|
Reader: | John 10.1-6. |
| THOMAS: | I'm a bit lost there, Nathanael. I don't
really follow all this business about sheep. |
| NATHANAEL: | Yes, Thomas, Jesus uses so many different
illustrations that it's hard to keep up at times! |
| THOMAS: | There must be people here for whom it's all
just so graphic! What do you make of it? |
| NATHANAEL: | Well... I can only think of some important
Scripture passages. |
| THOMAS: | I was hoping you could help me there! |
| NATHANAEL: | The shepherd has always been an important
picture of leadership in our nation. |
| THOMAS: | Of course! David was a shepherd before he
became king, wasn't he? |
| NATHANAEL: | The concept came right over into our
language - to shepherd, to lead, to rule. |
| THOMAS: | Not too technical, please, Nathanael! |
| NATHANAEL: | God's like that in his care of us. Remember
that psalm? |
| THOMAS: | "The Lord is my shepherd - I shall not
want." |
| NATHANAEL: | Right! That's looking at God's side.
Now turn it the other way and we are like sheep. |
| THOMAS: | I have a childhood memory of sheep - a whole
bunch of them following the shepherd! |
| NATHANAEL: | That bunch is what we call a "flock"! |
| THOMAS: | I know that! |
| NATHANAEL: | Sometimes they follow one another and
go astray! Isaiah wrote that we have all gone astray like sheep
- all turning to our own way! |
| THOMAS: | So we haven't been a very good flock after
all. |
| NATHANAEL: | Let's listen - Jesus is going to explain
it some more. |
| Reader: | John 10.7-18. |