Daily Devotional • September 7
A Reading from John 10:1-18
1 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Meditation
John’s gospel recounts Jesus’ seven “I am” word pictures, which show us who Jesus is. Our reading for today includes one of the most loved of these word pictures, “I am the good shepherd.” Just a few verses earlier, we are given a related but distinct image, “I am the gate for the sheep.” In Jesus’ time, countryside sheepfolds often did not have an actual gate. Instead, there was a single, narrow opening and the shepherd would lay across the opening at night to protect his sheep from thieves and wild animals.
Jesus, the Gate and the Good Shepherd, does more than protect us from danger. Jesus says that those who enter by him will be saved, they will “come in and go out and find pasture” and will have abundant life. To “come in and go out” is an expression found in multiple places in the Old Testament, where it does not indicate physical movement but a whole way of life marked by freedom and flourishing. In the image that Jesus paints for us, Jesus is not showing us a flock that is confined to the sheepfold, or one that enters and leaves his Kingdom, moving in and out of the state of salvation. Jesus provides his flock with both safety and perfect freedom; eternal life in heaven plus fullness of life in the present. When the sheep come in and go out, the Good Shepherd goes with them, showing them the way to green pastures and still waters to nourish the body, comfort the heart and restore the soul. “I came that they may have life” — not just safety, not just survival, but life — “and have it abundantly.”
Monica Coakley, a graduate of Nashotah House Theological Seminary, provides pastoral care to men on Tennessee’s death row. She lives with her family on a small farm and hoards books and yarn.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Okigwe South – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Episcopal Diocese of New York