The Perfect Shepherd Stays Close
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.
They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.
The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
When Jesus says “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved,” He is echoing the same thing He told Nicodemus: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17). Jesus is on a rescue mission. He has been sent to save us, and He is excellently obedient in the execution of His calling.
There is a judgment, and there is discipline, but Jesus didn’t come to bring those. Judgment and discipline often come on their own through the consequences of sin. They are the real-time warnings of something worse that is to come. Jesus came to lead His sheep out of that cycle of sin-judgment-sin-judgment and into green pastures of grace and peace.
Life to the full can’t be experienced when it is lived in fear. Fear of wolves, fear of a mean shepherd, fear of death and destruction all take away from real life. Jesus came to give us life to the full that is free from fear. If a sheep fears its shepherd, it’s going to have a miserable life. If a sheep knows that it can trust and rely on its shepherd for everything, it will live life to the fullest.
Jesus is good, and He’s good at being good. As we follow and are led by Him, He proves this to be true more and more. He will not abandon us but will stay by us through every difficulty and stress.
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