Gospel Reading – 2025-01-27

JOHN 10:9-16
The Lord said, “I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.

Here are two metaphors. One is a door. The other is a Shepherd.

The Door

Doors keep thieves out. They also let friends in. There’s no way to enter the Kingdom of God without Jesus Christ. The door here is to a pasture. It’s part of the next metaphor.

The Good Shepherd

Icons of Jesus as the Good Shepherd

The need for a Shepherd over the people of God was known from the time of Moses. God has Moses appoint Joshua as the Shepherd of Israel.

Numbers 27:16-17 “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.”

By the times of the Kings, there was no Shepherd.

1 Kings 22:17 Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’ ”

There was a prophecy of a future shepherd.

Isaiah 40:11
He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.

Matthew saw Jesus as the Shepherd.

Matthew 2:6
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

Jesus saw the children of Israel as lost sheep.

Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.