The Good Shepherd versus the hired servant
A wooden curving of Jesus Christ on the cross at St Joseph's Cathedral, Nyeri. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. You are one of his sheep. PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL| NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- You know that Jesus did not die by accident — as if he were some poor guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- You know that Jesus suffered his passion and death deliberately. He suffered on the cross so that his blood would wash away your sins.
“I know mine and mine know me.” Jesus is the Good Shepherd. You are one of his sheep. He knows you the way a shepherd knows each and every one of his sheep. “I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know him.”
A relationship with Jesus goes beyond any relationship you’ve ever had with anyone else. Being friends with others in this world depends on life. Your relationship with Jesus depends on death. “I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know him, and I lay down my life for my sheep.”
“Mine know me!” You know Jesus because you know he has forgiven your sins. Having been forgiven, you know why Jesus said: “The Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” You know that Jesus is the only one who can forgive you. Jesus is the only one who deserves to be called Son of God.
“The Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, it is in my power to take it up again.” You know that Jesus did not die by accident — as if he were some poor guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You know that Jesus suffered his passion and death deliberately. He suffered on the cross so that his blood would wash away your sins.
Jesus could have run away from the pain and suffering. But he didn’t. As he told his disciple on the night he was arrested: “Put your sword back, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, who would promptly send more than 12 legions of angels to my defence?”
Jesus did not run away. He was not the hired man who runs when the wolf attacks the sheep. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd is the one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees the wolf coming because he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him.”
These words from the Gospel may sound a bit “fluffy”— as if they were just nice words from long ago about a nice man named Jesus who said some nice things about forgiving our sins. They are actually hard words. Jesus wanted to teach us to distinguish between the true shepherd and the hired servant.
The shepherd is the one who truly has power to forgive your sins. The hired servant is the one who pretends to be taking care of you, while in fact all he really wants is the money.
