Sorry for the week of silence. Certainly not because there was little to say about the lovely texts for last week which is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. If you are familiar with the John 10 text, it is easy to understand how this Sunday got its name.
I'll begin this week with a quick re-cap of Sunday, May 15's lesson and message, and then I'll add some info on the coming lessons later.
Jesus uses two metaphors to describe his relationship with his disciples. At first he is the shepherd and in the second (starting at verse 7) he is the gate to the sheephold.
Unlike cattle, sheep are not branded, and so it is important that a shepherd be able to recognize his sheep whenever flocks from different owners are combined, like in a communal sheephold. Picture several shepherds working out in the hills. They create a sheephold out of thorn bushes which will keep the sheep in and the predators out (most of the time). At night, all the sheep can lay down in safety and comfort and then in the morning, the Shepherd opens the gate and calls for his sheep. the sheep know his voice and follow. They will not follow a strange voice.
This is such an intimate picture of knowing and responding to one another. And the purpose of this intimate relationship is so that the sheep may know life - life abundant. At first, the sheep stay within the comfort of the sheepfold, resting in its safety. However, they cannot stay there indefinitely. They will thirst and eventually eat all the available grass. The sheep must leave the comfort zone to follow the shepherd or their comfort zone will become a death trap.
It takes confidence to step out of that safety zone - confidence in the person of the shepherd and the intentions of the shepherd. The word confidence means 'with faith'. One needs to move with faith in the shepherd so he can lead you to a place of green pasture and still water to drink.
Yet in the Easter season, Jesus calls us to move beyond blind following to a place of boldness - where we are confident that the shepherd is near by even when we cannot see him. We are are tune our ears to his voice so that when all the storms are raging in our lives, we have the power of the shepherd's voice sustaining us. We are bold in our witness to this shepherd, and the shepherd's love makes us bold in our lives.
That's a re-cap of the sermon. Tomorrow, we'll look at the next Sunday's text, John 14.
Peace
No comments:
Post a Comment