Easter reflection (3.28)
When I reflect upon today’s Lectio Divina reading (John 10:11-21) and the statement that Jesus makes–”I AM the good shepherd”–I figure that I’m one of the sheep and he’s out strolling ahead in green pastures and I’m “baa-ing” away following peacefully. Then I realize that sheep are dumb. I’m dumb. The shepherd isn’t leading ahead of the sheep, the sheep are wandering all over the place, driven by their own choices and decisions to go this way and that and the shepherd gives gentle correction at times with his staff, or pats us on the head to urge us on to where he wants to go. Sheep wander and make a lot of bad decisions and are prone to scattering, aren’t they? If I gather up all the messy decisions in my life, it’s kinda’ overwhelming and I wish I could take them back. But I can’t.
Jesus–the good shepherd–made only good decisions with his life. He knows where he is going and where we ought to be. And the most powerful decision he made was to lay down his life for his sheep of his own accord (10:11, 17-18). And because he made that decision–to die for wayward people–that our bad decisions can and will find ultimate redemption in Him.