“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognise his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
John 10:1-5 NLT
Jesus continues to tell His listeners a bit more about who He was, why He had come and what His message to His immediate world was. To do this He used another illustration that would have been very familiar and relevant to the people of His day. As He described it, the life of sheep and shepherds was accurately portrayed, but in a later blog we will find out the spiritual meaning behind His story. The people of His society knew all about sheep and shepherds so we can almost see them nodding and hearing their words of approval at what Jesus described.
If Jesus came in to 21st Century Western societies, what illustration would he have been able to use? Our society seems so much more complex and there are so many professions and lifestyles, and then some only apply to certain age groups. But throughout His ministry, Jesus related the everyday life of the Jewish people to spiritual equivalents. Sheep, fields, shepherds, farmers, family life, all relevant to the generation in that place at that time. God’s timing for when He sent His Son was perfect.
Today, we pilgrims have a challenge in finding something relevant to those around us. Urban city dwellers are unaware of the lives of sheep and shepherds, so how can we reach them with the Gospel message appropriate to them, and then present it in a way that connects them with the Master Himself? Perhaps we can use an analogy of Jesus being the door to God’s house. The people around us may not relate easily to the professions we find in our societies, but we can imagine and describe a house, and to most people it offers a degree of security, much like the sheepfold described in this parable.
We share the Gospel message across a relational bridge to those around us and God will help us as we allow His love and grace to flow into the lives of those we know and love. There are so many needy people in our societies and God’s message is just as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago. The sheep in Jesus’ day knew the voice of their shepherd, and that was the person they followed. Jesus is still calling out the ones He knows and who are yet to know Him today. People who would otherwise be lost in their sinful lives. As Jesus’ hands and feet today, we deliver that message, and the Holy Spirit will provide us with the keys, the illustrations, even intimate details, to unlock the door into their hearts. We pray too for God to provide us with the words we need to derive a spiritual meaning from everyday natural lives so that a connection can be made to God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the Door and we know where to bring people so that they can find it. And as we do so, we are reminded that the Door is there for us to walk through as well.
We pilgrims are not believers who fail to participate in the happenings behind the Door, where we find God Himself and His ways. We leave our dirty linen, our sins, at the foot of the cross and then walk through into God’s very presence, worshipping the One who made it all happen at Calvary. What a Saviour! Perhaps today we can find a quiet moment when we can imagine that door and pass through into God’s presence once again. And what we find there will overwhelm us as we fall at the feet of our Lord and God, with deeply grateful hearts full of worship.
Dear Lord God. Thank You for Your grace, love, and protection through Your Son Jesus. We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 