John 10: 11-18 (NRSV)
Read John 10: 11-18 on biblegateway.com
Verse 11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away-and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Verse 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. Verse 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, Verse 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. Verse 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Verse 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. Verse 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."
Devotion
In our familiar reading this week we hear one of Jesus’ great, “I am’s” in the Gospel of John. As we read his words in this post-resurrection Easter Season, we are invited to hear in a special way this promise of a good shepherd who will continually be there for us, even to the point of giving his life for us.
Jesus Christ willingly and knowingly has such love for us that brings us to this celebration of Easter—a wondrous and sometimes seemingly impossible deep love of God for us individually and for everyone. Jesus the Shepherd even invites and encourages those outside to enter the fold, ones he must bring in that we may be one. (John 10:16). He wants them with him so this world will look different when all come to believe his precious words and experience a new life in him.
Jesus has this power and glory of love for all people from the Father, and invites us to just imagine this new world as Easter people following the Good Shepherd.
Prayer
Father, Savior, and Holy Spirit, we give thanks for laying down your life for us, and lifting it up again. We need not fear because you are what we need now and forever. Amen.
Interested in digging deeper into today’s text?
Read more here with Enter the Bible.