(Audio)
Only Jesus is the good shepherd because only he shepherds his flock without self-interest. Only he is able to give his life for his sheep.
I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Even the best human shepherds are tainted in one way or another by self-interest. It makes it hard for them to welcome the other sheep who do not belong to the fold. They tend to gravitate toward the sheep which are a natural fit for them and away from those that are not. As the good shepherd Jesus wants all sheep to join his flock so that "there will be one flock, one shepherd."
In Jesus we can overcome our natural tendency to put ourselves first, to clique up with similar individuals, and to ignore those with nothing to offer us.
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,
“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
In order to transcend our selfishness we need to keep our eyes on the movement of the Spirit as he calls us out beyond the safe boundaries which we have created for ourselves.
The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating.
His movements seems obvious when we hear them celebrated, but we sometimes miss the Spirit moving in our world precisely because we prefer to stay within the safe confines of our comfortable routines. When we are actually being called out from these protections we are much more likely to ignore and to look away. But if we do that we miss great things.
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning
Jesus wants us to cast our nets for fish of every kind. He wants his one body to be united in one Spirit.
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (see Ephesians 4:4-6).
Jesus has the power to lay his own life day for the sake of his sheep. It is a command he receives from his Father. We in turn receive the command from him to lay down our own lives for his sake and for the sake of the Kingdom. And we know that whatever Jesus commands he also empowers.
May the LORD himself give us a desire to see this flock united. May he help us to overcome the natural inhibitions that keep us separated from one another, ministering only to those who are the most like minded among us.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
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