Excerpts from my Red Rock News Religion Column May 9, 2025
- Rev. Dona Johnson |May 11, 2025
One of the most iconic images given to Jesus is the image of the good shepherd. And it is central to our understanding of God’s character. As sheep, Christians belong to him, they can distinguish his voice among other voices and thus, not blindly but intentionally follow him. But for many of us, we have never seen a real shepherd, let alone a fold of sheep. That image is as foreign to most of us as being with a real cowboy in Wyoming or with some Inuit fisherman in Alaska.
At the end of Gospel of John 10:22-31, Jesus was walking in the colonnade of Solomon’s Temple, when a few Jews crowded around him determined to get an answer. They asked him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us plainly are you or are you not the Messiah?” Although he had not made his position clear to them. He had appeared to the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:26) and she believed him, and he had also disclosed himself to the man born blind man (Jn 9:35). Maybe Jesus’ teachings were so clear, had they come to him with the right attitude they would have believed just as his Jewish disciples had believed. Herein lies the point of his message. Many people still today have heard about Jesus but they have yet to hear his voice. Many Christians who were raised in the church, may remember teachings about Jesus, but have strayed away from the fold and have been seduced by the flimsy promises of false shepherds.
Many today mix new age thinking with tried-and true Christian teachings. Many have wandered away because they were hurt and disillusioned by the church. But in all those situations God will never stop loving us and calling us back to his fold.
Jesus continues his conversation with the Jews who doubt his supremacy, “You do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal live, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Christ’s sheep know his voice, and they follow the sound, the inflection and subtle nuances of their Shepherd’s voice. Oh that’s not to say its always easy, because it isn’t. Sometimes we hear God’s voice clearly and distinctly speaking to us. While at other times his voice is like whisper and we can barely sort it out. Though, one thing is for certain, one has to stay in close proximity to Jesus to hear his voice.
In Palestine, shepherds might overnight in a cave with their flocks mingled together. In the morning, each shepherd will call for his sheep, they hear the distinctions of his voice and automatically sort themselves out. Sheep were not killed for food but were kept alive for their wool. Therefore, the shepherd had his sheep for many years. He gave each one a name. Every now and then a sheep would stray away from the fold or feared crossing a stream and the shepherd would carry the lamb wrapped around his shoulders back to the safety of the fold.
This you can stake your life on: God knows each of us by name. He knows our address. He knows what each one of us needs, and he knows the hardships we suffer through.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd continues to call and search for us—sometimes we stray off course, sometimes we lose our way. But Jesus’ love and compassion for his sheep is a love like no other. To those to whom Jesus gives the gift of eternal life, they will never be forsaken. The promise of eternal life will never be revoked. Oh the ways of this world may chip away at our faith, may discourage us at times and cause us to doubt and even wander off. But the love and grace of God keeps speaking from the wilderness of Sinai to the empty tomb, Jesus keeps calling us back to his eternal love.
- Rev. Dona Johnson |May 11, 2025