaws. In that reading, things can shift and we can often find ourselves playing roles we never thought we would.

Life is pretty great when we’re the sheep in the pen. We’re safe, we get to hang out with other sheep, we have ample space and sustenance. Things get a little harder when we’re a sheep outside of the pen. Maybe we’re in a different, smaller pen, still safe, but separated from the larger pen. Maybe we’re in a larger field, not quite as safe, but still among other sheep and within the range of our shepherd. Maybe we’re a lost sheep, completely cut off from other sheep and at a distance where we think the good shepherd cannot hear our cries.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we may find times in our lives when we’re also the thieves and outlaws—hanging around the sheep pen waiting for a chance to use the sheep for other purposes. The point of the story is not to be the thieves and outlaws, of course; but to do that, you have to be willing to accept that this is a role we can all fall into. It can easily happen when we come to the sheep pens not for safety and community, but to make our truth known—or when we want to find a sheep for our own selfish desires rather than do our part to look after other sheep.

It can be easy to look at these stories in terms of absolutes: this person hurt me because I am a sheep and they are a thief and outlaw. There’s a deeper level of understanding that comes when we realize that some of these roles can be chosen by people every day: this person was a thief and outlaw when they chose to hurt me, but they may be a lost sheep when they go back to their home. When thinking about this story, resist the urge to put people in forever-boxes. Instead, ask which of these characters you most relate to, and which of them you want to relate to. The answers, and the differences between them, may be enlightening.

© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References

* William Barclay, The Gospel of John—Volume 2 Chapters 8–21 (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, p. 60.