Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 Hudos Eetho: Renewal of the Church

 
  I am the Good Shepherd
St. John 10: 11-18
 
Jesus, the Lord, makes a demarcation between the ‘good’ shepherd and the ‘hireling’. The good shepherd is the owner of the sheep. The hireling is a hired servant. The hireling has no intimacy or relationship with the sheep as such. Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd. In Greek, there are two words for good; agathos which describes the moral quality of a thing; and kalos which means that in the goodness, there is a certain charm which makes it lovely, intimate, and special. It is this kalos that is used here. It shows that Jesus’ being good is not merely a moral goodness but rather a relationship and intimacy.  Jesus explains this intimacy with his sheep in five ways.
  1. Good Shepherd Knows His Sheep and the Sheep Knows Him.
The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know Him. This knowledge is divine knowledge. It is a special and divine bond. Jesus qualifies it by putting it in the same status of his relationship with the God the Father (V.14). “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I know my own and my own knows me.” 
  1. The sheep listens to the voice of the Good Shepherd, and they become one.
There is a oneness established between the Sheep and the good shepherd. Jesus says, “they will listen to my voice, so there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (V. 15). Having one voice indicates the love and unity; the sameness that the Lord attains for the sheep. Unity is the sharing of status, equality, and dignity with the other. In today’s world of hierarchy, discrimination, divisions, and segregation, this is an important message for unity and oneness.
  1. The Good Shepherd Unites.
The good shepherd brings forth the other sheep too and joins them with his own. The good shepherd brings more oneness, sameness, and equality of status to the marginalized, outcast and the downtrodden.
  1. The Good Shepherd lays down the life for his sheep.
 The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.  He protects the sheep by laying his life. It shows the authority, authenticity, and the wholeheartedness in Jesus’s relationship to us. 
  1. The Good Shepherd takes His life up again (V. 17, 18). 
“I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.” Laying life and taking it up again point towards the possibility of life beyond. If we are the flock of the Good Sphered, we are at his intimacy, we listen to his voice and become one sheep, by loving Him and loving other flock from outside and share the dignity, intimacy, and life with others and with the marginalized whom Jesus brings to us, then we will find eternal life, as Jesus, our Lord, gives resurrection to us.
 
As the church is celebrating Hudos Etho, the renewal of the church, to prepare its community for advent and the beginning of the new church calendar, and new year of Salvation, let’s dedicate ourselves to be His flock, by responding to our Lord by knowing Him intimately, listening to his voice and becoming one with Him, sharing our dignity with the marginalized and the less -privileged, and being united to Him to surpass death and look forward for the life eternal by doing good and being righteous, Amen.
 
Rev. Dr. Eappen Varghese
Vicar, Houston Immanuel MTC


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