Every three months, I package my son Jacob’s medications into two daily dose packs, ninety days, one hundred eighty doses, three tablets of one variety and two and a half of another. It’s a labor of love but at the same time it’s comforting for me as his mother. I’m sure I could pay someone to do this for me. He could surely do it himself, but I enjoy serving him in this way. It’s the best method we’ve found for him to remember and I have peace of mind knowing I’ve done my best to help. As I was working at the kitchen table on his latest prescriptions, I remembered a story Jesus told about a shepherd, a thief, and a hired hand.
““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 recognize 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.”
Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them:
“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.
Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father.
So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him.
Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?”
Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?””
John 10:1-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.10.13.NLT
The thief looks out only for the thief. The hired hand takes care of the sheep for his wages until his own life is threatened. Only the shepherd willingly lays down His life for the sheep, even if only one lamb is at risk.
““If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do?
Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?
And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away!
In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.”
Matthew 18:12-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.18.12-14.NLT
Some things you do for yourself. Other times it’s wise to hire out a task, but in this one instance, we are entirely helpless.
“As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.”
Romans 3:10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.3.10.NLT
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 3:23 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.3.23.NLT
Jesus, who said “I am the gate for the sheep,” also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NLT)
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.6.NLT
People have always been divided in their opinions about Jesus, but for those who choose to believe that He is who He claims to be, there is a family, a Church, a body of believers, the body of Christ. We represent every nation, tribe, and tongue. We reside in nearly every habitable place on earth. We are united by His Spirit to represent Him in the world, to encourage each other, and to convince as many as will believe of who He is until He comes again. We need each other. We’re all in this together.
“There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body.
It is the same with Christ.
Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body.
And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell?
God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be.
If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body?
As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.
The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”
The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without.
But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any.
In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another.
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.
If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.
You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.”
1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-27 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/1co.12.12-27.NIRV
““The King will reply, ‘What I’m about to tell you is true.
Anything you did for one of the least important of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
Matthew 25:40 NIRV
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