The Sheep

The Sheep

John 10:3-5, 14-16, NLT

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice. . . . 14I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

Setting the Scene

A shepherd would call his sheep; the sheep, recognizing their shepherd’s voice, would follow him to the pasture. Shepherds could name each sheep, and each sheep would respond to the shepherd calling its name. True believers, belonging to the true Shepherd, would never follow someone pretending to be their shepherd. The shepherd knows his sheep, and he loves them, so much that he would die for them. The sheep also know the shepherd and trust him.

Jesus added that he had “other sheep . . . not in this sheepfold.” Jesus’ audience for this parable was Jewish, and they would have understood the “sheepfold” to be made up of Jews who were following the Messiah. Jesus’ reference to “other sheep” means that he would save Gentiles as well as Jews. Jesus had come to die for sinful people all over the world, not just in Palestine. Eventually the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers would form one flock.

Getting Personal

What can you do to “listen” to the Good Shepherd? What, if anything, keeps you from fully hearing his voice today?

The difference between listening and hearing is that hearing involves understanding. How can you distinguish his voice from your own reflective thinking?

What can you do to better understand what God wants you to do?

Even if we hear the Shepherd, we still must choose to follow where he leads. Where does he want to lead you? Will you follow?

In this parable, the sheep “listen,” they hear the shepherd, and they “follow.” The result is that these sheep find good pasture and are protected. The Bible often uses the word sheep to describe people—and not always positively. Isaiah 53:6, for example, says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own” (NLT). How foolish—yet how often we stray away from the Shepherd. Just like sheep, we are weak and vulnerable. We need our Shepherd and dare not follow our own path.

Talking to God

In comparison to God’s omnipotence and omniscience, our ability and reasoning seem very small. Admit to the Lord your great need for his protection and guidance. Ask him to draw you close and keep you there.