Christ the Good Shepherd

Sheep are fragile creatures

They are good for eating, apparently, and for clothing. Since Domesticated though, they cannot fight against the wolf or the thief.

Christ says elsewhere, “I send you out as lambs amongst wolves.” I see people around that say, “Be the wolf!”

A young person this week said to me, “I want to be strong and independent.” In one sense that is true, to be strong is good, and to be able to take care of yourself and your responsibilities is a good thing. HOWEVER, we must begin with the spiritual in our lives. And even if I did at one point bench over 200lbs, that’s great, but its really not that strong. If I made my own bed this morning, that’s great, but its really not a huge accomplishment.

Christ came to give us his own life

How? remember last week the disciples to Emmaus said, “Were not our hearts burning within us?!” Today the listeners were “Cut to the heart!”

This isn’t just a passage of Scripture, but an intentional fulfillment of Prophecy!

Dt.10:16 “Circumcise therefore the foreskins of your hearts, and be stiff-necked no longer.”

Dt. 30:6 “The Lord, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being, in order that you may live.”

Ex 32:28 “The Levites did as Moses had commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell.”

Jeremiah 9:25 NABRE

Egypt and Judah, Edom and the Ammonites, Moab, and those who live in the wilderness and shave their temples. For all the nations are uncircumcised, even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised at heart.

Jer 6:10 “To whom shall I speak? whom shall I warn, and be heard? See! their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot pay attention; See, the word of the Lord has become for them an object of scorn, for which they have no taste.”

Ezekiel 36:25-26 “I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Christ is the Good Shepherd, God and Son of David

Later in this Gospel it says that Jn 10:16 “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Ezekiel 34:15, “I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest—oracle of the Lord God.” 23 “I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd.”