Sunday John 10:11-18

Prayer: Guide our meditations, O God, as we read your Word, in Christ. Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

(Adapted from Christ in Our Home – daily devotions)

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 

I can attest that sheep are stupid! As a young man, I had to care for a handful of sheep and they are not as lovable and passive as one might think, especially as you see in Bible paintings that show sheep as snow-white and obedient. Shepherding is a dirty business even though it can be easier than herding cats. Sheep can be stubborn, and they tend to wander. That’s why God created sheep dogs.

So when Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd, the people of His day knew the challenges that raising sheep meant. It wasn’t a romantic vision of little lambs riding on one’s shoulders. Jesus used shepherding as a promise that He was in it, to win it! He came to be in life with us wherever it takes us and to give His life to save His sheep…US!

Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me.” His presence of coming to live with us made it clear that He knows our troubles and knows about our lives. This is why we need to know Him and learn how to trust Him.

As it says in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He comes to us and protects us even though we can be stubborn and stupid and wander away.

Prayer: “O Good Shepherd, thank you for saving us from ourselves when we have gone astray. Amen.”

John 10:11-18

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own 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 do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”