Most of us modern urban dwellers like know very little
about raising sheep – their natural behaviour etc. But in Jesus’ time it would
be quite different, most people would be familiar with sheep and shepherds and
the way shepherding worked. So it would be a natural image for Jesus to use as
a comparison to himself – the good shepherd.
Flocks of sheep belonged to different owners but the
grazing pastures were common ground, land for many different shepherds to use, all out grazing together. But this had an important benefit, safety for all
the sheep – many eyes overseeing their protection.
One practice the shepherds used was at night to herd all
the sheep into one common gated shelter to protect them from dangers of the
night. But how to sort out the shepherd’s sheep from all the others in the enclosure - sheep all look the same? No problem, the sheep were all imprinted on
only their shepherds voice and no other. In the morning each shepherd would
stand at the gate and with his distinct voice he would call out to the sheep
and only his sheep would come out and follow him.
This was a perfect way, commonly known, for Jesus to
teach how important it was for them to imprint on his voice, the message of
the gospel. God’s plan for salvation for the world was not to kill off
unbelievers so only true believers remained. The plan was to imprint the
message of the gospel on the hearts of people and then gather them together and
lead them home to the Father.
Is there any better way to characterize this age we live
in today, the age of mass communication, endless number of voices calling out
to us to follow them just turn on the TV and see right away all the many
voices. The question put before us in today’s liturgy of the word, who’s voice
am I hearing and following? Jesus wants us to understand there is only one voice
that is proclaiming the truth of eternal life – his voice.
|
.
No comments:
Post a Comment