One Shepherd

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ONE SHEPHERD

John 10:1-18

10:1 "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."  6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. 7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." 

NIV

Although there is so much in these words of Jesus, we just cannot break them down into smaller segments without losing the whole of his message. Still, we have to deal with certain elements of his dissertation one at a time. First, we should note although this is the beginning of the next chapter, according to how, whoever, made the various books of the bible into chapters, Jesus is still speaking to those Pharisees who he accused of being blind. Now he is calling them thieves and robbers. The Pharisees thought of themselves as the shepherds or pastors of the people, their guides in religious matters and in the law. We know Jesus is the gate, he is the only way into the pen, which symbolizes the church. This church is not church as we look at the building we enter on Sunday to worship, but rather the church as the people of God. There is no other way to become the church, other than through the gate, Jesus. Now, it has also been said that if a man has been called by God to be a shepherd of a local flock, he has been given the authority by Jesus and thus can enter the pen and call forth his flock and they will listen to his voice. The idea here is there can be only one shepherd of a flock. Jesus is the true Shepherd, of the whole church, however, he appoints, or calls some to be pastor and teachers. What we have to know is that each local church has been given one shepherd under the authority of Christ. Now, that does not mean a church cannot have more them one pastor, but all additional pastors are under the authority of the one pastor of the church. However, what that also means is the sheep know his voice and listen to him, just as we know the voice of Jesus, and we do not listen to strangers, such as those who teach Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or those voices of the world, teaching materialism, self-fulfillment, or whatever. But it also means that we do not listen to the voice of others who profess Christianity and make their claim of truth a means for national fame and future. They are not our shepherd, much like the Pharisees were not the true guide for the people, as they were the blind leading the blind. Again, one Good Shepherd of the church, Jesus, and one shepherd for each flock. The shepherd knows his sheep by name and calls them and they follow only his voice and run from strangers. What we learn here in a practical sense is that all those voices on multi-media waves are strangers who do not know our name and we should not listen to them, no matter how fine-sounding their words are, they are not the shepherd of our flock. Those multiple voices only serve to confuse and confound, divide and conquer, support for their own benefit. Therefore it behooves us to listen to the voice of Jesus, the one Good Shepherd, and to that voice of the Pastor called to shepherd his church.