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Rev. Marlene Notes:

“The gatekeeper opens the gate and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.” John 10:3

Hello everyone, I’m home! I love this image. “He calls his own sheep by name.” We are each called by name. Can you image that?

The fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as Good Shepherd Sunday, and is observed as The World Day of Prayer for Priestly Vocations. It is a time for encouraging, and holding up in prayer, those who have been called to open themselves to becoming the shepherd-priests of God’s beloved community, following in Christ’s role model.

John 10:1-10, stops just short of Jesus’ declaration, “I am the good shepherd.” Instead, we find Jesus’ description of how shepherds and sheep normally related to one another in Palestine. With God, it is often all about relationship.

Here, Jesus uses two different shepherding images to illustrate his care for all who follow him. The thrust of what is said encompasses not only the identity of the true shepherd, but also the issue of who may rightly be called God’s sheep. The legitimate shepherd is the one whose voice is known by the sheep, and who in turn knows each of the sheep by name. This shepherd does not lead them astray or take advantage of them, but instead has a genuine relationship (there’s that word again) of trust with his flock.

The second image that Jesus uses is that of a “gate” which will keep the thieves and bandits (the false shepherds) away from the sheep. The passage ends with the promise that the Good Shepherd seeks to give life in abundance. John’s tradition, which speaks of a quality of life to be lived fully, is symbolized by “green pastures” and other comforting images spoken of in the 23^rd Psalm; words which have consoled God’s people for millennia.