Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – John 10:1-21
Set – John 10-11
Go! – John 9-11
John 10:1-21
Jesus: 1 I tell you the truth: the man who crawls through the fence of the sheep pen, rather than walking through the gate, is a thief or a vandal. 2 The shepherd walks openly through the entrance. 3 The guard who is posted to protect the sheep opens the gate for the shepherd, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When all the sheep have been gathered, he walks on ahead of them; and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 The sheep would not be willing to follow a stranger; they run because they do not know the voice of a stranger.
6 Jesus explained a profound truth through this metaphor, but they did not understand His teaching. 7 So He explained further.
Jesus: I tell you the truth: I am the gate of the sheep. 8 All who approached the sheep before Me came as thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not listen to their voices. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be liberated, will go in and go out, and will find pastures. 10 The thief approaches with malicious intent, looking to steal, slaughter, and destroy; I came to give life with joy and abundance.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep in His care. 12 The hired hand is not like the shepherd caring for His own sheep. When a wolf attacks, snatching and scattering the sheep, he runs for his life, leaving them defenseless. 13 The hired hand runs because he works only for wages and does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep, and My sheep know Me. 15 As the Father knows Me, I know the Father; I will give My life for the sheep. 16 There are many more sheep than you can see here, and I will bring them as well. They will hear My voice, and the flock will be united. One flock. One shepherd. 17 The Father loves Me because I am willing to lay down My life—but I will take it up again. 18 My life cannot be taken away by anybody else; I am giving it of My own free will. My authority allows Me to give My life and to take it again. All this has been commanded by My Father.
19 When He spoke these words, some of the Jews began to argue.
Many Jews: 20 He has a demon and is a raving maniac. Why are you people listening to Him?
Other Jews: 21 No demon-possessed man ever spoke like this. Do demons give sight to the blind?
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
The shepherd metaphor probably means a lot less to you today than it did to those Jews who heard Me give it 2000 years ago. They saw shepherds every day tending sheep on the Judean hillsides. Many of them owned sheep and understood what it meant to hire out the job of tending sheep to low paid hired hands who ran from danger.
Maybe a better metaphor for you can be found in a number of news articles that find their way into local papers these days. Gunmen enter a school and you hear about the heroics of teachers taking charge of their class of students. Those teachers protect the students in amazing ways, often standing in the way of gunfire and sometimes giving their lives to protect the children under their care from the random shooting of some crazed gunman. But at the sound of the first shot, most who are not given the responsibility of students flee from the scene as fast as they can. That’s the difference between the shepherd and the hired hands in the metaphor.
The teacher is ready to die for his or her students to keep them from harm. The aid or janitor or vendor visiting the school is often out the door and away from the scene because they don’t feel the close relationship with the children and responsibility to care for them. It’s that teacher’s willingness to give her life for her children that starts to touch on the love for others that I have for you when I gave My life for you on the cross. Yet My love is so much greater.
As heroic as the stories sound of those teachers that stand in the line of fire, as amazing as their love sounds, it’s nothing compared to the love I have for you. No one could take My life. I willingly gave it up. No executioner could kill Me. I had to let him nail Me to the tree and tell the angels to turn their backs and hold back their wrath. I am your protector and will keep you safe from the evils of the world. But understand what that means. Does that mean you will be free from trouble? No. You will face persecution just as I did, but I will guard your heart. You need not fall to temptation if you let Me act as that teacher in the room for you. If you’ll let Me be your Shepherd. If you’ll let Me into your heart to guide your life from this point on. I can and will do it for you. Just ask Me in.
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