Simple Truth, Profoundly Understood
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep."
John 10:11-15
A good friend of mine once said to me the Gospel is simple truth profoundly understood.
No passage is this more true of than John 10. Here Jesus describes to us more than just a teaching, but the deep commitment, the covenant, He holds to concerning His people. In these few verses we understand how the God-head, Father, Son and Spirit, feel about us. You may wonder, 'Does God feel?' I would argue that He does, yet unlike us He is not ruled by feelings, neither is He inconsistent in them. He is faithful to His word, true in all He says and does, a God of justice. Yet He is also a God who is moved by the pain of His people, who has compassion on the widow and the orphan, a God who seeks liberation for the oppressed and who binds up the brokenhearted. Our God is heart broken by our sin.
In His perfection, God not only feels deeply, He also acts in righteousness. His judgments are just and true. Yet God is not void of feelings or emotion when making these judgments. God has at times throughout history, and still today, been viewed as heartless, distant, completely lacking in empathy and feeling (even among christians!) It is true that He is not like us, and we should never seek to make Him so; He is not ruled by feelings. Yet we ARE like Him! Where do you think we got our emotions from? We are made in His image, and I believe that our feelings and emotions are part of this great mystery of being made in God's image. Our emotions are a reflection of what God is like, a God who feels.
So when we reflect on this passage in John, we see the simple truth that God lays down His life for His people. But as we come to know in our hearts that this truth is deeply personal, that He laid down His life for YOU and for me, then we enter in to profound understanding of the gospel. The way the gospel should be understood. The entire bible narrative is seen in these simple verses; that God has created, called, pursued, saved and set apart US as His beloved children, that He literally lays down His life for the sheep. Christs death on the cross was His ultimate act of love. Yes, Christ died in accordance with God's word, it was to fulfil scripture and show His obedience as God's Son. But profound understanding only comes when it is made deeply personal - Jesus suffered for you. He saw you when He was bleeding and dying on the cross.
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’" Luke 15:4-6
Each of us is that lost sheep. God, stirred by compassion, has pursued you and I, leaving everything to come after us and make us His own. This is not a feelingless decision, quite the opposite, it is a wonderful expression of how God feels about us. And it is also perfect, unchanging, the same yesterday, today and forever. His sacrifice was once for all. We are His sheep, His children, and He lays down His life for us. A hired hand is unconcerned for the sheep. But Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Greater love has no man than this, that He lay down his life for His friends. The Good Shepherd lays down His life. This is the way that God feels about you. He is utterly devoted to you; pursuing you, protecting you, caring for you, saving you. Shedding His own blood for you. This is the profound understanding of the gospel that we can all have. Graham Kendrick sums this up in his wonderful song 'How much do you think you are worth?'
If you heard that your life had been valued That a price had been paid on the nail Would you ask what was traded, How much and who paid it Who was He and what was His name?
If you heard that His name was called Jesus Would you say that the price was too dear? Held to the cross not by nails but by love It was you broke His heart, not the spear!
Would you say you are worth what it cost Him? You say 'no', but the price stays the same. If it don't make you cry, laugh it off, pass Him by, But just remember the day when you throw it away That He paid what He thought you were worth.