Easter 4: Gospel, John 10:11-18                                                      

John 10:11-18

There sure is a lot of noise “out there” these days. My rights. My truth. My authority. It’s all beginning to be a bit tiresome so I think I know what the book of Revelation means when it nearly ends with the thought, “Come, Lord Jesus.” There are days when I am so ready.

But in the days between now and His promised and SURE return, I get to be a sheep. And so do you. Sheep are to follow their shepherd. For lots of sheep, human and otherwise, through history that has not always ended well. But for us, the sheep of the Good Shepherd, not only will it end well, but it will end right. And it won’t be because any man’s truth is the rule or because I bow my wooly behind to just anyone’s authority. It’s because the Shepherd you and I follow has a distinct call. It’s what other writers have sometimes referred to as “True Truth.”

John 10:14-16 reads, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

There it is. I’m secure. You’re secure. And not because of anything we constructed as truth or wisdom and most certainly not because we had a right to anything but Shepherd-wrath. You and I are secure because He knows us--just like He knows His Father. We hear His call and we can trust the voice. No matter where He leads, we can follow a Shepherd like that.