Scripture Scribbles: April 21, 2024

the Gospel

John 10:11-18

Jesus said:
"I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father."

the devotion

In today’s gospel, Jesus prepares his followers for the paradox of the cross through this stunning icon of the Good Shepherd. I love how he does this by drawing us into his identity.

“I am the good shepherd,” he says. 

The hired man is there to watch someone else’s sheep for money.

The shepherd is the one whose life is completely for his sheep.

He knows them. He loves them. They are his. When he allows the wolves to tear into him, he does it because of who he is.

He is total self-giving love and mercy.

He does not hold anything back from us.

He is for us.

His laying down of his life for us is not an unfortunate turn of events or an unforeseen tragic outcome. It is his identity, mission, purpose and free choice to love us to freedom.

And through it, he not only saves us, he teaches us how to participate with him. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.'' I want this to echo in my life. In the hard places where my vocation and identity call me, in the places where I suffer sadness, loss, disappointment and pain let my heart say with Christ in freedom, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.”

In those places where the wolves are fierce and seem impossible to overcome, I want to follow the Good Shepherd who reminds me that laying down his life is not the end of his power or our story.

He also has the power to take it up again.

And that is the gorgeous, world-changing, unbelievable, life-saving resurrection of our Lord.

Alleluia. Thank you Jesus.

Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker