IN THIS Sunday’s gospel we hear Jesus saying, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one (John 10:27-30).”
These words are rich in imagery. They focus on Jesus as our Good Shepherd, and on believers as his sheep.
As our Good Shepherd, Jesus takes care of us. In Psalm 23, the psalmist thus sings, “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.”
The psalmist continues, “You set a table before me in front of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the Lord for endless days.”
Wow, what a great privilege to become the Lord’s sheep, but the question is, “Are we all his sheep?” In an age where inclusion is the buzzword, it would be great if everyone becomes God’s sheep. That is, in fact, in the heart of the Good Shepherd. But because of our free will, we can see that in other parts of the gospel, there is a classification between sheep and goats. On the Lord’s second coming, he shall reward the sheep with eternal life in heaven while the goats are punished with eternal damnation in hell. We can see this is Matthew 25:31-46.
Who then are the sheep and who are the goats? The sheep are they who follow the Lord, while the goats are they who disobey God.
In the words of this Sunday’s gospel, the sheep are those who “hear” their shepherd’s voice. To hear Jesus’ words is not necessarily to experience an auditory sensation of what he says. To hear him is to understand his words as recorded in the Bible, to accept them, and to put them into practice.
The shepherd is often leading the sheep from the front. The sheep are able to travel in the right direction and are spared from danger by listening intently to the voice of the one leading them. And so should we.
Life on earth is not always easy. Trials, tests, hardships and difficulties abound our way. But if we listen with our ears and hearts to the instructions and guidance of our shepherd, we’ll be able to stand victorious over any peril. God will never leave us; he will always be on our side.
But how if we run astray and get lost? From the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7), we know what Jesus will do. He will leave the ninety-nine of his flock to look for that single sheep who got lost. And when he finds it, he carries it on his shoulders and upon arriving home, calls together his friends and neighbors for a grand celebration.
We are all important in the eyes of our God. We are not a mere statistic or an insignificant random particle in this vast universe. God, our Shepherd, knows us personally much more than we know our very selves.
More than that, he loves us so much that he took upon himself all the punishment, suffering, hardship, pain, rejection, condemnation, guilt, shame, loneliness, sicknesses and diseases that we all deserve because of sin. This he did by embracing the cross and rising from the dead, never to die again.
Do we want to dwell into this amazing love of the Good Shepherd? Let us be a sheep to him by listening to his voice.